ME ME - Judith Hand, Farmington, 23 september 1971

[Moonwalker9]

Unsolved Homicides | Maine State Police

www.maine.gov

On 09/10/71, Hand returned home from school at 1410 hours. Hand then left home at 1450 hours to go to a residence to collect owed babysitting money. Hand never returned home and was reported missing at 2015 hours. Hand's body was discovered on 09/23/71 under a sawdust pile located off High Street in Farmington. The suspect was interviewed on this case. Contact: Maine State Police, Major Crimes Unit-South, One Game Farm Rd, Gray, ME. 04039 1-800-228-0857 (In State); (207)624-7076 (Out of State); (207)657-5748 (Fax)

(Source: Maine State Police)

 

[Teamir]

From an article dated July 4, 2014

“It was a Friday afternoon,” Pike says — after Judith came home from a day’s classes at Mt. Blue Junior High School, the 15-year-old went back out, traveling on foot. Blond, hazel-eyed and petite, Judith was walking to a baby-sitting job where she hoped to earn a little money to give to her parents, who were struggling financially. Her father, a house painter, had been out of work for a year with medical problems, leaving the family unable to provide easily for Judith and her eight siblings — three older brothers, four younger sisters and one younger brother.

“It was a large family,” Pike said. “I knew, certainly, her brothers. She had never been in any type of trouble. I probably had seen her with her brothers, and I knew her father and mother.” Their mother, Lillian Hand, told reporters that of all the children, Judith was the shyest, the least likely to get into a car with a stranger. Yet police believe Judith was taken in broad daylight less than a mile from her home.
She never arrived at her baby-sitting job, which was at the home of a relative. The disappearance wrested the public’s attention away from the ongoing Farmington Fair. Her family, though poor, offered a large reward for information leading to an arrest. A frantic search ended nearly two weeks later off High Street. Today, the property houses the University of Maine at Farmington’s Health and Fitness Center, affectionately referred to as the Beaver Dome. Back then, it was a family-owned sawmill.

“They shot their sawdust from years of sawing into the southeast corner,” Pike said, “and it was in that particular accumulation of sawdust that the dogs did in fact locate the body. It had been there some time, and the sawdust was wet. That generates heat.”

The conditions had accelerated the decomposition of the body, making it more difficult to use as evidence.
During the ensuing investigation, police officers interviewed hundreds of people. Two people confessed to the murder, but their confessions were ruled out as falsified.”