UT UT - Dennise Sullivan, 15, Moab, 4 July 1961

[Diavola]

Detailed account of the happenings, including well-researched biographies of the alleged perpetrator and victims, brought by Canyon County Zephyr December/January 2022 Issue under the title "July 4, 1961: Murder & the Enduring Mystery at Dead Horse Point":

Part 1
Part 2

This was a great read, thanks for posting it.
I tried to find some of the places based on the pictures from the article, but everything is so different.
38.644861, -109.736294 I believe is the place where the VW was run off the road, you can compare, across the entry to the parking lot.
A newer article from Zephyr shows that there was a big cliff on the side of the road that wasn't visible straight on. If Dennise had ran she could have fallen off. The article points out that Brown (man who found Boothroyd and Jeannette) told the police that Aragon must have taken the girl and so police strated searching away from the scene.

Picture of Dennise just hours before the murders. Posting it because there aren't any pictures in the thread.

 

[Pennysmom1]

Dennise Jeannette Sullivan – The Charley Project

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[Pennysmom1]

July 14, 1961 Time Magazine

Crime: Four Murders

In four scattered locations across the U.S. last week, terror struck suddenly. ¶Floating half submerged in a tiny Fairfax County, Va., stream, the nude body of Marta Santa Cruz, 22, was...

content.time.com

Case | Dennise J. Sullivan

TrackMissing is a civilian-based, volunteer search and rescue organization that specializes in cold case investigations or searches that have been suspended or terminated by the agency of jurisdiction. We assist families and Law Enforcement...

trackmissing.org

<<Dennise was on vacation from from Connecticut with her mother and mother's fiance in July 1961. They encountered an adult male who claimed he had car trouble near Dead Horse Point. The male then demanded money from the couple and displayed a gun. Jeannette Sullivan, a divorced mother from Rockville, Connecticut, threw $250 on the road, and turned to get into her car. She was fatally shot in the back of the head. The man shot her companion, Charles Boothroyd, in the face twice. The Rockville resident was left for dead, but he survived to tell officers about the crime. Sullivan's 15-year-old daughter, Denise, had stayed in the car. The girl started the vehicle and tried to drive away, although she had never driven. The gunman chased her down in his car, forced the car off the road and kidnapped her. The suspect was known to be a stocky, dark-haired man driving a light-colored car with a license plate beginning with "CJ." The suspect was Abel B. Aragon, 35, an unemployed WWII Marine Corps veteran from Price who had earned the Navy Cross. About 10:30 p.m. on July 7, 1961, lawmen stopped the suspect's car at a roadblock at Crescent Junction.>>

 

[OddOneOut]

According to the articles and Charley Project, they were headed back to Moab for the night, on July 4th, when she was abducted. He was seen alone by someone at 2:00 a.m. on July 5th. This doesn't leave much time for him to hide her body. She must be very near where the abduction happened possibly in a mine shaft.

 

[Pennysmom1]

Dennise Jeannette Sullivan

Clipping found in The Bridgeport Post published in Bridgeport, Connecticut on 7/27/1961. Dennise Jeannette Sullivan

www.newspapers.com

Denise Sullivan

Dennise was on vacation with her mother and mother’s fiance in July 1961. They encountered an adult male who claimed he had car trouble. The adult male then demanded money from the adult couple and displayed a gun. After shooting both adults he forced the child into his vehicle and drove away...

bci.utah.gov

 

[blayneyyy25]

Could this be Denise? He could have driven her to Salt Lake City, shot her in the head, and then dumped her in the river. They said the bones were very old and matches up with her timeline to me. Not much was given about age or predicted hair color but it is worth a shot.

 

[blayneyyy25]

Could this be Denise??? Could be a stretch but it seems to match up pretty well.

 

[Melt71]

Could this be Denise??? Could be a stretch but it seems to match up pretty well.

Possibly but I think the eyebrow detail doesn't match and the sketch of the unidentified woman should be very good since she was identifiable (presumably the sketch is based on a photograph). There are plenty of photos of Dennise available for LE comparison. If you feel strongly you can send it in. Generally you need to do some kind of comparison table to justify why you think it is a good match. The Doe Network website has a good submission form on which you can enter that kind of information.

 

[Diane Redfern]

Could this be Denise??? Could be a stretch but it seems to match up pretty well.

I can't imagine how Aragon could dispose of her body in Virginia and being back in Utah at at 2:00 a.m. on July 5th. As @OddOneOut has pointed out, he had a limited amount of time to hide the body. This area has canyons and mine shafts... I hate saying this, but I think her remains may be irrecoverable.

 

[cenazoic]

Follow-up to the 2 Canyon Country Zephyr articles above:

60 YEARS LATER: STILL SEARCHING FOR DENNISE SULLIVAN..by Jim Stiles (ZX#8)

There is no 'good' ending to this story...The last moment that anyone knows with absolute certainty where Dennise Sullivan was on the night of July 4, 1961 came barely a minute or two after Abel Aragon fatally shot her mother, Jeannette, and critically wounded Charles Boothroyd. Dennise had tried to

www.canyoncountryzephyr.com

 

[OddOneOut]

Follow-up to the 2 Canyon Country Zephyr articles above:

60 YEARS LATER: STILL SEARCHING FOR DENNISE SULLIVAN..by Jim Stiles (ZX#8)

There is no 'good' ending to this story...The last moment that anyone knows with absolute certainty where Dennise Sullivan was on the night of July 4, 1961 came barely a minute or two after Abel Aragon fatally shot her mother, Jeannette, and critically wounded Charles Boothroyd. Dennise had tried to

www.canyoncountryzephyr.com

I wonder if Dennise is laying at the bottom of the cliff where the VW was found wrecked. Another option is Aragon may have returned and buried her there.

 

[cenazoic]

I agree that Dennise running off/ falling makes the most sense - Aragon had so little time before Brown would be upon them.

That said, why, as speculated in the article, would AA return to Dead Horse to search for Dennise at night? Dangerous geography in daylight, even more so at night, I’d assume.