Deceased/Not Found WI - Carol Pierce, 35, Sturgeon Bay, 8 Sept 1975 *Husband arrested in 2018* *Guilty*

[JerseyGirl]

LIVE: More testimony Wednesday in Door County cold case murder trial

 

[CastlesBurning]

Jury in 1975 murder trial finishes first day of deliberations

 

[alexwood]

He was just 39 years old in 1975, when he presumably murdered his wife. He retired and moved on with his life. Even had a girlfriend within weeks of Carol's "disappearance."

He's 86 years old now. I guess he figured he was home free, before he was arrested and is now being tried for murder. I doubt that girlfriend, who maybe became his wife, stuck around.

Moral of this story: Just get a divorce.

 

[Knitty]

Door County jury finds Richard Pierce guilty of 1975 murder of wife Carol Jean

 

[alexwood]

Wish it hadn't taken so long, but satisfied that justice was done. The family can possibly be at peace now. There are so many other cases with similar circumstances (no body). I know it takes years to resolve them, and sometimes it never happens.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Door County jury finds Richard Pierce guilty of 1975 murder of wife Carol Jean

Pierce was remanded into custody awaiting sentencing, which is scheduled for Aug. 5 at 2:30 p.m.

 

[Richard]

Carol Jean Pierce, age 35 Missing since 8 September 1975

LINK:

More than 4 decades after his wife went missing, Michigan man charged for her murder

A Cheboygan man is facing charges for the alleged murder of his wife who was reported missing in Sept. 1975.

www.clickondetroit.com

 

[TootsieFootsie]

https://wtaq.com/2022/08/06/man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-wifes-1975-murder/

STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — In Door County Friday, Richard Pierce was sentenced to life in prison plus three more years for killing his wife, Carol Jean, in 1975. Her body has never been found. Although she disappeared in 1975, charges weren’t filed until 2018.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Updated recently. Carol Jean Fillion Aungst Clark Pierce – The Charley Project

 

[Diane Redfern]

As to where she is... I think we should remember he was a Coast guard and, apparently, his coworkers were on his side in this story, so... may he had disposed her body on the ocean? I couldn't find any UID that really fits, maybe this Jane Doe, but her race is undetermined:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[Caring1]

 

[mlhenn]

Carol Jean Fillion Aungst Clark Pierce – The Charley Project

Last updated October 28, 2024; details of disappearance added.

Details of Disappearance​

Carol was last seen at her residence in the vicinity of west Elm Street and north Hudson Avenue Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin at 8:00 a.m. on September 8, 1975. Her husband, Richard Gale Pierce, stated he had had coffee with her that morning, then left for work. When he returned home between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m., she was gone, and so was their savings.

Carol left behind her purse, pet cat, makeup and other belongings at her home. She and Richard had only one vehicle between them, and he had it when she disappeared. Only weeks prior to going missing, she had paid a year's worth of insurance premiums in advance.

Carol was a housewife at the time of her disappearance and did not work outside the home. Her marriage to Richard was her third, and his second. Carol's loved ones described her as a homebody who enjoyed gardening in 1975. Richard was a crewman on the United States Coast Guard cutter Mesquite.

Prior to Carol's going missing, the Pierces had had plans to move to Cheboygan, Michigan, where they owned some property, upon Richard's upcoming retirement. It wasn't until his retirement party weeks later that Carol's mother realized she was missing; she made Richard file a missing persons report. The report was filed on September 15, 82 days after Carol was last seen.

Richard did retire and move to Michigan with his new girlfriend. He obtained a divorce from Carol in 1977 and remarried a short time later.

Carol and Richard's relationship was troubled and they'd been in marriage counseling. Just prior to her disappearance, Carol signed over to Richard her interest in titles to their truck and the mobile home. He said she did this after she threatened to leave him, but Carol's friends and family stated she had no plans to leave Richard. She was saving money to buy him a Coast Guard ring as a surprise gift for his retirement.

Police didn't begin to thoroughly investigate her disappearance until the 1980s. A grand jury investigated Carol's case in 1988, but didn't issue any indictments. In 2008, police searched Richard's farm near Cheboygan, looking for Carol's body, but the search didn't uncover any evidence.

In October 2018, Richard, by then 82 years old, was charged with Carol's murder. Authorities noted he had "motive and opportunity to end her life, and benefitted from her demise in numerous ways" and also that he had given inconsistent statements about her disappearance for decades. A photo of Richard is posted with this case summary. He had been the prime suspect in her disappearance for years.

He maintained his innocence and suggested Carol had simply run away and wasn't dead. At his trial in 2022, his defense called no witnesses and simply argued that without a murder weapon, a witness or a body, the prosection hadn't met their burden of proof. Friends of both Carol and Richard testified; one friend said Carol had said she was afraid of Richard and that she thought he would kill her someday.

After ten hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Richard of first-degree murder and disinterment of the dead. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder and three years for the disinterment charge. This charge stems from the prosecution theory that Richard killed his wife in Wisconsin and then moved her body to Michigan and kept it in the crawl space of his home for years before moving it elsewhere. Six times, a cadaver-sniffing dog indicated the presence of human remains in the crawl space.

Carol's passport and Social Security number have not been used since 1975. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.

 

[longthymelurker]

Does anyone know about her first and second marriages and his first marriage?

 

[dotr]

Dec 6, 2024

Motion to dismiss 47-year cold-case murder conviction in Door County is denied

Richard G. Pierce was convicted of murder in 2022 in the 1975 disappearance of his wife. He died in prison in October but his attorney still can appeal.

www.greenbaypressgazette.com

'STURGEON BAY - A Door County judge denied a motion that would have dismissed the cold case conviction of a former Sturgeon Bay man who died in prison after he was found guilty of murdering his wife 47 years after she disappeared without a trace.

Richard G. Pierce was convicted April 18, 2022, in Door County Circuit Court of first-degree murder and disinterment of a corpse in the disappearance of his wife, Carol Jean Pierce, who vanished without a trace on or about Sept. 5, 1975. The disinterment charge was based on the accusation that he killed his wife in Sturgeon Bay and moved the body to Michigan without authority to do so.'

 

[Keiri]

Exclusions