Nancy Williams was 19 when she was killed during a late-January 1981 shift at Cumberland Farms in Winchendon, Massachusetts. More than four decades later, her unsolved homicide still carries through her family, her friends, the officers who worked the case, and a town that never got the answer it deserved.

This revisited Under the Pines episode rebuilds Nancy’s story from the ground up. Before she became part of an unresolved case file, she was a daughter, sister, fiancée, friend, student, swim instructor, animal lover, and young woman with plans waiting for her after work. The episode follows her life, the night of the robbery-framed killing, the investigation that followed, the people still carrying the loss, and the renewed public push for information.

The verified record remains careful: Nancy was found behind the counter, the crime has been publicly described as appearing robbery-related, no one has been convicted, and investigators continue asking for tips. Any public discussion, theory, or online chatter in this episode is clearly separated from documented reporting and is not presented as fact.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office at 508-453-7589 or [email protected].

Sources:

Nancy Williams - Winchendon - 1/30/1981 - The Office of the Worcester County District Attorney

Unresolved Cases - The Office of the Worcester County District Attorney

Hoping for break in case - Telegram & Gazette, Matthew Bruun

Information sought in cold case murder of 19-year-old Winchendon teen - Boston 25 News, Timothy Nazzaro

New England’s Unsolved: 45 years later, Winchendon teen’s killer remains a mystery - Boston 25 News, Bob Ward

Justice for Nancy Williams - Murder, She Told, Kristen Seavey

Justice for Nancy Williams - Murder, She Told, Apple Podcasts

Nancy Williams student newspaper coverage - The Harbinger, Mount Wachusett Community College, Jim Kresse

Justice still sought - The Gardner News, Stephen Landry

Public remembrance posts and community tributes shared in Nancy Williams’ memory were reviewed as remembrance only, not as evidence.

Music acknowledgment: Mahalo to Yoza for “Broken Wings.”

#NancyWilliams #Winchendon #MassachusettsTrueCrime #UnsolvedHomicide #ColdCase #NewEnglandTrueCrime #UnderThePines

Edward H. Mayrand Jr. and the 1983 Gardner, Massachusetts homicide of 25-year-old Kathleen M. Daneault—last seen on November 17, 1983 and found the next day off Mill Street—remained unresolved for decades. In 2014, the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office announced an exceptional clearance, stating DNA evidence linked Mayrand to Daneault’s murder. Authorities also described the DNA finding as enabling comparisons that helped investigators conclude Mayrand was responsible for the 1987 death of Judith Whitney in New Hampshire. Mayrand was already imprisoned for the 1994 murder of Patricia Paquette in Rhode Island and died in custody in 2011.

This episode is reconstructed from documented reporting and official statements available at the time of release. It includes a clearly labeled Speculation Lane that is separate from the factual timeline. Listener discretion is advised.

Sources:

Worcester County District Attorney’s Office statements and case materials on the Kathleen M. Daneault homicide and the 2014 exceptional clearance; WMUR-TV reporting summarizing investigative findings in the Judith Whitney case; wire and Rhode Island coverage documenting Mayrand’s Patricia Paquette conviction and the multi-state linkage described by authorities.

#UnderThePines #TrueCrimePodcast #MassachusettsTrueCrime #GardnerMA #WorcesterCounty #KathleenDaneault #ColdCase #UnsolvedHomicide #DNASolved #ExceptionalClearance #ForensicDNA #NewEnglandTrueCrime #NewHampshire #JudithWhitney #RhodeIsland #PatriciaPaquette #SerialKillerCase #CriminalJustice #VictimCentered #InvestigativePodcast

Alicia Fernandes, 39, was reported missing in Worcester, Massachusetts in January 2025, with public reporting tying her last known area to the Lincoln Street area. Worcester Police asked the public for help locating her after her family had not heard from her. This episode follows the verified public record of the appeal, what’s known publicly, and what has not been publicly released.

What we know (publicly reported): Alicia Fernandes (39); last known area publicly reported as the Lincoln Street area in Worcester; Worcester Police public request for help dated January 14, 2025; public description released for identification: 4'11", brown hair, brown eyes.

If you have information that could help locate Alicia, contact 911 or Worcester Police at 508-799-8606.

If you’re listening on Spotify, follow Under the Pines so these cases stay visible—because attention is what keeps a name from fading.

Thank you to Yoza for “Broken Wings.”

Until next time. Some stories disappear because no one keeps saying the name. Out here, beneath the pines, the land remembers what others try to forget.

Sources:

Boston 25 News; NBC Boston; Patch; Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra; City of Worcester (Worcester Police Department contact info).

#UnderThePines #WorcesterMA #MissingPerson #AliciaFernandes #Massachusetts #TrueCrimePodcast #MissingPersons #Unresolved

John “Johnny” Donaldson was 20 years old when he was shot and killed while sitting in his car in his parents’ driveway on Lovers Lane in Harvard, Massachusetts—an unsolved Worcester County cold case that still echoes into neighboring Boxborough.

In this episode of Under the Pines, we walk the verified timeline: John working nights at the Sheraton Boxborough, returning home in the early hours of April 6, 1979, a brief check-in with a local patrolman shortly before the shooting, and the discovery the next morning—John still in the driver’s seat. Investigators recovered .22-caliber shell casings at the scene, and the case record notes similar .22-caliber casings found at multiple locations in Boxborough, raising questions that have never been fully answered.

What this episode covers:

Who John Donaldson was, and what his life looked like at 20

The last known timeline: work in Boxborough, return to Harvard, the driveway encounter

The shooting and the physical evidence that anchors the case (.22-caliber casings)

The Boxborough casing pattern and what it may suggest (without overstating certainty)

The later investigative turn: an accessory-after-the-fact charge, and why the case remains unresolved

Content note: This episode contains factual reporting on a homicide and an unresolved investigation. Some details may be disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.

Sources used (credited):

Worcester County District Attorney’s Office case summary

The Boston Globe (via Boston.com) reporting

Boston 25 News reporting

Dark Downeast episode coverage (used for additional context; primary facts were verified against official summaries and reporting)

#UnderThePines #JohnDonaldson #JohnnyDonaldson #HarvardMA #BoxboroughMA #WorcesterCounty #MassachusettsTrueCrime #UnsolvedMurder #ColdCase #1979

Molly Anne Bish was sixteen years old when she disappeared from Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts, on June 27, 2000. She had arrived for a summer lifeguard shift. Minutes later, her chair, radio, first-aid kit, water bottle, lunch, and shoes were left behind.

This revisited Under the Pines episode rebuilds Molly’s story with updated reporting, original 2000–2003 newspaper coverage, official statements, family interviews, and a clearer line between verified fact and speculation. We follow the early search, the white car and composite sketch, the open first-aid kit, the Palmer/Whiskey Hill recovery, the identification of Molly’s remains, the naming of Francis “Frank” P. Sumner Sr. as a person of interest, later DNA/testing updates, and the Bish family’s ongoing push for answers.

Molly was more than a missing lifeguard. She was a daughter, a sister, a student, an athlete, a friend, and a young woman remembered for music, singing, shopping with friends, and a kind of mischief people still smiled about years later. This episode keeps her life at the center.

If you know anything about Molly Bish, Comins Pond, the white car, Francis “Frank” Sumner Sr., Whiskey Hill, or anything someone said years ago that never sat right, contact the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office or your local police.

Sources:

Molly Bish | Warren, MA

https://warren-ma.gov/239/Molly-Bish

Family, DA still seek justice 20 years after Molly Bish's murder

https://www.wcvb.com/article/family-da-still-seek-justice-20-years-after-molly-bishs-murder/32972726

Family of Molly Bish wants someone else to take over 23-year-long investigation

https://www.wcvb.com/article/molly-bish-family-23-year-long-investigation/44109241

25 years later, Molly Bish's disappearance, death still unsolved

https://www.wcvb.com/article/25-years-later-molly-bish-s-disappearance-death-still-unsolved/65218114

DA: New person of interest named in Molly Bish murder case

https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/da-new-person-interest-named-molly-bish-murder-case/K3JRTZNAWJGMTPRWGAAOSRETWE/

Here’s where the Molly Bish case stands 20 years after her body was found

https://www.boston.com/news/crime/2023/06/07/molly-bish-case-frank-sumner-worcester-county-district-attorney-joseph-early-update/

Help Find Molly Bish's Killer

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/molly-bish-massachusetts-unsolved-murder-48-hours/

48 Hours: Molly Bish Case

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/48-hours-molly-bish-case/

Original newspaper archive material reviewed through Newspapers.com: The Republican, The Boston Globe, The Patriot Ledger, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Hartford Courant, Portland Press Herald, North Adams Transcript, Burlington Free Press, Times-Tribune, and regional Associated Press coverage from 2000–2003

https://www.newspapers.com/

#MollyBish #CominsPond #WarrenMassachusetts #MassachusettsTrueCrime #UnsolvedMurder #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #UnderThePines

Thirteen-year-old Deborah “Debbie” Quimby disappeared from Townsend, Massachusetts, on May 3, 1977, after leaving home on a brown ten-speed bicycle with a note saying she was going to her grandfather’s camp near Vinton Pond and would call later. The call never came. Her bicycle was never recovered. Nearly fifty years later, her disappearance remains one of Massachusetts’ most haunting unsolved missing-child cases.

Debbie was a Pop Warner cheerleader, a daughter, a friend, and a child growing up in a small New England town where kids still rode miles through back roads and wooded stretches without being tracked. Later reporting described her as leaving notes behind, needing time to think, and planning to reach out later that day. Whatever was on her mind, the verified record does not show a goodbye. It shows a child who expected to come back.

This episode of Under the Pines follows the known timeline of Debbie Quimby’s disappearance, the searches that followed, the anonymous Walker Pond letters, the 38-day pond search, and the later investigative efforts that kept the case alive across decades. It also looks carefully at public theories and rumors, including claims that have never been substantiated, while keeping the verified facts separate from speculation.

If you know anything about Debbie Quimby’s disappearance, even something that seemed small years ago, contact the Townsend Police Department or the Massachusetts State Police. In a case this old, one remembered detail can still matter.

Music featured: “Broken Wings” by Yoza — used with thanks.

Sources:

Cold Case Investigation Pushes Forward In Townsend — CBS Boston

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/cold-case-investigation-pushes-forward-in-townsend/

Townsend Police Get New Lead In Missing Girl’s Cold Case — CBS Boston

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/townsend-police-get-new-lead-in-missing-girl-cold-case/

Deborah Ann Quimby — The Charley Project

https://charleyproject.org/case/deborah-ann-quimby

Have You Seen This Child? Deborah Ann Quimby — National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/727916/1

Missing Person / NamUs #MP1469 — NamUs

https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP1469

274DFMA — Deborah Ann Quimby — The Doe Network

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/mp-main.html?id=274dfma

The Girl Who Rode to Nowhere — Medium / Lori Lamothe

https://medium.com/the-shortform/the-girl-who-rode-to-nowhere-a8688f3d0162

No giving up on missing girl — Telegram & Gazette / Matthew Bruun, May 3, 2007

Archived article text reviewed from research materials.

Letter revives investigation of girl’s 1977 disappearance — The Boston Globe / John M. Guilfoil, Dec. 22, 2010

Archived newspaper clipping reviewed from research materials.

Associated Press reporting on the June 2004 Walker Pond search

Archived newspaper clippings reviewed from research materials.

USA Today report on Lewis Lent task-force review, Jan. 29, 1994

Archived newspaper clipping reviewed from research materials.

#DebbieQuimby #DeborahQuimby #TownsendMA #MassachusettsTrueCrime #MissingChild #MissingPersons #ColdCase #UnsolvedDisappearance #WalkerPond #VintonPond #NewEnglandTrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #UnderThePines #UnsolvedMystery #JusticeForDebbieQuimby

In September 1980, 19-year-old Kristine Forget of Pepperell, Massachusetts was found beaten to death in the woods of nearby Dunstable. Her murder remains unsolved. This Under the Pines revisit stays with the documented record, the family context, and the long silence that settled around a case that never received a public answer.

This episode includes discussion of homicide, violent assault, and an unresolved investigation. Where the record is solid, it is treated as fact. Where the record grows thinner, that is said plainly. Any later rumor, public chatter, or broader cultural fear is kept separate from the verified spine of the case.

Kristine came from a real family in Pepperell. Public family records tie her to Joseph and Barbara Forget, her sisters Diane and Mildred, and her brother Norman. Public remembrance also keeps her in the North Middlesex world along the Massachusetts-New Hampshire line, where Pepperell, Townsend, and Ashby shared one school district and one regional high school.

If this episode brings back a memory, detail, or conversation you have never shared, the Dunstable Police Department is still publicly listed at 23 Pleasant Street, Dunstable, MA 01827, phone 978-649-7445.

Sources used:Police Department | Dunstable MA — https://www.dunstable-ma.gov/police-department

Schools | Pepperell, MA - Official Website — https://town.pepperell.ma.us/126/Schools

Joseph Forget Obituary (1927 - 2016) - Pepperell, MA - Lowell Sun — https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/lowellsun/name/joseph-forget-obituary?id=16485829

Episode Seven: Eddy Segall [Nashua, NH] and Kristine Forget [Dunstable, MA] - Women Like Judy - Apple Podcasts — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-seven-eddy-segall-nashua-nh-and-kristine/id1636990428?i=1000594789423

What Sparked the Satanic Panic of the 1980s? | HISTORY — https://www.history.com/articles/what-was-satanic-panic-1980s

#UnderThePines #KristineForget #UnsolvedMurder #ColdCase #DunstableMA #PepperellMA #MassachusettsTrueCrime

In August 2013, thirty-three-year-old Shaun Hibbard was shot near the corner of Forest and Charles Streets in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Wounded and fighting to survive, he ran up Forest Street knocking on doors before collapsing on the porch of 46 Forest Street. His death sparked a long, complex investigation that would take more than a decade to reach a courtroom.

This episode examines the full timeline of the case: the early-morning confrontation, the gunfire at 4 a.m., the frantic run for help, the medical findings, the investigative dead ends, and the eventual break that led to the arrest and conviction of John Yang. In 2025—twelve years after the shooting—Yang was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 20 years.

All details in this episode are drawn from verified sources, including the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts Appeals Court. This case highlights Fitchburg’s long memory, the challenges of delayed justice, and the quiet weight that violent moments leave behind in small New England neighborhoods.

Primary Sources Used:Worcester County District Attorney – Murder Conviction Announcement:
https://worcesterda.com/fitchburg-man-convicted-in-murder-in-2013-killing-of-shaun-hibbard/

Worcester County District Attorney – Sentencing Release:
https://worcesterda.com/yang-sentenced-in-murder-in-2013-killing-of-shaun-hibbard/

Massachusetts Appeals Court Decision (background conflict referenced in the record):
https://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/court-of-appeals/volumes/98/98massappct446.html

If you have information related to a cold case in Worcester County or the Fitchburg area, contact your local police department or the Massachusetts State Police tip line.

#ShaunHibbard #FitchburgMA #FitchburgCrime #WorcesterCounty #MassachusettsTrueCrime #UnderThePinesPodcast #ColdCaseSolved #TrueCrimeStory #TrueCrimeInvestigation #SmallTownTrueCrime #ForestStreetFitchburg #CharlesStreetFitchburg #NewEnglandCrime #JusticeAfter12Years #SolvedAfterADecade #TrueCrimeCommunity #TrueCrimePodcasts #TrueCrimeAddict #MassachusettsHistory #CrimeAndJustice #CourtRecords #VictimStories #TrueCrimeResearch

Sabrina Hatheway vanished in Worcester, Massachusetts, in December 2014 after saying she would be right back. She was last linked to a home on Dixfield Road that later burned in an arson fire on New Year’s Day 2015. This episode follows the verified record around Sabrina Hatheway’s disappearance, Kevin Crozier, the Dixfield Road fire, and the questions that still remain.

We stay close to what can be documented: Sabrina’s last known movements, the arson case that sent Kevin Crozier to prison, the family’s long search for answers, and the reason Worcester police are still asking for information more than a decade later. Where the record thins out, we say so.

If you know this case, or think you know only one small piece of it, this is the kind of story where one detail can still matter.

Sources:

WPD Detectives Urge the Public to Come Forward with Any Information in the Disappearance of Sabrina Hatheway
https://www.worcesterma.gov/police/press-releases/wpd-detectives-urge-public-come-forward-any-information-disappearance-sabrina-hatheway

Hatheway, Sabrina | City of Worcester
https://www.worcesterma.gov/police/investigations/unresolved-cases/hatheway-sabrina

Sabrina Lee Hatheway – The Charley Project
https://charleyproject.org/case/sabrina-lee-hatheway

New England's Unsolved: The disappearance of Sabrina Hatheway
https://www.boston25news.com/news/new-englands-unsolved-the-disappearance-of-sabrina-hatheway/645365698/

Missing Worcester mother's boyfriend pleads guilty to burning down home
https://www.boston25news.com/news/missing-worcester-mothers-boyfriend-pleads-guilty-to-burning-down-home/756596432/

Missing Worcester woman’s family planning vigil on sixth anniversary
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/worcester-county/missing-worcester-womans-family-planning-vigil-sixth-anniversary/BNYM7RKUXVDZ3EVPRU3IG2PGMI/

#SabrinaHatheway #Worcester #MissingPerson #TrueCrimePodcast

Clara Provost murder, Fitchburg cold case, Ronald Dame, and the 1974 DNA evidence that finally gave a young mother’s family an answer after nearly four decades.

This revisited Under the Pines episode rebuilds Clara Jean Burnham Provost’s story with deeper research, stronger sourcing, and a clearer line between the verified court record, early local reporting, family memory, and public discussion.

Clara was 23 years old, a young mother raising her three-year-old son in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. In January 1974, she was found murdered in her apartment. Her door had been forced open. Her little boy was found crying. Investigators suspected Ronald C. Dame early, but the case waited for science to catch up.

Decades later, preserved fingernail scrapings from Clara’s hands became the evidence that changed everything. DNA testing helped move the case from suspicion to prosecution, and in 2012, Dame was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

This episode also brings Clara back into focus beyond the case file. Through early local coverage and Beatrice A. Johnson’s She’s Not Just a Faded Photograph: Clara’s Life, Clara is remembered as a daughter, sister, young mother, and oldest child in a family shaped by hardship, faith, grief, and persistence.

Listener discretion is advised. This episode discusses murder, intimate-partner violence, childhood hardship, family trauma, crime-scene details, and the grief carried by a child and a family left behind.

Sources:

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court - Commonwealth v. Ronald C. Dame, 473 Mass. 524

https://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/supreme-court/volumes/473/473mass524.html

Worcester County District Attorney - Clara Provost, age 23, of Fitchburg

https://worcesterda.com/cases/clara-provost/

Worcester County District Attorney - SJC Affirms Dame’s Conviction

https://worcesterda.com/2016/02/03/sjc-affirms-dames-conviction/

Telegram & Gazette / Gary V. Murray - Fitchburg Man Gets Life in 1974 Slaying of Young Mother

https://worcesterda.com/cases/clara-provost/

The Daily Sentinel and Leominster Enterprise - Public Help Sought Following Brutal Murder Of City Mother, Jan. 8, 1974

https://www.newspapers.com/

The Daily Sentinel and Leominster Enterprise - Murder Victim Had Throat Cut, Jan. 9, 1974

https://www.newspapers.com/

Fitchburg Sentinel - Murdered Girl’s Mom Asks Help, Jan. 9, 1976

https://www.newspapers.com/

The Book Checkout / Dorrance Publishing - She’s Not Just a Faded Photograph: Clara’s Life by Beatrice A. Johnson

https://secure.combinedbook.com/she27snotjustafadedphotograph_170762.html

Music credit:

Thank you to Yoza for the use of Broken Wings.

#ClaraProvost #FitchburgMA #MassachusettsTrueCrime #ColdCaseSolved #DNACase #RonaldDame #UnderThePines #NewEnglandTrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #WorcesterCounty