Episode 148: The Disappearance of Charlotte Lester
Charlotte Lester was born on June 28th, 1977, and grew up in Massachusetts. She moved to Rhode Island in her adulthood and became a mom to three children. Charlotte was an incredible mom and adored her children and being a mother. She was also a proud dog mom to her sweet poodle named Chloe, who went everywhere with her. Charlotte was described as being very kind, and she lived by “Do 20 good deeds a day.” She spent a lot of her free time giving back to the community, volunteering at local clothing drives and she always made it a point to keep money on her to give to houseless neighbors. 44-year-old Charlotte was living as a single mom in Warwick, Rhode Island. She was being supported financially by her ex-boyfriend, a married man she had recently ended a relationship with, but the two remained friends. She had also been seeing a man named Mark Perkins.
Charlotte was able to have more free time, and when she wasn’t spending time with her children she would take Chloe on walks and head to the park to feed the ducks, which she did almost every day. Her friends described her as having a “bubbly and magnetic personality.”
On May 19th, 2022, Chloe was found alone, seemingly abandoned and wandering around Elmwood Avenue near Belmont Park. When Charlotte was contacted about her dog and didn’t answer, her friends and family knew that something was wrong. Belmont Park was about five miles from Charlotte’s home and was too far for Chloe to have wandered off on her own.
It was then that it was realized that Charlotte was last seen three days prior on May 16th. She had been last seen at 10:00pm in the Apponaug area of Warwick. She was reported missing by her ex-boyfriend. He was interviewed and ruled out as a suspect, and he was cooperative with the investigation and incredibly concerned for Charlotte.
Investigators discovered that Charlotte’s red 2006 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck was also missing. Once this was discovered, alerts for the car were immediately put out. Her bank accounts had not been used, and her cellphone activity has not been released to the public.
Mark Perkins, the man Charlotte had been seeing, had his home searched on May 21st. The next day, police removed the septic tank and septic system. A crime scene was established around his property with 24/7 police surveillance for the next four weeks.
On May 23rd, one week after Charlotte was last seen and four days after Chloe had been found abandoned, Charlotte’s red pickup truck was found in the parking lot of Kent Hospital, just a few miles from Charlotte’s home. Immediately it was thought that Charlotte could have been hurt or needed medical attention, but the hospital had no record of her being there. The truck as well as the wooded area next to where the truck was parked were searched, and although police have not disclosed all of what they found, they did find several items that seemed like they were related to her disappearance. A few of these items were love letters from Mark to Charlotte.
A local radio host named John DePetro had been covering the case and giving updates, and on August 17th, 2022, he was doing a Facebook Livestream in front of Mark’s house. Mark came out to confront him after John asked multiple questions about the investigation and Charlotte’s disappearance, and the situation turned physical when Mark, wearing an orange ski mask and blasting music on a CD player, turned on a lawnmower and shoved it into John. He was arrested for felony assault, vandalism, disorderly conduct and larceny. Mark had also stolen John’s cell phone and put it inside his home, but this was later returned.
There have been multiple searches done of Warwick and the surrounding towns, and in June of 2022, police, Charlotte’s family and tons of volunteers gathered to search the Pawtuxet River, which runs along Belmont Park near where Chloe was found.
At the time of her disappearance, Charlotte was 5’7” and weighed about 130lbs. She has brown eyes and short brown hair, but often wears wigs due to having Alopecia. The clothing she could have been wearing at the time of her disappearance is unknown.
There is a reward for anyone with any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible or leading to Charlotte’s whereabouts. Anyone with any information on the disappearance of Charlotte Lester is asked to please call the Warwick Police Department at 401–468–4200. You can also send anonymous tips by texting WARWICKPD to 847411.
There is also a GoFundMe, “Searching for Charlotte Lester”, to raise money for legal expenses as well as search teams, social media, the reward money, flyers and their private investigator: https://www.gofundme.com/f/charlottelester
Image sources:
wpri.com - “Charlotte Lester still missing 2 years later”