Episode 44: The East Middlebury Does
The year is 1935, and a mother-daughter duo is combing an old logging road in East Middlebury, Vermont, for mayflowers. After an unsuccessful trip, the daughter kicks a white rock on the journey back home. To her horror, instead of the rock coming loose and taking a tumble, the rock rolls and turns to reveal that it is not actually a rock…but a skull.
Authorities discovered a total of 3 skulls- one was an adult woman, and the other two were determined to be those of children. At the crime scene, the victims were wrapped in what appeared to be a canvas awning from a porch or a yacht. Also, there were pearl buttons, chunks of matted hair, remnants of a silk dress, and a flattened .38 caliber bullet jacket. It was obvious that all three victims had died of a single gunshot wound to the temple.
Investigators were immediately focused on trying to find the identities of these victims, and more importantly, why they were killed. The adult woman, and the older of the children, had extensive dental work on their teeth. In an attempt to identify the skulls, detectives sent them to Boston and New York in hopes that one of the dentists there could positively ID their work. Unfortunately, this led nowhere.
Over the course of the investigation, several people of interest popped up in the police radar. From an eager man who wanted to help find skeletons, to a suspicious gun owner whose family had disappeared. Additionally, investigators looked into the missing Golden family, which started to look promising, until evidence revealed that the victims were not a match. Over 87 years later, and the identity of the victims still has not been solved.
Anyone with any information about this case or the identities of the victims is asked to please contact the Middlebury Police Department at (802) 388-3191.
Image sources:
burlingtonfreepress.com - “History Space: A 1935 Middlebury cold case”