Episode 53: The Disappearance of Janice Pockett
July 26th of 1973 seemed to be just like any other day for the Pockett family of Tolland, Connecticut. Ronald Pockett was at work and Kathyrn Pockett took her two daughters, Janice, 7, and Mary, 6, to the grocery store. When they arrived home, Janice asked her mother if she could take her bike and ride a little ways down the street- she wanted to go and collect a butterfly she had found on their walk two days earlier. Janice and Mary loved to play outside and find little creatures like bugs and wildlife.
Kathryn agreed to let Janice go get the butterfly, giving her a small envelope for the butterfly’s safe transportation. The only rule was that Janice had to come back right away, as this was her first time riding her bike alone. Agreeable to the plan and excited, Janice set off around 3:30pm, excited to find the treasure she had hidden under a rock just a little ways into the woods.
When 4:00pm rolled around and Janice didn’t come home, Kathryn became worried. The trip shouldn’t have taken more than half an hour at most. So Kathyrn took Mary and together they set off on the path to where Janice had gone. They quickly found Janice’s bike on the side of the road, and it was facing towards their house. The pair checked the woods to see if Janice was still collecting the butterfly, but when they got to the specific spot, they were horrified to discover the butterfly was gone… and so was Janice.
Panicking now, Kathryn and Mary rushed home and called the police to start a search party. Over the coming days and weeks, over 800 people searched for the little blonde-haired, gap-toothed sweetheart. The only clue they had was from two witnesses, who drove past the bike on the side of the road. One witness claimed the bike was facing away from the home, and the other witness, who passed the same spot not 5 minutes later, claimed the bike was facing towards their home; exactly how Kathryn and Mary found it.
To this day, 49 years later, Janice has never been seen again. There has been no physical evidence to give clues to where she could have gone. Only two suspects have ever been officially named in her disappearance, but neither were charged with the crime. Unfortunately, police could not follow up on the leads of these two suspects because they both died before there was a chance. Since her disappearance, Janice’s parents have both passed away, and her little sister, Mary, continues to fight for her to be found.
Anyone with any information on the disappearance of Janice Pockett is asked to please call Detective Jennilee Dicocco at (860) 896-3243 or the Eastern District Major Crime Squad at (860) 896-3230.
Image Sources:
courant.com - “7-year-old Janice Pockett went missing from Tolland in 1973. An age progression photo shows what she may look like today.”
cnn.com - “Girl, 7, vanished while looking for a butterfly”