Molly Bish case gets a fresh look 25 years after Massachusetts teen’s murder

In 2021, twenty years after her sister went lacking, Heather Bish did one thing she by no means thought she would do.

Heather Bish: 40-year-old me acquired into the TikTok sport. … It is allowed me to love share my story and share Molly’s story and actually simply be trustworthy.

HEATHER BISH | TikTok: It has been 7,680 days since my sister disappeared. And I have been ready for solutions on what occurred to her.

She hopes that by going public along with her TikTok movies on-line she’s going to generate suggestions that can lastly clear up her sister’s case and put an finish to a painful 25-year-old thriller.

HEATHER BISH | TikTok: If you already know one thing, please say one thing. The wait must be over.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MOLLY BISH

The final time Heather Bish noticed her little sister Molly was the morning of June 27, 2000 – simply earlier than Molly left for her job as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts. Molly was enjoying with Heather’s 11-month-old daughter Mikaela.

Heather Bish: She was … having enjoyable with Mikaela and I bear in mind my mother saying, come on we gotta go, we gotta go, you are gonna be late.

However shortly after Molly was dropped off, beachgoers arrived and she or he wasn’t there. Police had been ultimately known as to the scene. By the point they advised Magi Bish, Molly had been lacking for 3 hours.

Heather Bish: And my mother was frantic on the telephone …

Heather Bish: She’s stated, she’s not there, she’s not there … her sneakers are there. … My coronary heart dropped. I simply knew one thing was unsuitable as a result of I knew Molly would not go wherever with out her sneakers on.

Erin Moriarty: Why?

Heather Bish: As a result of she did not like icky ft.

Erin Moriarty: Once you first heard that she was lacking, did you suppose perhaps she had gone off with pals?

John Bish Jr.: No.

John Jr. is Molly Bish’s brother.

John Bish Jr.: Not what we do. … It is not our character, our character. We had been raised higher than that.

Sixteen-year-old Molly was Magi and John Bish’s third and youngest youngster. “48 Hours” interviewed John Bish Sr. in 2003.

John Bish Sr.: She was closely concerned at school, with sports activities, along with her pals.

Molly was an honor roll pupil, varsity athlete and she or he had simply accomplished her junior 12 months of highschool.

Heather Bish: Molly was simply very loud and enjoyable.

Heather says regardless of their six-year age distinction, they had been extraordinarily shut. It was a bond she had had with Molly ever because the day she was born.

Heather Bish: I do bear in mind pondering that “Oh that child is my child too.” … I am gonna educate her all the things I do know. And, um, you already know, we’re gonna do that life collectively.

Molly additionally had a detailed relationship along with her brother.

Heather Bish: She very a lot wished to be like my brother.

John Bish Jr.: I took her beneath my wing. … You recognize, I used to be a lifeguard earlier than her. She wished to be a lifeguard. Um, we performed soccer collectively, baseball collectively.

Heather Bish: Molly was 5 seven you already know, she was athletic and in form and robust.

So when police recommended that Molly may have drowned, they did not consider it.

Magi Bish: When Molly went lacking, I imply we— it was inconceivable. … After which, what I used to be advised was, the primary help equipment was open.

Including to the thriller … the police radio was there, however Molly had not used it for her required morning verify in.

Magi Bish: Why? So what was, what occurred?

Later that afternoon, when it turned clear to native police that Molly had not simply walked off with pals, State Police took over the investigation and launched an in depth search.

Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Colonel Dan Richard headed to Warren to assist out.

Det. Dan Richard: I had a 3-year-old daughter. Her identify is Molly. She had blonde hair, she has blue eyes. This case has daily been with me from that day to at this time.

Additionally current on the scene was then Worcester District Lawyer John Conte.

Detectives zeroed in on everybody who was near Molly — together with relations, pals and Molly’s boyfriend, Steven Lukas. They’d solely been courting for 3 months and had simply gone to the promenade collectively.

Kathy Curran: What raised some suspicion was that Steven Lukas had a fats lip and he had some scratches on him.

Kathy Curran is a former investigative reporter at WBZ.

Kathy Curran: Might a younger child pull off this crime in such a brief period of time …

The Bishes by no means believed that Lukas was concerned.

Inside 24 hours, authorities had been taking a look at recognized intercourse offenders within the space.

D.A. JOHN CONTE (to reporters in 2000): We have checked out, uh, 35 to 45, uh, intercourse offenders, uh, within the space.

Heather Bish: That is been the scariest half about all that is realizing what number of unhealthy individuals had been inside the cloth of our, of our neighborhood.

Molly’s dad labored tirelessly with police.

Heather Bish: He was at all times going each weekend making an attempt to work with police and looking for alternative ways to, to seek out Molly.

And even if DNA testing was nonetheless in its early phases again in 2000, Detective Richard says they did gather and doc many objects present in and across the pond space, together with discarded cigarettes and trash.

Det. Dan Richard: After we did the preliminary search … something that wasn’t there by nature or by God was a minimum of recognized as, as potential proof.

As the times glided by the Bishes’ despair grew.

Heather Bish: It wasn’t like Molly was hit by a automotive or acquired sick. She was simply immediately gone and we did not know the place she was …

However it will be Magi Bish who would give detectives their largest lead.

The morning earlier than Molly disappeared, as Magi went to drop Molly off at work at Comins Pond, she recalled seeing a person, sitting alone in a white automotive.

Magi Bish: And I see this man … and he is simply smoking a cigarette and he simply offers me a — like just a little look and I say oh I am unable to go away her right here. …  you already know it is just like the Mama Bear comes out.

Magi says she waited for 20 minutes till he lastly left. When she introduced it up with Molly that night, Molly did not appear involved.

Magi Bish: She says, “Oh no, Ma, it is simply fishermen, do not be — I am not afraid.”

The subsequent day, when Molly disappeared, Magi advised the police about what she had seen.

Det. Dan Richard: That turned very important … as a result of now we had a chunk of data.

A sketch was composed primarily based on Magi’s description and it was launched to the general public.

D.A. CONTE (to reporters in 2000 holding up a sketch): That is the person that we’re on the lookout for, uh, in that white automotive.

Magi Bish: I had seen the hair. It was grey. It was very thick. … It is simply that smoking (she indicators along with her palms) you already know that doggone smoking. That is what I remembered.

Virtually instantly, a whole bunch of suggestions began flooding in.

Det. Dan Richard: For those who had been a — a 50-year-old white male with a mustache and salt and pepper hair, anyone could have, uh, wished to present us a name.

Many months later, authorities launched a second, completely different sketch.

D.A. CONTE (to reporters in 2000): I consider that this sketch is a outstanding sketch and it’s totally distinctive and I feel it is gonna assist us an awesome deal.

However nonetheless no Molly.

Kathy Curran: I feel that is what makes this case so tough. You recognize, you’ve got so many individuals who resemble that sketch.

Magi Bish (emotional): You recognize when, when time stored going and passing, you knew it wasn’t good. You simply know that anyone both has her. And that is horrendous.

After which, nearly three years after Molly disappeared, police had been notified {that a} bathing go well with had been discovered within the woods simply 5 miles from Comins Pond.

 

THREE YEARS LATER — A BREAK IN THE CASE

Erin Moriarty (strolling within the forest): Do you bear in mind the very first time you got here right here?

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: Sure I do. … It was Might of 2003. We got here right here for what we thought could be the restoration of Molly Bish.

Three years after Molly Bish disappeared, Dr. Ann Marie Mires, a forensic anthropologist for the Boston Medical Examiner’s Workplace, was summoned by police to the realm generally known as Whiskey Hill — positioned about 5 miles from Comins Pond.

Dr. Ann Marie Mires (strolling deeper into the forest): That is how we got here in at first … So proper above us listed here are these rock ledges. And that is the place the washing go well with was discovered.

A neighborhood hunter had stumbled upon items of a weather-beaten blue bathing go well with, very like the one which Molly Bish was sporting when she disappeared.

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: Once I noticed the washing go well with, I stated this has in all probability been up right here for roughly  three years.

Erin Moriarty: And the way may you inform?

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: It was coated by deadfall, so leaves and particles from three years of, uh, foliage dropping. However then it had additionally grown into the floor and roots had come up via it.

Kathy Curran: I arrived with my photographer… And I used to be let in.

Appearing on a tip, Kathy Curran and her information crew acquired there in time to take footage of the washing go well with.

Erin Moriarty: What is going on via your head?

Kathy Curran: I used to be sick to my abdomen. Simply excited about Magi and John. And figuring out what it may imply. (tears up)

As Curran left Whiskey Hill, she known as Magi.

Kathy Curran: And he or she stated, you already know, may you present us the video? And I stated Magi, you already know, I, I actually do not wanna do this. However you already know if that is what you need to do … I — I wanna do no matter I can to assist.

Magi Bish (crying): She simply had just a little van and had the six little TVs or no matter inside and she or he confirmed it to us.

John Bish Sr. (2003) (viewing video of the washing go well with and comforting Magi): So distinctive.

John Bish Sr.: (2003) It seems to be like hers.

Magi Bish: (Covers her eyes and cries.)

Magi Bish: And I knew. I knew that was Mol’s bathing go well with proper then and there (cries).

John Bish Sr. (2003): Let’s go in the home.

Magi Bish: And I went up. I locked myself within the room … I cried so arduous. There was nothing, I used to be intestine wrenched.

Kathy Curran: It was one of many hardest days of my profession. … As a result of you already know for 3 years, there was nonetheless hope. And he or she knew at that second that one thing was drastically unsuitable and one thing horrible had occurred.    

Investigators despatched the washing go well with to the Massachusetts State Police Lab and a non-public lab in Virginia for DNA testing.

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: So now we have gotta search the realm and see if we are able to discover proof … that may assist us decide what occurred up there.

As they waited for DNA outcomes, beneath Mires’ instruction, a brand new search was launched.

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: And that is after I principally stated we’re gonna grid this space …

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: We did grid looking arm to arm, they had been close by of one another, they raked, they combed the forest with rakes.

Erin Moriarty: And had any of that space been searched earlier than?

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: No.

When John Bish Sr. arrived to the scene,  Mires assured him of 1 factor.

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: You recognize I regarded him straight within the face and I — I shook his hand and I stated, Mr. Bish in case your, in case your daughter’s stays are — are right here, we’re gonna deliver her residence to you.

District Lawyer John Conte introduced that the DNA outcomes got here again as “inconclusive.” The search continued and intensified.

Heather Bish: And it was the most important search that is ever been carried out in Massachusetts historical past.

And nearly two weeks later, they made a horrific discovery.

D.A. CONTE (to reporters in August 2003): This afternoon … we did uncover a human bone. It is the higher arm bone. And Dr. Mires does describe it because the bone of an individual between 14 and 20 years of age.

Erin Moriarty: What did that really feel prefer to lastly discover a bone?

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: Unbelievable … however instantly I considered the household.

DA CONTE (to reporters in August 2003): We have now established the realm as a criminal offense scene space.

As days glided by, investigators would come to seek out extra human bones.

Magi Bish: It was like daily they got here with small rib bones. It was like aw, agonizing and, you already know, they had been looking for Mol. And we went out each morning. We thanked the, the searchers. We had been so grateful that folks would proceed to look and assist us discover Mol.

By the top of the three-week search, investigators discovered as many as 27 bones and a human cranium unfold throughout 35 acres of forest. It was confirmed via DNA testing and dental identification that the bones had been Molly’s. Mires believes that Molly’s killer probably picked Whiskey Hill due to its hidden location.

Erin Moriarty: Do you consider the killer may need been a hunter?

Erin Moriarty: Being that —

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: It is potential.

Erin Moriarty: —  aware of the realm?

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: It is potential.

She additionally believes that after Molly was killed, a mountain lion could have scattered her stays among the many 35 acres of forest.

Dr. Ann Marie Mires: I typically felt that the individual knew the realm and knew that there was, uh, a big animal up there.

MAGI BISH (to reporters in August 2003): We need to let you know that Molly’s come residence. We’re extraordinarily saddened, the depth of our unhappiness no household ought to need to endure.

With the invention of her sister’s stays, Heather had a tough time accepting the tragic information. 

Heather Bish: I wished to run away. Actually, I simply wished to run outdoors of this nightmare and this life and perhaps my — even my very own physique. However I bear in mind feeling like I wished to run away, immensely.

The seek for Molly Bish was now over, however the seek for her killer was by no means extra pressing.

 

“ONE PIECE OF INFORMATION AWAY”

 
Two months after Molly Bish’s bones had been found in August 2003, on what would have been her twentieth birthday, Molly was laid to relaxation.

Magi Bish: We had been so blessed. We acquired to have it in a church.

However after three years, the Bishes nonetheless had no solutions as to who may have murdered Molly. And the person within the white automotive, who Magi had seen the day earlier than Molly disappeared, had by no means been recognized.

Det. Dan Richard: Irritating is a reoccurring phrase in — on this case.

Magi wasn’t the one one who reported seeing a suspicious white automotive within the neighborhood, say investigators. On the day that Molly went lacking, a white automotive was noticed at a automotive wash proper down the road from the pond and once more within the cemetery behind the pond.

Erin Moriarty: So the place is Comins Pond proper from right here?

Det. Dan Richard: It is that route straight down. … And you may see there is a path opening there.

Erin Moriarty: Sure. So anyone noticed a white automotive, the place? Proper down on that –

Det. Dan Richard: Down alongside that street.

Erin Moriarty: — street down there? (pointing)

Det. Dan Richard: Sure.

Erin Moriarty: So, is the thought that if anyone introduced the automotive down there they might … perhaps seize her, pull her again up, get within the automotive, earlier than …

Det. Dan Richard: That is a concept.

Actually, within the early days of the investigation, search canines did observe Molly’s scent from the pond, main as much as the cemetery.

Kathy Curran: You do not simply bump into Comins Pond. That is why the one that killed Molly Bish … needed to have watched her. They usually needed to have had a plan.

However there have been nonetheless so many unanswered questions: like, why was the primary help equipment left open? Kathy Curran believes that Molly’s abductor could have pretended to be injured.

Kathy Curran: After which somebody both pressured her or threatened her … to get her up that hill as a result of she, she’s athletic. … She’s not going to go simply.

Then in Might 2004, 4 years after Molly disappeared, D.A. John Conte known as for a grand jury to be convened.

Kathy Curran: Everytime you hear a grand jury in a prison case, you suppose oh … they’ve proof in opposition to somebody … So the hope was that the case was shifting ahead.

Heather, alongside along with her household, had been known as to testify. They are saying that lots of the D.A.’s questions appeared to be targeted on Molly’s pals.

Heather Bish: I bear in mind we had been all kinda like mad as a result of … we did not really feel like they had been actually important.

However detectives had discovered that a few of Molly’s pals had gathered at her boyfriend Steven Lukas’ home the morning of Molly’s disappearance.

Heather Bish: We’ve got a timeline.

They usually had been telling police conflicting tales about what occurred within the hours earlier than and after Molly went lacking.

The grand jury transcripts are sealed so it isn’t recognized whom the investigators truly questioned, however they might later clear Steven Lukas as an individual of curiosity. After two lengthy years, in December 2006, the grand jury was dismissed with out an indictment.

Heather Bish: It was disappointing … it was extremely disappointing.

Simply weeks after the grand jury was dismissed, John Conte retired, and Joe Early Jr. took over as Worcester District Lawyer. He says the grand jury was used as an investigative software to protect witnesses’ testimony.

D.A. Joe Early: You get ’em proper in. You get ’em beneath oath and there is a prison penalty in the event that they lie within the grand jury. … they usually cannot say later, I did not say that as a result of it is proper there. .. And that’s one thing that helps us get instances past an inexpensive doubt and show guilt.

However Heather says not having solutions as to who murdered her sister was taking its toll.

Heather Bish: I used to be giving up hope in plenty of areas.

And issues solely acquired worse. In 2007, her father John Bish Sr. — who labored so intently with police — had a stroke. Heather would now face the daunting process to take over the place her father had left off, and it will not be simple.

Magi Bish: The police have at all times stayed very cautious about what they’d tell us.

Heather Bish: The police stored saying it, we’re only one piece of data away. Properly the place is that piece? 

In 2008, a person who resembled the sketch named Rodney Stanger, was arrested for murdering his girlfriend in Florida. The sufferer’s sister reached out to Heather and claimed that Stanger could have been concerned in Molly’s homicide as effectively.

Heather Bish: He has this violent historical past. He lived, um, very near the place Molly skilled to be a lifeguard.

Erin Moriarty: Was he a smoker?

Heather Bish: He was additionally a smoker. He was recognized to fish at Comins Pond and hunt within the space the place Molly was discovered.

Police had been notified about this tip. However Heather says she was advised that Stanger had been on one of many investigator’s lists of individuals of curiosity from the very starting.

Lt. Shawn Murphy: I’ve truly visited him in jail.

Lt. Shawn Murphy: He did not have a lot to say to me however I tried. And so have, so produce other investigators as effectively.

Stanger was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and was sentenced to 25 years in jail. In 2012, State Police went all the way down to Florida once more to go looking Stanger’s trailer.

Det. Shawn Murphy: We did execute a search warrant at his residence with our legislation enforcement companions. And we did take objects.

Detective Murphy says the objects had been examined for DNA to see in the event that they might be linked to Molly.

Det. Shawn Murphy: We have examined and proceed to check and transfer ahead.

However there was not sufficient proof to make him an official suspect. After which, in 2011 a non-public investigator got here to Heather with a brand new tip a few man named Gerald Battistoni.

Heather Bish: He had truly raped a lady within the woods the place Molly was discovered. His ex-wife had a white automotive that she reported he was driving in Warren the day Molly disappeared.

Heather says she took this tip to the State Police who’ve confirmed that Battistoni, who died in jail in 2014, was on their radar together with many others.

Det. Dan Richard: There are occasions … you may say this individual’s actually good for this. This individual’s actually good for that. That is not the way you clear up a criminal offense. You recognize, you need to have the proof to assist it.

Lastly in 2021 — 21 years after Molly disappeared — it regarded like investigators had sufficient proof. The District Lawyer’s Workplace formally named an individual of curiosity.

Kathy Curran: For the primary time, I assumed that is it. There will likely be justice …

THE BISH FAMILY LOSES HOPE

On June 3, 2021 — greater than twenty years after Molly Bish disappeared — there was lastly information.

WBZ NEWS REPORT: Tonight, a break within the homicide of Molly Bish. Greater than 20 years after {the teenager} was killed, Investigators have named a brand new individual of curiosity.

D.A. Joe Early Jr.: We named the individual of curiosity.

Erin Moriarty: However you had by no means accomplished that earlier than.

D.A. Joe Early Jr.: By no means accomplished that — by no means accomplished that on this case. … However we did get extra data to return in, we pursued these leads. And at that time I used to be comfy saying … this individual is an individual of curiosity. Sure.

Francis “Frank” Sumner, Sr. was a neighborhood auto restore store proprietor with an in depth prison file. Kathy Curran was the primary to report the small print.

Kathy Curran: Frank Sumner appeared like an awesome suspect. … Frank Sumner has a violent previous. He was convicted of rape and kidnapping.

Erin Moriarty: Was he aware of the realm?

Kathy Curran: He was, he was aware of the realm. … He was from the realm. He had entry to a white automotive.

Kathy Curran: And whenever you evaluate the photograph of him smoking the cigarette to the sketch … you may see a resemblance there.

And identical to the sketch, Sumner was photographed smoking together with his left hand. D.A. Joe Early Jr. says Sumner, who died in 2016, had been well-known to investigators working the Bish case for years.

Erin Moriarty: What made Frank Sumner rise to that high to really be known as a suspect?

D.A. Joe Early Jr.: Info that got here in … some dots that had been linked.

Though tight-lipped in regards to the particulars, the Worcester D.A.’s workplace was assured that Sumner was a viable suspect and deliberate to match his DNA to DNA discovered on the crime scenes. However because it turned out, they could not receive Sumner’s DNA. Sumner had been cremated and his DNA had by no means been submitted to the nationwide CODIS database.

Heather Bish: I do not know who dropped the ball. However anyone dropped the ball …

So authorities traveled to Ohio to get DNA from his son, Frank Sumner Jr. He was serving time in jail for theft.

Heather Bish: And so we waited and we waited trigger they stated … we’ll, you already know, do some DNA evaluation.

Heather, who had began that TikTok months earlier, reached out to her followers to see if she may drum up extra proof.

Heather says it took investigators a few 12 months earlier than they lastly advised her the outcomes of the DNA testing.

Heather Bish: It was inconclusive.

Erin Moriarty: What do you imply inconclusive? Was he eradicated from the DNA?

Heather Bish: I do not know what meaning.

Erin Moriarty: Oh, you do not —

Heather Bish: They usually will not inform me.

Heather wonders if authorities who collected discarded cigarettes and different proof at Comins Pond also have a viable pattern of the killer’s DNA.

Erin Moriarty: Do you’ve got sufficient DNA that you may do genetic family tree and have you ever accomplished any?

D.A. Joe Early Jr.: I am unable to converse to the DNA. … I can converse on this approach. We proceed to check. … And we have gotten effectively over 100, uh, items of data examined and we proceed to check.

Erin Moriarty: You recognize that the Bishes have been pissed off. They do not really feel they’re getting sufficient data out of your workplace. They wanna know is the DNA being preserved correctly, what sort of DNA?

D.A. Joe Early Jr.: As a common rule of thumb, it doesn’t matter what household it’s, the Bishes, uh, different households that we have now, we simply do not share the data as a result of … somebody may say one thing they only should not say and it could possibly compromise your entire case.

Nonetheless, he says DNA is only one piece of the puzzle.

D.A. Joe Early Jr.: This is not only a DNA case. There is a — plenty of investigation that is been accomplished. … We’d like just a little bit extra. I am not going to say what it’s … However we’d like just a little bit extra to get the place we would like— have to get to call an individual because the per — as a defendant on this case.

However Heather says she’s shedding religion within the investigators.

HEATHER BISH (TikTok): It is actually a tragic scenario to be a sufferer member of the family within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Investigator Shawn Murphy says he understands Heather’s frustration.

Lt. Shawn Murphy: Heather is a fierce advocate for her sister and her household, and I would not have it some other approach. And I’ve no drawback being held accountable by Heather and I am joyful that she holds me accountable.

25 years after Molly Bish’s homicide, the case stays energetic and there’s a new detective who has not too long ago joined the investigation. She has a plan.

Det. Chelsea Safford: Once I dedicate myself to one thing I don’t cease till it is completed …

 

A RENEWED LOOK AT THE MOLLY BISH CASE

In March 2025, Detective Chelsea Safford was employed to take over the Bish investigation.

Det. Chelsea Safford: It is an ideal job for somebody that has an overactive thoughts, thrives on challenges, and does not sleep a lot.

Considered one of her first duties has been to weed via and set up over 80 containers of case information which have gathered through the years.

Det. Chelsea Safford: I noticed all these containers and I simply wished to dive in. I simply wished to study extra.

Safford believes the reply to who killed Molly could lie inside these 80 containers.

Det. Chelsea Safford (pulls out a yearbook from a field within the proof room): This one, I discovered Molly’s, um, highschool yearbook and I went via that. Um, you already know, I’ve a number of suggestions that I used to be making an attempt to trace down.

It is a part of her technique to arrange and have a look at previous suggestions with recent eyes.

Det. Chelsea Safford: Who else may need heard or seen one thing that they did not understand was important. That one person who we have not spoken to, they is perhaps the lacking piece that we have been looking for this whole time. … I consider that that yet another piece is on the market. … I simply need to preserve digging.

And Detective Safford faces an amazing process. She says there was nearly 8,000 suggestions which have are available in since Molly went lacking — they usually preserve coming.

Det. Chelsea Safford: I can actually say that since I have been on this workplace, I do not suppose per week has passed by the place we have not obtained a Molly Bish tip, if not a number of all through the weeks.

Detective Safford says she’s additionally finding out the numerous items of proof concerned in Molly’s case. She allowed “48 Hours” to accompany her to the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab’s DNA Chilly Storage facility in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Sherri Mittelholzer is a forensic assist part supervisor on the Crime Lab.

Erin Moriarty: And what am I taking a look at proper in entrance of me?

Sherri Mittelholzer: So it is a bay, um, stuffed with proof … And all of these things right here go along with … the Molly Bish case.

Inside a number of the brown paper luggage are objects taken from the crime scenes.

Erin Moriarty: Is the … swimsuit right here?

Sherri Mittelholzer: (pulls proof bag from a shelf): It’s … Oh, it is this one I consider. I do not suppose it says it on it however I do know it was despatched out for extra testing.

Erin Moriarty: Are there any cigarettes right here? Or any –

Sherri Mittelholzer: There undoubtedly are cigarettes.

Det. Chelsea Safford (taking a look at an proof checklist): Containers ABC. There are plenty of them in ABC.

Sherri Mittelholzer: ABC is that this one right here. They have been repackaged over time.

Erin Moriarty: Have they been examined?

Det. Chelsea Safford (wanting down at her paper): Oh yeah.

Erin Moriarty: Chelsea, are you going to be taking a look at this to see if there’s one thing else … your pondering, what, why do not we attempt to take a look at that?

Det. Chelsea Safford: Completely. Yeah.

Right now, Detective Safford has her eye on one piece of proof specifically: Molly’s backpack.

Det. Chelsea Safford: I am going to let you know that is the primary merchandise that I have been on the lookout for … (factors to a field that claims “backpack.”)

Erin Moriarty: Why?

Det. Chelsea Safford: I feel what we stock in our … backpack or our pocketbook, uh, I feel it says quite a bit. And I, I personally suppose studying in regards to the individual, the sufferer, I feel is an important a part of every case.

Regardless of the challenges, Detective Safford says she is decided to seek out solutions for the Bish household.

Det. Chelsea Safford: None of us can deliver Molly again, however the very best factor I can do is … discover out what occurred.

Erin Moriarty (Pointing to images of different instances posted on Safford’s bulletin board): I see you’ve got a few of these … solved, responsible, captured … Is that what you need to do on this case?

Det. Chelsea Safford: It is not what I need to do, it is what I’ll do. We — we’ll do it.

Heather Bish, who has been crucial of the Massachusetts State Police investigation previously, says she is inspired by Detective Safford’s ardour.

Heather Bish: I really feel like she has the identical vitality and dedication to fixing this as I do.

Heather nonetheless makes TikTok movies about Molly’s case, hoping her efforts will at some point generate a tip that may assist investigators.

HEATHER BISH (TikTok): Anyone is aware of one thing, and anyone is aware of who killed Molly Bish.

Heather Bish: I’ll by no means surrender. I — I am going to battle. … Molly deserves that justice.

D.A. Joe Early Jr. insists that investigators are shifting in the fitting route.

Erin Moriarty: As you sit right here, is Frank Sumner nonetheless on the highest of the checklist of individuals of curiosity?

D.A. Joe Early Jr.: He is the one individual of curiosity we have named. The one individual of curiosity that is been named on this case. … Sure.

On June 27, 2025, the Bish household gathered with family and friends to recollect Molly 25 years after her demise — first on the cemetery after which at a extra formal ceremony within the heart of Warren.

Heather Bish: I really feel her beside me. Due to Molly, I’ve turn out to be braver than I ever thought potential. I’ve confronted my deepest fears. I’ve endured unimaginable heartbreak. I’ve survived.

Magi Bish: I consider Molly’s love and light-weight have guided us via these 25 years. So at this time we share our household’s gratitude. … And due to Molly we have now conquered what evil couldn’t … for love is far stronger.

The night ended with a gathering at Comins Pond.

Heather Bish: I do not need individuals to ever overlook Molly. … And we’ll by no means … cease honoring her.

When you have any data that may assist authorities discover Molly’s killer, please attain out to the Molly Bish Tipline: 508-453-7575.

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Produced by Chris Younger Ritzen. Alicia Tejada is the coordinating producer. Michael McHugh is the producer-editor. Marc Goldbaum is the event producer. Michelle Harris is the editor. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.