RSSMichelle Gardner-Quinn, 21-year-old University of Vermont Senior is Missing
Another college student has gone missing. This time its 21 year old Michelle Gardner-Quinn 
who is a senior at the University of Vermont. She was last seen in the downtown area of Burlington, VT. Police believe her disappearance is suspicious. Please be on the lookout for Michelle.
Read the full story, complete description of the known facts and pictures of Michelle Gardner-Quinn including her Missing Persons poster at Missing & Exploited.
For more updates on Michelle Gardner-Quinn
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103 Responses to “Michelle Gardner-Quinn, 21-year-old University of Vermont Senior is Missing”
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my prayers are with you Michelle, please get home safe.
Oh dear, it doesn’t look too good. Prayers for Michelle and her family.
Praying you are safe and found soon Michelle! God bless the family and friends!
I too am praying for Michelle’s safe return.
We see this way too much. God be with Michelle and her family.
We don’t get too many cases like this up here in Vermont, but there’s a lot more crime than those who accept the “tourist haven” image ever hear about.
Not that I’m against tourism … it’s the biggest industry that my Green Mountain state has going for it.
What’s really bizarre is that part of her walk home was with some guy who let her use his cell phone. (He’s been cleared of any wrongdoing in the matter.)
The police are asking the public to help them out in the search, but to take care to protect themselves. Oddly enough, in a way, this weekend featured classic Vermont autumn weather: frosty mornings (we had two frosts back-to-back, at least in my area) and hot, sunny afternoons with clear skies and magnificent light.
Amidst all this natural splendor that is the hallmark of our state, tragedy struck.
Apparently there is one suspect, who was in the area and was acting oddly, but that’s far from conclusive.
http://www.myspace.com/1751485
Praying for your safe return Michelle!! My thoughts & prayers are with her & her family!!
I hope and pray for her safe return. EVERY week we hear of another young girl missing. Mark Firman was on TV last night reminding people of the “BUDDY SYSTEM”. IT WORKS !!!!
What was she thinking walking home alone ???????
Hope this has a good outcome.
Does anyone know if Joran happened to be in the area? No response required.
Be safe Michelle……chris
I heard something on the news about some personal items of hers found? I can’t find any articles about it though, anyone?
I just heard from someone at UVM -who shall remain nameless- that Michelle’s body was found in a trailer in Hinesburg.
This is such a terrible thing. I have been keeping up with this on the news. Prayers are with Michelle and her family. May God comfort you in this uncertain time!!!
Also, this needs to be a lesson to ALL girls NEVER go anywhere (especially at night) alone!!
I am praying for Michele as well and hoping she will be found
These stories are too frequent now a day
Girls are not aware of so many bad people around
What is wrong with this world? Why are there so many sickos out there?
Praying for this family.
The latest news that I’ve heard is that police have been spending a lot of time at a suburban town outside Burlington. Also, the initial talk about someone in a hatchback acting suspiciously may no longer be “operative.”
Furthermore, the role played by the guy who said she used his cell phone, then left him, seems to be in dispute.
One thing to keep in mind: it’s never clear while a case is underway whether the police are being totally candid or whether they are releasing certain information in an attempt to get someone scared. So I think, at least.
As far as I see, there’s nothing in the online Vermont newspapers about her body being found. Not now, anyway.
A good idea: her parents have posted a video plea about her on the Internet. It’s at the Web site of the Burlington, Vt, police department. Meanwhile, UVM has increased patrols and security.
GRETA mal- you are truly pathetic! Does it really matter right now? You should be sending a prayer and stop being so judgmental!
By saying she shouldn’t have been walking around by herself is turning the whole thing around on her and making this horrible situation her fault. By NO means is Michelle at fault. She is the victim! I agree that it is safer to stick with the buddy system but sometimes that doesn’t work out. what are we young women supposed to do? walk around in fear all the time? or not leave our homes once the sun goes down? that is no way to live. This is an extremely unfortunate incident and i truly feel for Michelle and her family; my thoughts are with them.
Lets hope for a miracle and she is found safe and sound. The world s an evil and bad place too much of the time.
G-d support Michelle and her family at this time.
[...] Michelle Gardner-Quinn Crime Library Missing — Michelle Gardner Quinn UVM Student’s Disappearance called “Highly Suspicious” Search Continues for College Student Michelle Gardner-Quinn, a 21-year-old University of Vermot senior is Missing Police Search For Missing UVM Student Police Look For Vehicle In Missing UVM Student Case Missing UVM Student: 6 P.M. Update Missing Vermont Student May Have Been Abducted Searching for Michelle Gardner-Quinn [...]
MortalT: your comment on a rumor you heard is absolutely tasteless and you should be embarassed. The rumor mill is often unreliable and never leads anywhere productive. This a human we are talking about – a daughter, a sister, a friend, a girlfriend, not just a body. Please honor that.
I don’t know how old everyone is that has been posting on this site, but as a senior in college, I want to let you know that every college woman is well aware of the dangers of walking in the dark alone. Every woman is terrified to go anywhere alone with the unending cases of rape and assault. But the unfortunate reality is that “no one thinks it will happen to them” and college students are often having too good of a time to always make wise decisions. It’s a scary world that we live in, and us college students are full aware of that. Michelle is no exception. She has traveled the world and is hardly lacking street smart and common sense. We do not know why she was walking alone on Friday night, but one thing is for sure — she wasn’t intending to disappear before reaching her destination.
The focus here should be on compassion and not criticism.
Exactly Sara B.
Michelle has every right to walk down the street at night or at anytime, for that matter. Let’s stop blaming the victims and get a grip on what is wrong with us as a society. We need to make it safe for our children to go out and have a good time and enjoy their youth without having to worry.
We need to educate ourselves on ways to safeguard our families and those around us, especially our children. The fabric of our nation is torn everytime another one goes missing. It has become an epidemic in this country and if we don’t do something about it soon, we are all dumed.
It’s a cinch that we can’t go on like this…
Our thoughts are with you and all your friends. We pray for the safe return of Michelle. She is beautiful and she represents our future just as all our other children do, in a fun, youthful and amazing way. Don’t ever let anybody take that from you. Stay strong…..
Here’s the latest that I’ve found on the news … the Denver Post picked up this Boston Globe article.
If the police are to be believed, they’ve found the driver who acted “suspiciously” and have all but eliminated him as a suspect. Also, they executed multiple search warrants. And they are operating on the assumption that Michelle is still alive, was abducted and is in danger.
Vt. student probably abducted, police say
The Boston Globe
10/12/2006
Burlington, Vt. – Police said Wednesday they are assuming a missing University of Vermont student has been abducted, is still alive and is in danger.
Police also announced that a patrol officer found the driver of a vehicle whom authorities have been looking for since another woman reported that the man tried to lure her into his vehicle around the time Michelle Gardner-Quinn was last seen.
She disappeared about 2:15 a.m. Saturday while walking back to her dormitory from downtown.
Police said the man is cooperating and that they are close to ruling him out as a suspect.
“He has provided an explanation, which at this time has been determined to be noncriminal, and we are going to continue to investigate to eliminate him from suspicion,” said Burlington Police Chief Thomas Tremblay.
Tremblay said police executed multiple search warrants Wednesday, but he declined to say where.
On Tuesday, police searched a house in the quiet bedroom community of Richmond, about 15 miles from Burlington.
Residents of the house are not suspects in Gardner-Quinn’s disappearance, Tremblay said, but he said police continue to investigate the home and its residents.
Authorities also are continuing to scrutinize a man who loaned Gardner-Quinn his cellphone and is the last person to have reported seeing her, Tremblay said.
The chief asked residents to search their yards for jewelry that Gardner-Quinn, a 21-year- old senior, was wearing when she disappeared as well as for her university student card, which is used to make purchases at local merchants.
About 30 police officers, many accompanied by dogs, searched several remote areas across the county, police said. At the same time, a group of Gardner- Quinn’s friends, her brother and more than a dozen local firefighters combed Burlington’s Hill section near the campus.
Her friends said they did not expect to find anything but felt compelled to do something.
“It seems pointless almost because I’m sure the police have already swept this,” said Adam Briere, a 19-year-old sophomore. “I don’t know what else I would do.”
I am a 43 year old stepmother with a 16 year old daughter and this fear is with me and her mom every time she goes out. We can teach our children with the best and safest of intentions but cannot protect them from everything. All women, in my opinion should look into self defense and learn how to defend themselves without weapons. Also, we need to put out as much love and random acts of kindness in the world as possible. Michelle is a beautiful woman and my intuition is that she will be found and safe and alive!!!!!!! I will this and know it to be true. Everyone else, please put this positive energy into the universe for Michelle and the rest of our human family! Peace and love….
Sara B: I spoke with my source about the misleading information. I am embarassed. Furthermore, I didn’t intend any disrespect with the manner in which I presented my post.
I sincerely hope that Miss Gardner-Quinn, the sister, the friend, the daughter is found safe and secure.
Sara B: I spoke with my source about the misleading information. I am embarrassed. Furthermore, I didn’t intend any disrespect with the manner in which I presented my post.
I sincerely hope that Miss Gardner-Quinn, the sister, the friend, the daughter is found safe and secure.
I am thankful that the news of this missing woman is spreading… I have been posting updates in the Missing Persons forum of this blog when I can find them.
Our heart goes out to her friends and family… keeping them in our prayers.
So is this “rumor” retracted?
Ironically, if this was not Parents weekend, the streets would have been loaded with other students. Since it was aprents weekend, students were low key.
There aren’t that many places in Burlington that are open at that time, even on a Saturday. That’s my impression at least. We’re an early-to-bed, early-to-rise state … after all, the cows and chickens have to be fed!
The latest update I have heard is that the original searches in the outlying towns are being called off, or at least scaled down. What’s going on now is that they’re concentrating on the Burlington waterfront, that is, on the shore of Lake Champlain and the nearby parks.
And apparently they’re looking for a particular person.
http://www.bpdvt.org/
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
Police narrow focus of student search
October 13, 2006
Burlington Free Press
SOUTH BURLINGTON — A man who lent his cell phone to Michelle Gardner-Quinn in the minutes before she disappeared Saturday morning has become “a significant focus of our investigation,” police said Thursday.
But six days into the widening hunt for the 21-year-old University of Vermont senior, authorities conceded they are not substantially nearer to naming a suspect than they were when the search began.
“We are not close to an arrest,” Burlington Police Chief Thomas Tremblay said. “There is no evidence at this time that supports a criminal offense.”
Tremblay said police had received more than 100 leads.
Gardner-Quinn, a native of Arlington, Va., whom friends and relatives have described as reliable and responsible, vanished early Saturday as she walked back to her dormitory at University Heights from downtown. Her parents, in town for UVM’s Family Weekend, reported their daughter missing when she didn’t arrive for dinner as planned.
The man who shared his phone with Gardner-Quinn accompanied her part of the way up Main Street, police and friends have said.
Authorities on Thursday released images from a surveillance camera on a downtown jewelry store that shows Gardner-Quinn and the man, whom police have repeatedly declined to identify, walking together at 2:34 a.m. Saturday. They are on the south side of the street and headed east, toward Edmunds Elementary and Middle School and UVM beyond.
The three grainy frames show Gardner-Quinn and the man apparently chatting and strolling a foot or two apart.
Insufficient explanation
Investigators said the man, who is in his 30s, is not considered a suspect. Tremblay contrasted the man with a person authorities sought early this week who was reported acting suspiciously while driving a white Subaru about a mile north and at about the same time Gardner-Quinn last was seen. That man, the chief said, provided a satisfactory explanation and has been ruled out. The man with the cell phone has not.
“He is still a significant focus because we are not satisfied” with his explanation, Tremblay said.
Police have examined records of calls placed and received by that man and other people early Saturday. Gardner-Quinn’s friends have said she borrowed the cell phone from a “random guy” after her phone’s battery failed while she was trying to call other friends.
Authorities have questioned the man and know where he is. He does not pose a threat to the public, Deputy Chief Michael Schirling said. The man and Gardner-Quinn were not acquaintances, Schirling said during a news conference Thursday at a South Burlington hotel.
The man is directly connected to a home on Browns Court and surrounding land in Richmond that police scoured earlier this week, Tremblay said. The chief would not disclose the nature of that link.
“We’re not going to speak at all about the details of any questioning of this person,” Tremblay said. “We are not going to speak specifically about what search warrants have been done, but certainly a thorough investigation would include vehicles and anything else.”
Searchers fan out
Searchers again Thursday spread across Richmond and spilled into new sites in Jericho and along Burlington’s waterfront. Teams included Vermont State Police troopers and specially trained dogs, who walked along dirt roads, through fields and across parks, including Oakledge and North Beach in Burlington.
Those and other searches this week, including of Burlington’s Hill Section and the Intervale, have not yielded substantial finds, such as items of clothing and jewelry Gardner-Quinn was wearing when she vanished, Tremblay said.
Investigators also searched “other selected locations” that Tremblay declined to disclose.
Burlington police also released pictures Thursday of several people who walked east on Main Street shortly after Gardner-Quinn and the man with the cell phone passed. Tremblay said police want to speak with those people about what, if anything, they saw on the sidewalk ahead of them.
Schirling asked people in Chittenden and three surrounding counties — Addison, Franklin and Lamoille — to search their lawns, roads or buildings for any items Gardner-Quinn might have been wearing or carrying. Tremblay said he is hoping for progress.
“I hope to someday be able to announce not only that we have a suspect but that we’ve made an arrest in this case, if an arrest is necessary and appropriate,” the chief said.
You don’t get too many cases like this in Vermont?
Try a list:
All the people who have gone missing from Vermont and New Hampshire over the past 25 years:
1. Rachel Garden, missing from Newton NH, southeast of Manchester, March 22, 1980.
2. Russell Bovit, missing from Last Resort Farm in Walden VT , May 11, 1986
3. Sonja Moore, missing from Stark Pond area of Dunbarton NH, November 2, 1989
4. Cheree Hawkens, last seen at Burlington Airport, Burlington VT, January 18, 1990
5. Heidi Dawn Wilbur, last seen at a convenience store in Middletown Springs VT, February 9, 1991
6. Audrey Groat, last seen at the Park and Ride in Northfield VT, August 21, 1993
7. Bethany and Tina Sinclair, missing from West Chesterfield NH, February 4, 2001
8. Hang Thi Phuong Nguyen, missing from Manchester NH, March 16, 2001
9. Lorne Richard Boulet Jr., last seen on Perry Brook Road in Chichester NH, July 29, 2001
10. Karen Shirley Dube, missing from Ware NH, Sept.1, 2001
11. Courtney King, missing from Pelham NH, January 9, 2004
12. Timothy James Young, last seen on Daniels Pond Road in West Glover VT, January 20, 2004
13. Maura Murray, last seen on Rt 112 in Haverhill NH, February 9, 2004
14. Brianna Maitland, last seen at Black Lantern Inn, Montgomery VT, March 19, 2004
15. Dominika Smolinski, missing from Westford VT, August 27, 2004
16. Jessica Ann Capille, missing from Bethlehem NH, December 8, 2004
And here is a map with indexes of where they disappeared from:
And this is a list of all the unsolved murders in Vermont and New Hampshire in the last 35 years:
1. Joanne Dunham, Charlestown NH, October 1968
2. Jane Doe, Bedford NH, October 6, 1971
3. Daniel O’Connell, Loudon NH, October 30, 1971
4. Kathy Gloddy, Franklin NH, November 22, 1971
5. Paul Olsen, Madison NH, March 24, 1973
6. James Teta, Rindge NH, August 25, 1973
7. Anne Psardelis/Diane Compagna, Raymond NH, September 29, 1973
8. Domingo Valdes, Pelham NH, June 14, 1974
9. Maurice and Ellen Wilkinson, Center Ossipee, August, 16, 1974
10. David Longfellow, Manchester NH, November 24, 1974
11. James O’Brien, New Boston NH, April 12, 1975
12. Judy Lord, Concord NH, May 20, 1975
13. Madlyn Crouse, Nashua NH, February 27, 1976
14. James Sullivan, Gilmanton NH, February 21, 1977
15. Casmiro Jablonski, Newmarket NH, July 6, 1977
16. Joan Gray Rogers, Hardwick VT, July 15, 1977
17. Shari Lynn Roth, Livermore NH, August 21, 1977
18. Jaclynne Snyder, Lee NH, September 4, 1977
19. Pauline Miller/ Ray Blanchette, Manchester NH, October 24, 1978
20. Cathy Millican, New London NH, October 24, 1978
21. Kenneth Jache, Weare NH, October 14, 1979
22. Mary Elizabeth Critchley, Unity NH, August 9, 1981
23. Yvonne Fine, Concord NH, September 7, 1981
24. Laura Kempton, Portsmouth NH, September 28, 1981
25. Mary Harrison, Winchester NH, October 30, 1981
26. Sylvia Gray, Plainfield NH, May 28, 1982
27. Pamela Brown, Barre VT, July 17, 1982
28. Tammy Little, Portsmouth NH, October 16, 1982
29. Bearnice Courtemanche, Kellyville NH, May 30, 1984
30. Ellen Fried, Kellyville NH, July 20, 1984
31. Eva Morse, Unity NH, July 10, 1985
32. Lynda Moore, Saxtons River VT, April 15, 1986
33. Sarah Hunter, Pawlet VT, July 1986
34. Heidi Martin, Hartland VT, May 1, 1984
35. Steven Hill, Hartland VT/Plainfield NH, (In CT River)July 1986
36. Barbara Agnew, Hartland VT, January 10, 1987
37. Lynn Snyder, Rollinsford NH, April 18, 1987
38. Judith Whitney, Winchester NH, November 8, 1987
39. Patricia Scoville, Stowe VT, 1988 (An arrest was made)
40. Sharon Johnson, Bedford NH, July 28, 1988
41. Pamela Webb, Franconia NH, July 18, 1989
42. Craig Lane, Peterborough NH, January 8, 1989
43. Carrie Moss, New Boston NH, April 24, 1991
44. Stella Bolton, Portsmouth NH, February 16, 1991
45. Rita Roy, Manchester NH, May 20, 1991
46. Theresa Reed, Plymouth NH, September 6, 1991
47. Lisa Begin Wright, Laconia NH, December 18, 1991
48. Cheryl Peters, Morrisville VT, August 9, 1993
49. Angela Ann Blouin, Derby VT, May 30, 1993
50. Mindy West, Manchester NH, October 4, 1998
51. Mary Morales, Vernon VT, March 3, 1999
52. Louise Chaput, Pinkham Notch NH, November 15, 2001
53. Amie Lynn Riley, Manchester NH, August 15, 2003
54. Christina Lunceford, Nashua NH, August 1, 2004
most of those are NH, not VT.
7 people missing from VT in last 25 years
11 unsolved murders in VT in last 35 years
9 people missing from NH in last 25 years
44 unsolved murders in NH in last 35 years
This just out a few minutes ago … apparently they think they have something big, as there is to be an announcement later today (Friday … Friday the 13th, no less).
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Police cordoned off a home Friday a few blocks from where a missing University of Vermont student was last seen a week ago, and a backhoe was brought into the yard, where there had been recent construction work.
Top police officials declined to discuss the search but said they would have developments to report at a late afternoon news conference.
Michelle Gardner-Quinn, a 21-year-old senior from Alexandria, Va., disappeared in the area while walking from downtown toward the university early Oct. 7 after a night out drinking with friends. A man police have described as a focus of the investigation was recorded on a jewelry store surveillance camera with her at about 2:30 a.m.
Gardner-Quinn was reported missing the next day after she failed to show up for dinner with her parents, who were in town for parents’ weekend at the university.
Detectives in Burlington were concentrating Friday on a stately three-story, red brick home a few blocks from the jewelry store.
Vermont State Police, meanwhile, were at the Huntington Gorge, a popular but dangerous swimming hole on the Huntington River in Richmond, spokesman Sgt. John Flannigan said. He said the search was believed to be connected to Gardner-Quinn’s disappearance.
Police earlier in the week had searched a home in Richmond, as well fields there and in neighboring Jericho. The Huntington Gorge is several miles east of the home.
Tommy Lang, 21, a University of Vermont senior who grew up with Gardner-Quinn in Virginia, said Friday that nothing seemed amiss when she called him from the man’s cell phone just before her disappearance.
“She sounded completely fine and normal and exactly the way she did when she left us,” Lang said. “There wasn’t anything that made me worry or made me suspicious that anything was going on.”
That description appears to square with the images from the jewelry store camera, which show Gardner-Quinn and the man walking side by side up Burlington’s Main Street. There is no sign of a struggle or confrontation.
Lang said he called the number Gardner-Quinn had used and spoke to a man.
“He really didn’t tell me a whole lot. He basically said he saw her walking up the hill toward the dorms and that’s about it,” Lang said.
Police officials said the man remained the principal focus of the investigation but had not been charged. His identity was not released, and officials would not say if he was connected to either the house in Richmond or the home searched in Burlington.
“He remains a focus because we’re unable to rule him out,” Deputy Police Chief Michael Schirling said.
___
On the Net:
Burlington Police Department: http://www.bpdvt.org/
The University of Vermont: http://www.uvm.edu/
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=5535894
I just found this on Fox news…
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Police have found the body of University of Vermont student Michelle Gardner-Quinn, according to local news reports.
Local media outlets cited sources that said Gardner-Quinn’s body was found Friday near the Huntington Gorge in Richmond.
Police have scheduled a press conference for 4:30 p.m. Friday.
How horrible!! I just found out. My prayers are with her family. GOD Bless Michelle! Poor innocent child!
Missing Vt. student’s body recovered
Associated Press
10/13/2006
BURLINGTON, Vt. – The body of a University of Vermont woman missing for nearly a week was recovered in a town east of downtown on Friday and the chief suspect in her slaying was arrested on unrelated charges, the police chief said.
Michelle Gardner-Quinn, 21, of Arlington, Va., has been missing since early Saturday morning when she was last seen walking from downtown toward her university dormitory.
Police have been focused on a man whose cellular telephone she borrowed as she walked and Burlington Police Chief Thomas Tremblay said that man, Brian Rooney, 36, of Richmond, had been arrested.
Gardner-Quinn’s body was recovered along a road near Huntington Gorge, a popular swimming spot in Richmond.
Rooney has not been charged in connection with Gardner-Quinn’s disappearance or slaying, Tremblay said. He’s charged with sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. He’s due in court on those charges next week in Caledonia County, about 80 miles east of Burlington, where the crimes allegedly occurred, Tremblay said.
From Burlington Police:
http://www.bpdvt.org/Gardner-Quinn%20Missing%20Person%20Case/Information%20Release%2010-13-06%20PM.htm
Forwarded from message to campus:
October 13, 2006
From: Dr.Mark Fogel
President, The University of Vermont
Campus Gathering
Michelle Gardner-Quinn
An opportunity for our community to gather will begin tonight Friday, October 13, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. at the fountain on the campus green to reflect, meditate and offer mutual support.
Counselors will be available on-site to offer additional support.
The Ira Allen Chapel will also be available for personal reflections and meditations beginning at 6:30 p.m. this evening until 7:00 p.m Saturday, October 14, 2006.
I am very sorry for the family of this girl. May God grant them grace at this time.
I wish they could just take these perpetrators out and shoot them.
david r, That is what HITLER did !!!!!!!!!!
john a, GRETA POST !!!!!!!!! Most everyone on here thinks it ONLY happens in Aruba !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
GRETAmal
Authorities in the USA are solving the case vs. Aruba
covering the up the crime. That’s the big difference.
Horrible. Our prayers are with Michelle’s family. Now, please make every effort to find this sicko and put him to sleep. If not, who will be NExt??? Please!
SMCer
A few words from someone close to the tragedy on a few different levels…. I’ve lived in VT my whole 32 years, I live 15 min. from Burlington one way and 15 min. from Richmond, Huntington Gorge area the other. I have attended classes at UVM. There is a change taking place in this state, and unfortunately as has been proven recently it is for the worse. As a kid, my parents and neighbors never locked our doors, I have roamed the streets of Burlington at all hours of the night sober and not, through what I considered good areas and bad areas, with no thought of anything bad ever happening, and very rarely anything ever did happen. As long as you were minding your own business, you were safe, and even if you weren’t, the worst that would happen was maybe a fight, of which I’ve only been in 1 downtown just after I turned 21 and was hitting the bars nightly, but it was probably my own fault anyway for mouthing off. Now, in the last year or so, I don’t feel safe, as a 6’1″ 200lb guy, walking by myself in Burlington at night, and sometimes even during the day. The college kids definitely have a naivity about Burlington as a ” safe ” place, which it still is compared to any other city it’s size. But in the last month in the area, we’ve had a school shooting in my hometown, 2 dead and 3 others shot, a beautiful college girl abducted, most likely raped, and dumped on the side of the road dead, and just last night a guy was beaten senseless into intensive care by another “random stranger” while walking home. As for poor Michelle, I have swum at Huntington Gorge many times and know that road and swimming hole well, us locals know it is a dangerous place where multiple people have drowned due to the whirlpools in it, including a state police rescue diver trying to recover another drowning victim. The road to the Gorge is tree lined and drops over 100 feet straight down to the river, I am sure that bastard Rooney’s thinking was to kick the body out his car down the cliff into the gorge where most bodies have gotten lodged in underwater passages and not found for months, but he didn’t make it. This killing is just another wake up to what is happening in VT, and the rest of the world. I don’t think anywhere is safe these days, whether you’re a guy or girl. There are nutty bastards all over right now, I just got back from Florida where I almost got caught in the recent police shooting outside Tampa, I was driving on I-4 when 2 troopers came flying by me, and up the road there were literally 50 cop cars across the road looking for the crazy Jamaican guy that killed a sheriff and his dog and wounded another sheriff and took off into the woods. I work as a communications tech, and work on Burlington PD’s, as well as most of the surrounding towns FD and PD radio systems. I know the people you have seen in the press conferences, and while working on their radio systems and dispatch centers and in talking to the other area fire and PD officers, often hear 1st and 2nd hand knowledge of many incidents that are not common knowledge to most people, unless you diligently sit by a scanner. There are many more bad things going on in our communities than one would like to think; assaults now with weapons (which used to just be fist fights), drug deals gone bad (heroin and meth that never existed a few years ago in VT, people robbing for drug money), gang activity (unheard of in VT till recently), and other domestic and random violence that has gotten out of hand. And I don’t advocate any political position, but Burlington’s new mayor has declared Burlington a “safe haven” for refugees and immigrants (the people we’re trying to keep out for terrorism), and cut the police budget at the same time. So obviously that combination is inviting bad things to happen in general, add in a few sexual predators, and we see our whole area declining. I know I’m in a bit of a rant, but people need to be aware of what is going on in their cities, not just in small time Burlington VT, because the whole world is going downhill at an accelerated pace. What has happened to Michelle may be viewed as random violence, but it is a symptom of the system being overloaded and breaking down, and the Rooney’s of the world are taking advantage, maybe in your hometown next. Believe me, the police are doing a great job with the resources they have, I am proud to be helping them with my job, but it will never be enough to stop crimes like these. I’ve been thinking about this all day and for many days before Michelle’s tragedy, and I don’t like feeling unsafe in my community, as I’m sure most of you are feeling likewise after this eye opener that indeed, it can happen anywhere. Would love to hear anybodies thoughts….
Rest In Peace Michelle…
I’ll keep Michelle and her family in my prayers… why does this stuff have to happen? Worst part is for it to happen during parent’s weekend, they must be devastated.
As far as “Rooney” goes, apparently he’s some sick,demented SOB with no consideration for other’s lives. People like him, if found to be guilty, should be tortured to death in public, along with the pedophiles of this world.
J
I’m glad that someone other than I have noticed. It seems that so many people would rather cover their eyes, block their ears and gag themselves to avoid talking about it. I guess it just hurts too much.
You are so right about the acceleration of the violence that we have had to endure. And as I am just another victim, I have no answers. We all can only speculate as to the solution.
For me, it has to do with research. As my life experiences have taught me that there truly is a reason for everything and if only we find the reason, we can find the cure.
If tommorrow, they said that eating Cheetos in the afternoon can lead to violent behavior in monkeys like me, you can bet that I would avoid Cheetos in the morning, afternoon and night. But unfortunately, the answer is not that simple.
My point being that everyone wants to find the solution and everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to change what is wrong about a society that breeds such violent people as Rooney and the like, but we need help.
There is not a single person on the planet that is not aware of the difference between right and wrong. In fact, the very worst of them still have that tiny voice inside that cries out. But as this type of crime is all so new to us, we haven’t the experience neccessary to effect change.
As a scientist, I would say that we need to look at these characters, from every aspect, to determine what it is that make them break. No excuses, only facts, scientific facts;
and if its possible to change those things that contribute to the madness, then do it.
If it’s possible to reset the clock back to where we all cared about eachother, even stranger to stranger, then we should.
To me it doesn’t seem all that difficult, because I truly believe that the real world is NOT made up of people like the likes of Rooney, as they are the exception, but rather it is made up of kind, caring people like you and I.
God Bless Michelle. God be with the family during this time of grief and God please help us make the nightmare, that has become a way of life in this country, go away.
God, please, keep us safe.
J (#52), you are absolutely right. The horrible things that are happening all over are not sparing Vermont. I went to college here in the 1970s, and moved back a few years ago. Things definitely are worse, but that is part of the social disintegration that is sweeping the country.
Still and all, on a relative standard I think that Vermont is safer and a better place to live (except economically), than much of the country.
I’m hoping that somehow we can keep the aspects of Vermont that we cherish while somehow doing something about the direction in which we are heading. Specifically, the horrible proliferation of drugs and the overly lenient court system.
In many ways, Vermont has its head under the covers, hoping the bad things will go away. They won’t. But even though the crime picture is rising, I believe it’s much better than in many places. But our innocence is lost.
My daughter is a student at UVM, in her second year. We are from NYC, and the irony is I was so happy when she decided to go to UVM as I wouldn’t have to worry about her being in danger because of terrorism in Vermont. I was secure in the knowledge that she was safe and sound in a quaint little picturesque town. But for the parents of Michelle, this is their own personal 9/11…one person killed or 3,000, it’s all the same when it’s your kid. My heart breaks for these parents. Truly a “There but for the grace of God go I” situation. Michelle was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I truly do not believe she did anything to cause herself harm. She didn’t seem to be acting in any reckless manner that would put her in danger. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have thought twice about my own daughter walking down Main Street in Burlington alone at 2:30 am before this happened, or asking a stranger to use their cell phone. I would have assumed it was safe, as well, especially since (from the description I read) Michelle wasn’t a small person, wasn’t dressed provocatively, wasn’t really, really young (like 17 or 18)…and it’s VERMONT!
My biggest fear is that this creep isn’t the one who comitted the crime, and that there is still someone out there. If it is, he should be tortured.
Everyone, no matter who you are (male, female, big, small, old, young) needs to be aware of your surroundings, no matter where you are.
Just stay safe, everyone. It’s so tragic. Unspeakably tragic. I am so sorry for the family and friends. My prayers are with them.
she was my best friend’s babysitter and neighbor. they knew each other their whole lives. well…she new my friend all 13 of my friend’s years. my friend burst out weeping yesterday remembering her ffriend from so long. i give my sincerest apologies to michelle’s family and all her friends! xoxo
#56 made a good point, his comment that it may not be this creep because police searched his vehicle and found nothing; unless Brian had an accomplice in another car.
well #36 – that’s really terrible that there’s a serial killer(s) on the loose up NH and VT and since it begins with 1968 I hope they checked a handful of the vets in the area; when i was in vietnam i met a guy who enjoyed killing the enemy; i did it for survival but this guy was wacko; he could have easily become a serial killer once he was stateside; he was a loner and needed no one; nor did he have family. these guys are litterly nuts; and the army didn’t want to renew his tour, they wanted him out of there too.
Please everyone try to remember that ANYONE is innocent until proven guilty.
for hannah – my prayers are with the family, friends and michelee;
for didi – you’re 100%
for joran – there was too much evidence that stratten and dumpig threw away, your guilty.
I’m from Arlington.
Tonight at my job I saw the report on the local news about Michele’s body being found. It brought tears of disbelief, sadness, and frustration to my eyes. I feel so wounded by this out come. I had seen her sister on TV earlier in the week, talking about how Michele wouldn’t be an easy target and how they were trying to remain positive as her sister would have been. From her pictures and the way her family discribed her Michele reminded me of myself, indepentent, self assured, confidently safe. I wanted so much for her to be found alive as the family had hoped, I was sooo with them in thier hoping and praying for her return. I am a practicing Christian. I pray and give thanks for safety for myself and my family daily. I’m sure her parents did too. I too have barrowed strangers’ cell phones on the street. This is really devistating. (Forgive me for stating the obvious, We must express ourselves about this terrible tradgity… and find some kind of course of action to stand against this evil that is praying on the innocent.)
Surely we musn’t have to live in fear and solitute because we have a need. How is it that we should fear asking a stranger for a favor? Surely we must unite and defy the fear, hopelessness, and hatetred this outcome threatens to breed.
I can’t a imagin the family’s greif.
Father, help us to understand what you would have us do. Help us to know that you have already overcome the darkness. Help us to see your supreme Love a give us the seeds of faith we need to continually relinquish the pain, loss, and and trouble that consumes into your hands. Show us the Life in this death. And grant us the portion of Peace we need this day. May God Bless you for all eternity Michele.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
many of these girls had on thing in common, they were self-assured, confident, well traveled, moderately tough and could handle tough situations reasonably well, which mentally assured them that one chance of tackling a situation alone was OK. you should live cautiously, have your senses on keen alert; it’s a way of living like wearing clothes everyday and after a while it becomes second nature – just like you wouldn’t go outside naked, would you?
or maybe vermonts serial killer is a avid hiker and suggested on a foilage web-board or through photos to area hikers if anyones checked the foilage at huntington gorge.
The trail doesn’t necessarily lead back to the late 60s, although there is a rather lengthy list of missing persons in Vermont dating back that far. We recently put up a post on Brainsturbator.com about our own theories regarding Vermont’s serial killer.
There have been four abductions of young girls over the last two years in the Northeast Kingdom, all of whom have been petite, short-haired brunettes between the ages of 17 and 21. From what we’ve been able to gather, all of them disappeared under circumstances which could have involved the help of a ‘good samaritan.’ In a remarkable twist, one of their boyfriends even went missing and was later found dead. For anyone more interested in the specific details on these four girls, check out the Brainsturbator article.
Well, Maura Murray was from New Hampshire. Of course, in geographical terms the distance between where Brianna disappeared and where Maura was last seen is not great.
Many of us are perplexed by the Brianna Maitland case. Her car was found backed into an abandoned building some three miles from where she was working. Speculation abounds, and there is a family-run forum about her case.
An article in the Burlington Free Press today (Sunday) quoted someone as saying that the chief suspect in Michelle’s case had confessed something about his involvement. I don’t remember the details, but if the report was accurate it would certainly seem to point to his involvement.
Yeah, we’ve been trying to reach out to local media and police but nobody really wants to discuss the possibility of that connection. I definitely understand on the police’s part, they’re conducting an investigation and don’t need to talk to hippies. The evidence is disturbing, though.
Everyone failed the final exam. Friends do not let single girls who leave bars at 2:30 am walk alone home. Ever hear of the buddy system? Who ever took the borrowed phone call should have gone to her and be certain every thing was safe. Young women confuse what they can do, have the freedom to do, and what is prudent for them TO do. How many Holloways, Biehls and this young lady will it take to convine every women must avoid putting themselves in harms way. The world is full of predators just looking for a chance to strike. Ask any policeman about their experience watching the “cruisers” circleing the prey at closing time looking for a kill. This no way places all the blame on the victim, but she shares some. Wake up and see the world as it really is and not what you think it is or should be.
thirtyseven, I hope someway, somehow people will come to your community’s aid to start tracking this serial killer. by the way, i was with the 196th infantry brigade, part of the americal division, stationed out of da nang working west into laos along the ho chi minh trail.
I am a parent of a freshman girl from UVM.
I was there for homecoming and everyone was happy, buzzing with excitement to see their parents. There was a glow in the weekend. My husband and I had decided to raise our beautiful daughter in NYC and we wanted her to go to a college that was not in the city where she would be protected from crime, violence and terroism. We experienced tremendous sadness from 9/11.
She is a smart girl who has street smarts. The buddy system is very important for all people, not just college students!
My husband and I were devastated to hear about Michelle. My husband prayed in the Chabad of the Upper East side for the return of Michelle safely. It was not fair!!!! What a jerk this person who took her life is. I can not say enough bad words for him……
I definetly agree with Leroy; especially when the friends said her cell phone ran out of batteries so she appraoched a stranger – duh, couldn’t anyone in the bar loan her a phone. The friends she celebrated with that night paved the road to her fateful evening. I briefly passed through Burlington on a weekend touring N.E. when I was working as a contractor on a gov’t project and my opinion of the New England was not great. If you were not from the area you were an outcast and the New Englanders just didn’t have that southern hospitality; so after 11 months I moved back south.
To The UVM Freshman’s Parent from NYC:
I am the other UVM/NYC parent that posted, above. Please feel free to contact me at furlodsw@yahoo.com if you’d like to talk.
I think you had the same motivations sending your daughter to school in Vermont as we did. How Ironic. I think we are all feeling the same sense of shock and horror.
In solidarity.
Nicole
P.S. To UVM Parrent:
I talked to my daughter at UVM about 10 times a day this weekend. She kept mentioning that this friend from NJ’s mom was up there, that the editor of the school newspaper’s mom was there, that another friend’s mom was there. I almost went this weekend, but ‘held back’ for various reasons, thinking it would have been irrational. I asked my daughter why she thought so many moms were up there, and she said she thought it was a ‘spill over’ of sorts from parent’s weekend last week (my daughter had left town to go visit a friend in last weekend.) I think just alot of moms wanted to hug their kids. So if you are thinking of goig up for a visit, you won’t be the only one.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE girls!!! ALWAYS use the buddy system. NEVER leave a place without the friends you arrived with. NEVER. Most disappearances happen when young women are alone.
My daughter is a Junior at UVM and I just came back from helping her celebrate her 21st birthday. It was a long journey for my husband and I on Friday after learning of Michele’s death on the way up from Massachusetts. It was just so bittersweet to be celebrating such a milestone in my daughter’s life and at the same time feeling so devasted for Michele and her family, Burlington and the students at UVM.
I grew up in NYC and have spent the last 14 years in Mass raising two daughters. I didn’t send my daughter away to UVM with the idea it would necessarily keep her out of harms way. All one has to do is read the paper or watch the news to know that violence against women is everywhere. I’ve never felt that there was any place that couldn’t experience a heinous crime. I think it’s unbelievably naive that people in NYC would think it was safe for their daughters to walk around Burlington at 2:30 am in the morning by themselves. I have been repeatedly lecturing my older daughter about not doing things like that and why. It’s definately not okay for women to walk back home after the bars let out. My daughter just turned 21 today, and I’m terrified at the thought of her ever doing that. After the murder of Michele I think she gets the message loud and clear. Lucky for her she has quite a few male friends who, when she’s with him, always make sure she gets home safely. I can’t imagine her friends having let her take off on her own up the hill. At the party we had for her and her friends there were still a couple of young college girls who told me that they always walk around by themselves that late and will continue to. I told my daugher if she ever gets in a situation where she is by herself late at night, to either stay at the friends house she is visiting or take a cab from downtown if she’s out late at the bars downtown.
I feel as though my own daughter has been assaulted/violated. It breaks my heart that she has to experience this so close to home and feel scared now to walk around when the sun goes down. I will be reminding my daughters for years to come on how to stay safe and not to be so trusting. I can’t help but feel so angry that I want the person who is found guilty to be hanged in a public square in Burlington.
Wendy
Dear Mass UVM Parent:
Yes, it probably is naive for me to think, not that it is ‘okay’, necessarily, for my daughter to walk around Burlington at 2:30 am (prior to this incident), but that it may have happened on occassion. I suppose, growing up in NYC and raising children here, we have a feeling of invincibility, believing our street smarts will always keep us safe from harm. The “If I can make it (here), I’ll make it anywhere.” mentality. I never condoned my daughter walking around alone late at night , I always lectured against it, as well as other dangers, but truthfully, I was more worried about date-rape drugs and drunk drivers than my daughter getting abducted off the street.
One last comment.
It is so easy to blame the victim here. To say “Well, that would have never happened to me or my daughter because I/she am/is smarter than that.” and to believe that your daughter would not have walked home alone after dark, or that they would never have borrowed a stranger’s cell phone. This is a defense mechanism…so you don’t feel so vulnerable.
The truth is, often, these kids are broke. They walk. And in truth, one would think that soeone who was about to do harm to you would not lend you their cell phone, because it’s tracible! Really, apart from the ‘talking to strangers’ aspect, how would one believe that borrowing someone’s cell phone is dangerous???
The truth is, this kid did absolutely nothing different than I have no doubt many UVM students have done in the past. The frightening truth is, it could have been any one of our kids.
I have read about this girl. She lived in Brazil for a semester and she lived in Costa Rica with a poor family for a semester…these places are, on average, far more dangerous than Burlington. No doubt this girl had some street smarts, and also perhaps a false sense of invincibility or security in Burlington.
It’s a scary thought, but this could have been anyone. Let’s stop with the finger pointing and the ‘blame the victim.’ and face the truth. There but for the Grace of God go our daughters.
No one is trying or wanting to blame the victim, that’s not what people are talking about. However, this is an opportunity to realize how putting yourself into situations like this aren’t a good idea, ever. I never really considered Burlington dangerous but you don’t need to think that way to be cautious. I went to UVM a few years back, and sure, people walk up Main st., but not a girl alone, not afer the bars just got out, not with some random guy who is in his 30′s. Why did she leave her friends? Why didn’t she borrow a friend’s cellphone? It all seems so innocent, but that’s not life, whether here or there. I just hope people will open their eyes, whether you’re a girl like her, or friend’s someone you can help. I just can’t imagine letting a friend of mine walk home then with a “random guy” she just met to borrow a cell-phone. It boggles my mind. I mean, she was killed, and that doesn’t happen often, but people get raped, and something like that happens a lot more than most people would suspect, especially when alcohol is involved. Just be cautious people and look out for each other! My heart felt thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Michelle…
What I am saying is that talking to my daughter on the phone, my daughter has said “The girl did this and I wouldn’t ever do that…” and in reality, I think lots of kids have or would do what Michelle did (walk alone, borrow a cell phone from a stranger) without thinking twice before this happened. I DO NOT want anyone to have a false sense of security because they believe Michelle did something differently than they would have and that’s what got Michelle killed. It’s scary to think it could have been you or your daughter, so it’s easy to say “Well, I wouldn’t have done that”. Everyone has to be aware and careful all of the time, no matter where you are, and I think that is the lesson here.
My daughter reports that everyone at UVM, particularly the male students, are looking out for the females and that taxi drivers are now waiting until students get into their dorms before taking off late at night. Everyone is walking and going out in groups and is being ultra cautious.
I met my wife at UVM.
She lived in a few different apartments while there and always with a bunch of gals. I can’t tell you the number of times that she or one of her friends or roomates walked alone.
UVM is located at the top of a hill that extends from the Lake Champlain waterfront. The party core of Burlington, where most bars are located, is basically on the middle of the hill.
In VT, bars close at 2 AM. At 2:01 there usually is stream of students walking up the hill back to dorm rooms or frats after a night of partying. There is also usually a stream of cars heading up the hill too as Main st. is one of the main pipes out of downtown.
I think due to parents weekend, there was not the typical late night street population. To be abducted from Main st and not be seen is really unlikely.
The perp apparently was a construction worker who was working at a vacant hill-side building somewhat off of Main st. He probably parked near there and walked downtown for a night of partying. I suspect that the perp offered her a ride and lured her to the construction scene, where she was killed. The perp had previously lived at his grandmother’s house near where she was dumped. The grandmother’s residence has been a “safehouse” during his other problems with the law.
Vermont has always had crime, but theft used to be the primary problem. Vermont has lots of tourists and out of state people attending colleges. These people are prime targets for theft. More recently, Vermont has seen what appears to be a rise in violent crime. It appears that some of the perps in these cases are people that relocated from out of state while some are relatively undeducated long term in state residents.
Hindsight is 20/20, it is easy to say that you wouldn’t do such and such after the fact. The fact of the matter is, I have seen so many students walking up Main St solo that late at night, it is not at all out of character for people in the area.
I think a major issue is that the guy, not saying he did it.. but come on, may have been guilty of another crime and the victim was too afraid to come forward until now. Kind of a messed up system.
Regardless, it is a shame that someone with such a seemingly positive outlook on life had her’s taken away much too soon.
I am a parent of 2 HS girls; lived in Burlington since 1985 after moving here from DC. The pain and sadness everyone in this community feels is palpable — you can see it on people’s faces just walking around town. I am devastated that such a lovely woman with such promise and such a good spirit was taken this way. I cannot fathom the pain her family is experiencing. About 18 months ago there was another totally random murder of a woman, Laura Winterbottom, that shook folks to the core. It is a cliche (but true) to say that things like this can happen anywhere, to anyone, and that everyone — especially women — ALWAYS have to be on guard. But still, it hurts so very much that this happened in this beautiful place, on such a beautiful day, to such a beautiful person.
This comment is for J who posted his “oh so enlightened” view in essay length.
You are a racist piece of garbage. Who the hell do you think you are to take on a tone of the wiser? You believe you know it all because you’ve lived here for however long and you rub elbows with “those is the know” and you just need to tell everyone how scared they should be… You should be embarrassed of yourself and your biggoted, racist, narrow ideas of what you think the world is when you’ve lived in ONE place for your entire life…!!!
This absolutely sick, disgusting, filthy, child molester who erased a young bright positive girl from this earth is not an immigrant, he’s not a refugee, he’s an white just like your pompous ass.
I’m pretty sure that EVERYONE knows how scared they should be of being bombed, raped, killed, at war, taken hostage, shot up in school, as it is shoved down our throats daily through every sort of media source. Maybe our country’s sick obsession with how evil and scarey everything and everyone is has a hand in perpetuating some of these twisted (coveted) behaviors.
Everyone always wants to blame and point fingers and tell others what they should’ve known when unimaginable, shockingly horrific things happen like what happened to Michelle. But she was a positive individual, she had faith in the human race, she believed in the good in the world, because there is good in the world. Just because some slimy son of bitch ended her life, DOES NOT MEAN that all this beautiful, intelligent, optimistic young woman believed in and lived by should be overlooked and forgotten. For someone with such a fresh and compassionate perspective to be taken in vain, that my friend is a great CRIME as well… although you may not hear of that sitting on your ass, couped up inside your office or your house listening to your god damned scanner being afraid of everyone, at least Michelle was out in the world…..making real connections with people, even if one time led to her very unfortunate, tragic & untimely end.
My daughter who is a freshman at UVM from NYC connected with my husband and I this weekend. She didnt mind our calling her and even yesterday called to say “HI.” I know she is very concerned about what has happened and she needed to hear our voices frequently this weekend. She is scared but she knows about the buddy system. I just got an aero bed delivered to her dorm so that when she goes over to Redstone campus where he close friend is she can have a place to sleep comfortably. She has slept there on other occasions when she opted “thank god” not to walk home late at night.
Nicole, I will email you tonight….
I did go on line and see the video scenes of her and I noticed there were very few people around in the other scenes so late at night..
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061016/NEWS01/61016013/1009
It was most definitely this guy, an absolutely vile creature, not suited to be apart of humanity. I am sickened.
Etta #83, WOW are you soooo wrong…. all I was pointing out was the things I see going on in Burlington having lived here all my life and in the world at large these days. I did not blame any “immigrant or refugee” for anything in Burlington, let alone Michelle’s murder. As I pointed out, there are many sick bastards in this society, many that live among us all, race, creed, color, aside. If you are blind to the decay of our society, then I am very sorry for you, because you may become the next victim. You need to wake up to reality, because it will slap you in the face. I am far from a racist, and have lived in other cities that are far more “comprimised” than Burlington in terms of racial tension, drugs and gangs, and general dischord between groups of people for whatever reasons. Have you lived in Phoenix, AZ, one of the most diverse cities in America with some of the worst problems next to LA and NY??? I have. Have you been to Chicago, Tampa, or Houston?? You truly do not understand my point that the decay of these other cities are an influence to the way people are acting in our own communities. You are correct in stating that the media has created the monsters of society such as Rooney, the more publicity the bad things in society get, the easier it is for some sick bastard such as he to rationalize acting out their sick fantasies, such as killing a smart, enlightened girl who was trying to benefit all of society. I also believe that people like Michelle are the only future of us to move forward, and for you to say that my views on the reality of the world are “a crime” are even more narrow sighted than my observations of the realities of the world we live in. Wake up, Michelle’s death shall not be in vain, and if you really care to further the state of the world as she did, you will use her death as a motivating factor to do something you believe in.
J, I’m not attempting an ongoing debate–you simply have a very condescending tone. I am very aware of the decay of our society and of society at large. Your thoughts just don’t appear to be very well developed or with much thought in your first response as you choose (very poorly) by bringing refugee’s and immigrants into the mix so distastefully.
Yes, I have spent extended periods of time in all cities you’ve mentioned excluding Chicago. I’m actually from Crown Heights-a neighborhood in Brooklyn NYC. I’ve lived in Vt for 5 years…as an adult. I have seen many things first hand outside of this country (U.S.A—-where I was born)
my parents both happen to be immigrants. However this isn’t a personal brag session, J, for one to proclaim their experiences and to talk down to others. ‘Sharing’ your insights is quite another thing.
Your views are not imcomprehensible, they are just very ‘general’ and judgemental.
Thanks for encouraging me to ‘do something I believe in’ after telling me I may become another VICTIM (?)- you are too disrespectful and twisted..
Good luck with your scanner & Many kudos to you on all ‘you have’ accomplished.
I would suggest that people, especially those from out of state whose children are going to college in the Burlington area, get on the Vermont Sex Offender Registry Information Website and see the number of registered sex offenders in the Burlington Area (Chittenden County). There is a list of 58 registered sex offenders with a number of them high risk and or missing. I hope that everyone will do what they can to let Vermont lawmakers know that something needs to be done to protect women and children from further needless violence against them. I personally think that sex offenders should be forced to wear GPS devices and be monitored 24/7 and have restrictions on where they are allowed to go and when. I also think that the Burlington Police should be out in vast numbers patrolling the streets (and not just riding in cars), particularly when the bars let out, from the bar area up to at least where the UVM campus ends making sure that everyone walking home gets there safely.
WP
Thank you for the advice. I cannot believe that this creep that they now have in custody was alowed to get away with all he did…this is why Michelle is dead. Because this creep was out on the streets although he had molested and raped what looks to be several women and adolescents. Is M.O. was a rag soaked with ether, which makes sense because it has been reported that he had scratches on his hands. If he had grabbed Michelle from behind and covered her mouth, she would try to get his hands away. Now he is fighting giving DNA.
Sick, sick man.
Anyway, looks like someone in Vermont is doing the right thing. The largest bail company in Vermont reportedly denied giving him bail, although his family owns enough property etc. to qualify and judge set bail at $150,000. Guess the people at the bail company have daughters, too?
I was visiting the Burlington Police Department web site and saw a photo of one of Michelle’s shoes that she was wearing when they found her. Only one shoe. The other one is still missing along with other belongings. This is so gut-wrenching. I can’t help but wonder what hell that poor girl went through…just seeing that single shoe is really heart breaking. I’ll never understand how someone can brutally rape and/or kill an innocent human being. This planet is plagued by such horrible people.
Link to report of denied bailbond…
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=5552891
Thank you everyone for all of the information.. Thank god someone is listening to people and not giving him bail.. there has to be some justice hear.
I am concerned about halloween and how all the crazies come out. I hope the police are in full force.
Very tough times for a UVM student now. My daughter is definately feeling stress from the murder and from an incident in her dorm relating to drugs. She is more in touch with me and my husband then ever before.
I think of many waking moments about the torture that Michelle undertook. I just cant get it out of my mind.
What a bastard for taking this wonderful girl away from her family and friends.. I am starting to believe in the death penalty for certain crimes!!!
Any time I imagine what the parents are going through, I feel like vomiting. Can you imagine? You go to VT to visit your beautiful daughter at college and then bring her home two weeks later in a body bag?
I am not a death penatly advocate. either, but I 100% know what you are talking about. As I worte to you, Lori, if it were my daughter, the guy wouldn’t make it to court before I got him some way, some how…Unfortunately, I am not Amish (they forgave the killer of those beautiful little girls.)
No doubt things like this have happened throughout history, and we only hear so much about it now because we are in the information age, but WHAT THE F**K??? I mean, why the hell would anybody do something like that? And yeah, it does seem to be crimes against females perpertrated by males. I have a son, and he’s learning to respect women and to take care of them (I’m a huge feminist but still teach him not to hit girls, ladies first, and about being a gentleman, etc.) Who the hell raises these monsters???
And just an aside. And I used to be a hip hop DJ, and from my experience, minorities (blacks and latinos) are often much more respectful of women than white men are. They were taught to respect and take care of their mamas!
And after reading the following, I have one bit of advice for all the young women out there (and also their parents: please advise your daughters:)
I don’t know if these women never reported that Rooney did this to them, or if they reported it and nothing came of it and the police never took action, but…
PLEASE, PLEASE! IF SOMETHING STRANGE AND ABUSIVE THAT YOU DO NOT FEEL IS NORMAL IS GOING ON IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP, PLEASE REPORT IT TO THE AUTHORITIES I don’t care if it’s happening with your husband, your boyfriend, your fiance, your father, your brother, or your uncle. REPORT IT! YOU may think you are able to deal with it, and the abusive man in your life may be telling you that it’s normal, but if you feel it’s weird and strange and abusive, it probably is! TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS! YOU MAY BE SAVING ANOTHER GIRL’S LIFE SOEWHERE DOWN THE LINE!
“In another unrelated case, Rooney is accused of sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. Those charges were filed as a result of information that came to light during the investigation into Gardner-Quinn’s disappearance, but they date to 1996 and 1998 and involve a teenage girl, not Gardner-Quinn.
The new charges that were the subject of Thursday’s arraignment involve a former girlfriend identified only as A.S., who Rooney was involved with for three years beginning when she was 17 and he was 31, according to an affidavit filed Thursday by Detective Ingrid Jonas of the Vermont State Police.
According to the affidavit:
Rooney routinely sexually assaulted her in bed, sometimes when she was sleeping.
Last November, the woman — now 22 — was told Rooney had asked a clerk at an Essex convenience store if she knew anyone who would be willing to kill her. Two other women interviewed by police testified that they heard Rooney say he wanted A.S. killed.
A.S. reacted dramatically when told that Rooney had been described in the affidavit released Monday as having used a chemically-treated rag to render women unconscious to sexually assault them. “Oh my God,” she told Jonas, before going on to say she remembered waking up to the smell of “starter fluid” more than once when she lived with Rooney in Underhill.
Once, she found a can under the bed they shared, and she saw a can in the living room and in a closet Rooney kept locked, she told Jonas.
In a Monday search of Rooney’s parents’ home in Richmond, police found photographs and videotapes of naked women, one of which was labeled A.S. and showed a woman lying face down on a bed, making no movements as she was sexually assaulted.
The latest charges could put Rooney away for life.”
He needs to be put away for life.. That would be too easy.. He needs to suffer like “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
The weapon the police are looking for is buried near the sight were she was killed. It is 6 feet down in a brown box.
Making sence of this crime will be difficult, as this man was involved with dark spirits. The markings he left on her are of “satanic” nature.
I am glad she has been found and laid to rest. My sympathies to all.
Jennifer how do you know of these horrible things…
Jennifer knows nothing and is trivializing the real brutality of these crimes and their true nature by coming up with some fanciful “psychic” jarble. This crime seems to be in a long line of similiar crimes leading up to this for Rooney. The man is a rapist and a murderer, plain and simple. Nothing with this has to do with satan, the man is a sexual deviant. Who cares what weapon was used? Does that really matter? Stop the bullshit and get real. This was a real crime, with real people. Not some garbage you come up with.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061025/NEWS01/61025013/1009&theme=
We all know now the outcome of Michelle’s disappreance.She has a million parents around the worl
We all know the outcome of Michelle now. Michell has a million parents around the world and I am one of them. To the parents, what can someone say to you? Nothing. My heart breaks with you. Know America is crying with you. Your daugter is beautiful, and she will always remain that way. I dont even know what to say, sorry sounds so small. Thinking of you everyday.
My brothers’ went missing while trying to put thier boat into the Pascataquog River on September,27,1987.They were missing for 13 days and then thier bodies were found on the other side of the rivers dam.It has been 19 years and that image while forever remain in my mind of them being pulled from the river.I was 12 years old.i am 31 now and have searched for an ariticle about this but have had no sucsess.Thier names are Paul Allen Longval and Steven Edmore Longval.Manchester N.H.
On September 27, 1987 my Father and Uncle put their boat into the Pascataquog river. I was his soon to be born son. i wished i would have met him. Vanessa you must be my Aunt I was Born on Dec. 19th !
Paul