Missing Woman: Jennifer Fay--MA--11/14/1989

[LoriDavis]

Print a poster: http://www.projectjason.org/aan/AAN_JenniferFay.pdf



Age-progressed to 32 years



Jennifer Lynn Fay

DOB:  Dec 25, 1972
Missing:  Nov 14, 1989
Height:  5'4" (163 cm)
Eyes:  Blue
Race: White
Age at disappearance:  17
Sex:  Female
Weight:  90 lbs (41 kg)
Hair:  Blonde
Missing From:
Brocton, Massachusetts
United States  
 
Circumstances: Jennifer's photo is shown age-progressed to 32 years. She was last seen leaving her home. She has a scar over her eyebrow.

Contact Information:
Brockton Police Department (Massachusetts)
1-508-941-0200

Print a Poster: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=762300&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US

[LoriDavis]

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2005/03/22/news/news06.txt

A MOM'S DAILY STRUGGLE: WHAT HAPPENED TO JENNIFER FAY?
Investigators donate time to help solve missing child case from '89

By COURTNEY HOLLANDS
The Patriot Ledger

A missing child case never really goes cold for the family and loved ones who are left behind with the painful memories.

Dorothy MacLean's daughter, Jennifer Fay, was 16 when she disappeared from a party down the street from her family's Emerson Avenue apartment in Brockton in November 1989.

‘‘I struggle every day to lead a normal life, not knowing where Jennifer is,'' said a teary MacLean, who lives in Rockland. ‘‘It's really hard.''

Now, 16 years later, MacLean may finally get some closure.

Through the Molly Bish Foundation, an organization that promotes child safety through education and prevention, four local private investigators are donating their time to reopen Jennifer's case.

‘‘We're hoping that this investigation will spark interest again in a fairly dormant case,'' said investigator Phillip White of Brockton.

White, along with investigators Robert Carey of Whitman, Charles Castro of Stoughton and Joseph White of Easton, met with MacLean for the first time in February.

‘‘We must have picked her brain for four hours,'' White said.

So far the team, working with local researcher Michelle Littlefield, has identified 224 people that they want to interview or re-interview in connection with Jennifer's disappearance. They have also launched a web site dedicated to the case and started a toll-free hotline.

‘‘Some of the people might feel more comfortable speaking with a private investigator, than to a cop with a gun and badge,'' he said.

The investigators are also looking at three sites - two in Brockton and one in a bordering town - as potential crime scenes, White said.

Once the weather warms, the team will use special equipment to search the water at one of the sites for a submerged vehicle, he said.

‘‘We can't guarantee anything,'' White said. ‘‘But at the very least, we are bringing the case to the forefront.''

The investigators are not paid for the work they are doing.

‘‘It's a labor of love,'' said Castro, another investigator on the team. ‘‘The more involved you get, the less you think about the time you're donating.''

Investigators estimate that they have put in more than 200 hours over the past two months toward finding Jennifer Fay.

MacLean appreciates the work.

‘‘These guys have done more in two months than police have done in 15 years,'' she said during a meeting with the investigators at White's Brockton home.

Jennifer was baby-sitting for her younger brother and sister the night of Nov. 14, 1989, while her mother was out with friends. Jennifer called a cousin to watch the children while she went to see some friends. She returned home with a boy a short time later to pick up a sweater. That was the last family members saw of her. Friends said they didn't know what happened to her.

Police initially treated the case as a runaway. MacLean had doubts about that theory because Jennifer seemed happy at home.

Today, MacLean still doesn't believe that Jennifer ‘‘just took off on a whim.''

Neither does Jennifer's sister, Yvette Churchill, who was just 11 the night Jennifer vanished.

‘‘Jennifer was very outgoing, spontaneous, funny,'' said Churchill, now 27, of Rockland. ‘‘When she didn't come home, I knew something happened to her. ... We were too close for her to run away.''

Churchill laughs through tears as she paints a picture of Jennifer: the life of the party, hair styled and sprayed just so.

Though the family says that dredging memories and testimony to the surface after more than a decade has been difficult, MacLean finds comfort in the prospect of certainty in Jennifer's case.

‘‘Hopefully, the investigators will find her and find whoever did whatever to her,'' she said. ‘‘We'd rather find her alive. But I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.''

If you have any information about the Jennifer Fay case, or to find out more about it, visit www.whereisjennifer.org; or call the toll-free hotline 866-882-2626.

[LoriDavis]

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/16389401/detail.html

Police Search Pond In '89 Missing Teen Case
Investigators '80 Percent Sure' Of Person, Motive Behind Disappearance
POSTED: 12:08 pm EDT May 25, 2008
UPDATED: 2:05 pm EDT May 25, 2008

AVON, Mass. -- Private investigators and volunteers searched near a pond Saturday for any sign of Jennifer Fay, a teen who went missing in 1989.

The Boston Globe reported a small clue led them to the area.

Private investigators said someone remembered that Fay used to gather there with friends. It was a spot that was out of sight of police and unknown to parents, the Globe reported.

"Our searches have taken us as far as Texas," private investigator Phil White told the Globe. White took on the case with four other investigators in 2005.

White told the Globe the they are “80 percent sure” they have identified the person and motive behind Fay’s disappearance.

Investigators told the Globe they did not know if they found anything significant in their search of the pond.

Anyone with information about Fay’s disappearance can call the investigators at 508-584-4747.

[LoriDavis]

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/f/fay_jennifer.html
Charley Project profile

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/91dfma.html
Doe Network profile

[LoriDavis]

http://www.enterprisenews.com/homepage/x406938741/Bones-of-woman-found-in-Berkley-investigators-try-to-find-her-name-and-give-a-family-closure

Bones of woman found in Berkley

By Maureen Boyle
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
Posted Nov 14, 2008 @ 06:10 AM
Last update Nov 14, 2008 @ 08:17 AM

BERKLEY — For nearly two weeks, investigators quietly tried to identify the skeletal remains of a woman discovered near railroad tracks in town, hoping to bring closure to a family somewhere in the region.

They compared the remains with information in several high-profile missing persons cases — including Taunton mother Debbie Melo, who went missing in Weymouth in 2000 after an argument with her husband, and two New Bedford women who went missing in 1988 and are believed victims of a serial killer.

None were a match.

Now, authorities are hoping someone will recognize the description of the dead woman.

“If there is anyone out there who may know who she may be, we want them to come forward,” said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter.

Investigators concealed the Oct. 29 discovery of the bones initially, in case the victim was one of the high-profile missing persons — and suspected murder — cases.

The state medical examiner and an archeologist examined the remains and determined the victim was a white woman, between 25 and 35 years old. She had a metal plate in her arm.

Experts were not able to pinpoint the time of her death, only saying it was sometime between three and 20 years ago.

Miliote said authorities are now turning to experts who will try to reconstruct what they believe her face may have looked like in another attempt to identify her. That, however, will take weeks.

The remains were found off Plain Street in Berkley on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 2:45 p.m. by a property owner, about 500 feet from the railroad tracks.

“He was clearing brush in the wooded back of his five-acre property when he noticed what appeared to be a human skull several feet away from where he was working,” Miliote said.

The skull and other bones were later found at the scene. A state police dog trained to find bodies was also called to the scene.

The woman is one of more than 1,400 unidentified dead entered into the National Crime Information Center missing persons database each year.

Dorothy MacLean, whose daughter Jennifer Fay went missing in Brockton 19 years ago today, said she — like most families of the missing —has mixed feelings every time remains are discovered.

“It is like, do you want it to be Jennifer or do you want to think she is still alive,” MacLean said. “That is what I go through. I want to believe she is alive, I don’t want her to be dead, but I would like to have some closure at the same time.”

Her daughter was ruled out by investigators as the person found in Berkley.

MacLean, formerly of Rockland, said families agonize for years, not knowing what happened to their missing loved ones.

“It is awful,” she said. “Every time they find remains somewhere, I have to prepare myself that it could possibly be my daughter.”

[LoriDavis]

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO95371/

Search resumes in Brockton case open since 1989
Sunday, November 16, 2008


BROCKTON, Mass. -- Investigators have resumed an almost two-decade old search for a girl who went missing at age 16.

Jennifer Fay went missing in 1989 and was never heard from again.  She was last seen leaving her home with friends.

She was treated as a runaway until another teenager from Massachusetts went missing and raised suspicions.

State, local, and MBTA Police now have the help of a private investigator to continue working on the unsolved case.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children urges anyone with information on Jennifer's disappearance to contact them.

The toll-free 24-hour a day hotline can be reached at: 1-800-THE-LOST.

Related Link:  www.whereisjennifer.org/jennifer/

[LoriDavis]

http://wbztv.com/local/Jennifer.fay.search.2.866022.html

Volunteers Won't Give Up Search For Missing Teen
Nov 16, 2008 4:31 pm US/Eastern
Jim Smith, WBZ Reporter

BROCKTON (WBZ) ― Teams of search dogs look for a scent – groping for any evidence they can find, any evidence to solve a missing person case now nearly two decades old.

It's been 19 years since 16-year-old Jennifer Fay of Brockton disappeared. She went out with friends on a November night in 1989 and was never seen again.

Jennifer's mom can only watch the search teams, pray for answers and thank investigators. "I don't know where I would be without them," she said. "They've been great. They really have. And the team of detectives that are on Jen's case, they're just unbelievable. We're not gonna stop until we find her."

Over the years, hundreds of people have conducted several searches like the one on Sunday, but that doesn't mean anyone's giving up.

The latest search is a team effort, transit police, private investigators and even a psychic – all of them dedicated to ending the agony of a family.

"You see her mother waiting here, and that's what drives you guys?" asked WBZ's Jim Smith.

"It sure does," said investigator Charles Castro. "We've been doing this for about four years now, and we're not gonna rest until we have some closure on this case."

On Sunday, search teams did not find Jennifer, but they did discover possible new leads that will be passed on to state police.

In the meantime, a mother's search goes on.

The search for Jennifer Fay is being coordinated through the Molly Bish Foundation. The private investigators and dog teams have donated their time for free.

[LINDA]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?&articleid=1132930&format=&page=2&listingType=Loc#articleFull

Investigative team returning to Brockton in case of missing woman

November 17, 2008

The cold case squad working to find a Brockton teen girl who went missing in 1989 has returned to a wooded area where two cadaver-sniffing dogs hit on a scent this weekend, marking the latest lead in the ramped-up investigation.

The hope is that it's her and we can finally bring her home, said Dottie MacLean, whose daughter, Jennifer Lynn Fay, disappeared 19 years ago after leaving a party in Brockton. Thats what I hope for every time and thats what I go through every time - I think it could be my Jen.

Fays family is working with a team of private investigators to find the body of the then-16-year-old girl, or track her down if she is still alive. The anniversary of Fays disappearance was Friday.

A teary-eyed MacLean was with investigators yesterday when two dogs independently detected the scent of human remains in a wooded area off Montello Street in Brockton. It was one of many leads that have developed since a private cold case team took up the case several years ago.

We have to explore every avenue there is, said Phil White, the lead investigator who is working pro-bono on the case with a team of four other detectives with help from the Molly Bish Foundation. We dont want to eliminate any evidence because it could be the one that could break the case.

Whites team has been to this particular area in Brockton twice before. White said newly developed information led the team to return to that location yesterday, where two dogs independently hit on an area that is about one quarter of a mile from where Fay was last seen.

White has requested that State Police attached to the Plymouth District Attorneys Office respond to the location today with cadaver-sniffing dogs.

If State Police canines also detect a scent, an investigation could be opened and investigators could start digging in that area, White said.

Bridget Norton Middleton, spokeswoman for the DAs office, said they are in communication with Whites team about yesterdays development. She declined to comment on whether State Police would assist with canines.

Were aware of their efforts and our detectives are in communication with them, she said.

MacLean has gotten her hopes up in the past. Since Whites team took on Fays case several years ago, promising leads have fallen through.

Over Memorial Day weekend, a search team led by White focused on another area in Brockton.

Two years ago this month, Whites team used dogs to search an area in West Bridgewater, about six miles from where Fay was last seen.

In 2005, MacLean traveled all the way to Texas to follow a lead that Fay was living in Corpus Christi. MacLean met the woman, whom she said had eyes like Fay, but was not her daughter.

MacLean said that while she hopes Fay is alive, she doubts that she is.

I would really like to think she was out there living a life with a family, but at this point its like I know my daughter, she would never stay away. She just wouldnt do that. Now, its a case of finding her and bringing her home and bringing some closure to the search, she said.

Fay, a 90-pound, blonde, blue-eyed high schooler, was last seen Nov. 14, 1989, after being at a party. White said she was last seen getting into a car after the party.

[Jenn]

Family website:

http://www.whereisjennifer.org/jennifer/

[Jenn]

http://wbztv.com/local/Jennifer.fay.search.2.870049.html

Nov 20, 2008 11:44 pm US/Eastern

Investigators Make Big Break In Missing Teen Case

BROCKTON (WBZ) - Investigators are calling it a big break in a case that had nearly gone cold.

A team of private detectives has uncovered physical evidence near some train tracks in Brockton.

It's an area where Jennifer Fay used to hang out with her friends back when she disappeared in 1989. She was 16-years old.

"We don't want to get our hopes up too high. We believe this is huge. We believe that this is a very important piece to the puzzle. Will we be bringing Jennifer home this week? We don't know," said Michelle Littleton, one of five investigators working on the case pro-bono through the Molly Bish Foundation.

After the discovery, they brought in trained search dogs last weekend. Two out of three dogs got a positive hit for human remains. "Their accuracy is pretty amazing," said Littleton.

Massachusetts State police working with the District Attorney are now following up with their own search.

No word yet on whether their dogs have been able to confirm the new lead.

[LoriDavis]

http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/2008/11/21/Investigators-revisit/1227302295.html

Investigators revisit decades-old disappearance of teenager
11/21/2008

(NECN: Brad Puffer, Brockton, Mass.) - A family has been waiting 19 years, wondering what happened to their teenage girl. Now, a team of investigators working on the case of Jennifer Lynn Fay say they have found new evidence they hope will finally bring closure.

Her name is Jennifer Lynn Fay and she was just 16-years-old when she went missing in 1989. But now a team of private investigators - working pro bono - are following some promising new leads.

"On a couple of different occasions we've looked at this area as a place that was familiar to Jennifer and we've been able to uncover some new information and have been able to turn it over to the State Police."

Michelle Littlefield has been working on the case for the past four years. Her team recently returned to this area near these MBTA tracks in Brockton. They found physical evidence, evidence they cannot describe, but suggest, could be a major break.

"Clearly this is the biggest lead you've uncovered?"

"This lead has definitely given us the most hope."

And when investigators returned here with dogs, those dogs provided even more hope this mystery would finally be solved.

"We had three dogs out there last weekend, two out of three indicated there may be human remains in that area."

Jennifer Fay was last scene leaving a party and getting into a car. This area being searched is just a short distance from that location and a place Jennifer often came with friends to hang out.

So state police came to this same location Thursday with their own dog. The results of that search not yet known. And investigators do not want to get hopes too high. After all just a few years ago another search that seemed hopeful at first, turned out to be just false leads.

"As a mother I can't imagine waking up every morning and going to bed every night and not knowing if my child is dead or alive and not knowing where my child is, is got to be the hardest pain for anyone to face."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children urges anyone with information on Jennifer's disappearance to contact them.

The toll-free 24-hour a day hotline can be reached at: 1-800-THE-LOST.

[Jenn]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2008_11_18_Mom_hopes_missing_girl_s_body_finally_found/

Mom hopes missing girls body finally found

Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - Updated 21d 11h ago

The distraught mother of a Brockton teen who went missing almost two decades ago said she hopes the latest lead in the cold-case investigation into her daughters disappearance will finally bring closure.

The hope is that its her and we can finally bring her home, said Dottie MacLean, whose 16-year-old daughter, Jennifer Lynn Fay, disappeared in 1989. Thats what I hope for every time and thats what I go through every time - I think it could be my Jen.

Sunday, two cadaver-sniffing dogs hit on a scent in a wooded area in Brockton near where Fay was last seen, said Phil White, one of five private investigators working Fays case with support from the Molly Bish Foundation. The state police lieutenant handling the case reviewed the scene yesterday and may bring a canine back this week, said White, who has worked Fays case probono for several years.
Alt Text

A spokeswoman for the Plymouth County District Attorney said her office is in communication with Whites team but declined to comment on whether state police will bring in dogs.

MacLean has gotten her hopes up in the past. On Memorial Day weekend, Whites search team focused on another area in Brockton. In 2005, MacLean went to Texas on a tip that Fay was living there. She met the woman, whom she said had eyes like Fay, but it wasnt her daughter.Fay, a 90-pound, blond, blue-eyed high schooler, went missing on Nov. 14, 1989. White said she was last seen getting into a car after a party.

[Kelly]

Project Jason Profile:

Name:  Jennifer Fay


                                                                                              Age Progression to 32 Years

Date of Birth:  12/25/1972
Date Missing:  11/14/1989
Age at time of disappearance:  16
City Missing From:  Brockton
State Missing From:  MA
Gender:  Female
Race:  White
Height:  5 ft 4 in
Weight:  90 lbs
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Complexion: Fair

Identifying Characteristics:  Jen has a scar above her eyebrow.

Circumstances of Disappearance:  Jennifer was last seen leaving her home with a male friend to attend a gathering of friends near her home. The friend got sick and they went separate ways one block her her home. Jennifer was never seen again. 

Investigative Agency:  Massachusetts State Police
Agency Phone:  (866) 882-2626

Family Website: www.WhereIsJennifer.org

Print a poster: http://www.projectjason.org/aan/AAN_JenniferFay.pdf

[Kelly]

AAN Poster Notify Sent to AAN Subscribers   Code 34

Help us find the missing: Become an AAN Member
http://www.projectjason.org/awareness.html

[LoriDavis]

http://www.wickedlocal.com/brockton/homepage/x425636202/Raynham-woman-encouraged-by-story-of-missing-girl-found-alive

Raynham woman encouraged by story of missing girl found alive

By Maureen Boyle
Fri Aug 28, 2009, 11:57 PM EDT

RAYNHAM - Dorothy MacLean watched the TV news reports detailing how a California girl abducted at age 11 — and feared dead — was found alive, 18 years later.

Tears streamed down her face as she stared at the screen.

“I kept thinking, that would be so great if that would happen to me,” said MacLean of Raynham, formerly of Rockland.

For years after her daughter Jennifer Fay went missing at age 16 on the streets of Brockton in 1989, MacLean clung to the hope the teen would come home unharmed.

Then, after more than a decade passed, MacLean prayed she would be able to find — and bury — her remains.

Now, MacLean feels hope flickering once again amid the news that Jaycee Lee Dugard, abducted from in front of her South Lake Tahoe, Calif., home in 1991, was found alive.

“Hopefully, this is a sign that everyone is wrong and she’s out there,” MacLean said of her daughter.

Fay went missing on Nov. 14, 1989, in Brockton, where her family then lived, and the last known sighting of her was on Broad Street.

Over the years, state and Brockton police interviewed dozens of people from Florida to Maine to find clues to what happened to Fay.

Some people claimed Fay was alive. Others claimed she had been killed. Investigators searched spots in Brockton and neighboring towns, where some people claimed Fay’s remains — or evidence — may be located.

MacLean slowly, in recently years, began to accept — just as the Dugard family had — that her daughter may be dead.

Too many years had passed. Too few signs of hope.

Then, news broke in California that a child long feared dead was alive. In 1991, Dugard was walking to a bus stop when she was pulled into a car by two people, kicking and screaming — a kidnapping witnessed by her stepfather.

Authorities allege Phillip Garrido, 58, of California, a convicted rapist, kept Jaycee Dugard, now 29, hidden in a “secret backyard.” Over the years, she gave birth to two children he fathered. Garrido and his wife are now under arrest and held on $1 million bail.

MacLean said the California case provides an emotional lifeline to her as the search for Jennifer continues.

“All the old feelings come back: that she is out there and coming home,” she said.

In the weeks before the California girl was found alive, MacLean had a dream about her daughter. In it, she walks into a house and sees Jennifer.

“She was okay,” MacLean said. Then, in an instant, Jennifer is gone.