No one knows. It’s an unsolved mystery stumping those of Warren, MA and Worcester Country district; It stumps me too. The more I look into the killing of Molly Bish, the harder it gets to find any good evidence. And if you’ve read “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder”, you would be aware of all the clues that led Pip to the real killer…but this case is nothing like that.
Molly Anne Bish was last seen by her mother, Magi Bish, and the only suspicion she had was of a unfamiliar mustached man parked in front of Molly’s lifegard post.
Magi spotted this man the day before her disappearance while dropping her off. The next day, Magi reported no sign of the man or his car. However, another witness reported seeing a man fitting that description just minutes before Molly arrived. A local coworker of Molly’s also reported seeing the car parked at a cemetery that had a path leading to the local pond, posing that this man had a way to access it. Later on, the police called Molly’s parents, reporting no sign of their child. Her belongings had been left at her lifeguard post. But there wasn’t a trace of Molly.
Molly Anne Bish was 16 when she disappeared within minutes from her lifeguard post, the summer of June 27 2000, at Comins pond Warren, Massachusetts.
Obviously…Molly Anne Bish’s case is tragic, because her body was found June 9th 2003, 3 years later, 5 miles away from her family’s home near the town Palmer. It was in a densely wooded area. According to some sites, she was murdered and buried on the side of a mountain. The cause of her death was never clarified because of the severe decomposition of her body. She would have been 18, turning 19 in just about a month. Just writing this makes my fingers tremble. No one deserves this. Not Molly nor her parents. Her older sister Heather Bish, says the decade-long investigation had always been hard on her and her family, the sorrow flooding their senses.
“Molly was silly, empathetic, and creative. She was a bright light, and she is a hole in our heart, you know, she was very loved.” -Heather Bish
Heather Bish (sister of Molly) has very strong opinions about this case, even doubting the police’s abilities and training, and strongly suggested they were biased. When Molly went missing, Amber Alert was never a thing. And when they did report that she was missing, the police just said that she was probably with her friends without even checking. This is why Heather said that the police were biased, and after a couple of days continuing to report Molly’s disappearance, a police officer proposed Molly was most likely a runaway. The police acted like nothing was wrong. Heather believes, if the police had checked, maybe things would be different. Maybe Molly’s perpetrator could have been found in the act or even after. Instead, they made it sound like Molly’s disappearance was at the same level of importance of someone littering on the street. Heather believes that police should overreact if a child goes missing and use the resources they are given, even if the child had simply run away for an hour.
The rumor of Molly drowning even floated around. It took so long for the police to realize she was taken.
Molly Bish’s case had a suspect, Francis “Frank” P. Sumner Sr. according to Worcester County District.
Francis “Frank” P. Sumner Sr.
Fransis P. Sumner was a convicted rapist and auto shop worker who died in 2016 at the age of 71 in his home.
“‘I needed to know who took my sister and left her on the side of a mountain,” Molly Bish’s sister Heather said after Francis “Frank” P. Sumner Sr. was named as a suspect this month in her decades-old murder. By Dorian Greiger.” – Oxygen true crime
Molly’s family is doing many things in her absence, such as the Molly Bish Foundation and Life guards center. The front page reads “The Molly Bish Life ‘Guard’ Center was founded to spread the knowledge and understanding of child and family safety and to promote legislative reform. Our mission and goals are achieved through legislative advocacy and educational presentations.” Basically saying that whatever they’re doing helps people know when and how child and family safety comes into play and changes to government policy. They are achieving their goals of spreading this knowledge through promoting government policy and educational presentations, so families can learn about the safety of their children and themselves.
Molly’s parents started this foundation within weeks of when she was abducted. They made ID kits with the information of your child and their fingerprints. They provided about 850,000 of them all over New England to families. They have advocated for legislation for protection of children and the elderly. Before Amber Alert was created, Magi Bish, the mom, helped bring it nationwide to Massachusetts, even talking on the phone to president Ted Kennedy. Heather says she wants to let the world know that if your child is abducted, there are ways and tools out there to help get them back, even ones that take all those calls to the state house just to make those tools. Even through this awful experience, new precautions have been placed for the future to prevent something like this from ever happening again. Heather only wants other families who have been through similar things to be brave, and do something good to counteract that bad thing.
You can help this group by donating to the Molly Bish Foundation, or share the information of the Family Survival Guide to help a family get through someone important to them that’s missing. Sharing the website to others, what has the foundation done, and Molly’s story could change lives. But what’s next? Another option would be to start a child ID event through an inquiry form from the foundation. All these things could greatly help the Molly Bish Foundation become more recognized throughout the world.
Molly Bish’s case was tragic. Perhaps one day, it’ll hopefully get the happy ending Molly’s family deserves, or even come to a resolution. But for now, all we can do is try to help her family and others who have lost a dear one, and help them get through it.
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