MELANIE MELANSON - 14 yo (1989) - Woburn MA

The family of a girl who went missing 20 years ago will hold a
candlelight vigil on Sunday to commemorate what would have been her
35th birthday.

On October 27, 1989, 14-year-old Melanie Melanson – a freshman at
Woburn High School, disappeared just five days before her 15th birthday
after a party in the woods with a group of friends.


Tomorrow marks 20 years since she was last reported seen.

For months after her disappearance, family members, friends, and local
law enforcement conducted extensive searches to find Melanie. She was
never found.

A reward of $5,000 has been offered for new information that leads to the discovery of her body.

The vigil will be held at 5 p.m. at the Woburn High School parking lot.

There is a strange coincidence surrounding an arrest in a Wakefield robbery. Police
say a man they took into custody is also one of the last people to see a
Woburn teen alive before she disappeared more than 20 years ago. 37-year
old, Eugene Bertini, was arrested Monday night for his alleged
involvement in a violent robbery at a Wakefield gas station. Bertini
was reportedly with 14-year-old, Melanie Melanson, back in 1989 on the
night she disappeared from a drinking party in the woods. Melanson's family attended Bertini's court appearance in Malden, hoping for answers.
Bertini denies any involvement in Melanie’s disappearance. He’s being held without bail this morning pending a dangerousness hearing next week.
Read more: http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/crime_files/crime_watch/wakefield-robbery-suspect-connected-to-missing-teen-case-20110427#ixzz1KjoHfCOJ

Private Investigator Says He Has New Leads in Case of Girl Missing Since 1989

Published November 27, 2011
WOBURN, Mass. – A private detective believes he could have some new leads in the disappearance of a 14-year-old Massachusetts girl.

Melanie Melanson was last seen at a high
school party in the woods on the outskirts of Woburn, Massachusetts in
October 1989, and her family has lived without answers for 22 years.

Private detective Michael Garrigan has
worked on the case since the very beginning, and now is optimistic new
leads could finally solve this mystery.

“I developed some leads over the past year,
we can’t discuss those at this time, but very credible leads from
several sources,” Garrigan told FOX 25.

On Saturday, Garrigan was joined by a team
of volunteers and the Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue Group as he
headed back to the place where Melanie was last seen. He believes the
woods hold the secret to the teenager’s mystery.

Trained cadaver dogs sniffed out the area in
hopes of confirming what Garrigan says he has already discovered and
tested before: a trace of human decomposition in the woods.

This is not the first time that
investigators have returned to the woods. Detectives launched a
revitalized search in 2009, just before what would have been Melanie’s 35th birthday.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/27/private-investigator-says-has-new-leads-in-case-girl-missing-since-18/#ixzz1ewdOuTll

The family of a Woburn teen who went missing during a high school
party in 1989 hoped a renewed search for her body would bring new
results. On Thursday, Massachusetts State Police armed with
shovels and a backhoe returned to the wooded area behind McDonald’s near
Montvale Avenue where Melanie Melanson was last seen.
Officers
were acting on information brought forth by a private investigator’s
search over the weekend. During that search, cadaver dogs made a hit
that suggested the presence of a body.
After digging for about an hour on Thursday, officers did not find anything that would help the case.
The high school freshman’s family began the week hoping this would be the end of their search.
“We
all want her back, we want to give her a proper burial,” says Melanie’s
aunt, Karen Montgomery, “Nobody deserves to be in the soil or wherever
she is.”
Anyone who has information about Melanie Melanson’s disappearance is asked to contact the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.
A $5,000 reward is being offered in this case.

Read more: http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/state-police-search-for-melanie-melanson-comes-up-empty-20111201#ixzz1fLYoyEyr