It would be hard to imagine a cold case more cold than that of Robert "Bobby" Desmond, the 11-year-old boy who went missing in 1964.
A local detective is trying to solve the mystery.
Detective Steven Borst looked through a file of old newspaper clippings, photos and other documents while sitting at a table at the police department. It is an important stack and so far it is the only thing he has.
There's a reason. People don't seem to remember Desmond. Borst said nobody seems to remember his disappearance.
No one in law enforcement. The reporter used to cover the case. Not a single person who was in town since the 1960s.
Nobody remembers this.
When Borst inquired about the open case, he was told it had been closed and destroyed.
Borst will never forget those words. I didn't think that would happen today. I don't understand why it happened. I don't know how it happened.
Borst said that anyone else who may have information about the disappearance of Desmond has died.
Borst isn't giving up.
Borst said that the boy was a real person who had siblings. He needs to be remembered.
The case was taken on by Borst last year. Borst said that a resident stumbled upon a headline about a newspaper article about her father's sports days. There was a bit on the flip side of the clip. The woman brought the old clip to the attention of the police chief.
According to Borst, the case has not been pursued since the summer of 1976, when investigators tore up the basement floor of the former Desmond home after receiving a tip.
It was not true that they didn't.
The start of the case was troubling. The parents never reported him missing. It took a month after the boy went missing for anyone to ask about his location.
According to Borst, the parents of the missing boy had an explanation for his disappearance. They said he fled.
Alice told Dawn Marden that was what she was supposed to hear.
During the Sept. 5 episode of "Dark Downeast," Marden talked about her half-brother who went missing.
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There's a lot of chaos.
Marden used to tell Low the word that she used when she was a child. She said that her father would beat people when he drank too much. Police had to come to their house.
It was common during my childhood.
According to Marden, things got quite chaotic on the night of August 1, 1964, when the man who wanted things done his way became enraged that the children's beds in the home hadn't been made. Marden was hidden in a bedroom closet by her older sister who told her to come out once the screaming stopped.
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After falling asleep in the closet, Marden woke up to find the house had become quiet. She looked out the window and saw footprints in the grass outside. Marden said that her sister had left the house.
Marden went to another bedroom and found her brother lying on the floor in his underwear.
He was not moving.
She tried to get Bobby to the closet so that she could hide him. She only made it to the entrance of the bedroom because Bobby was heavy.
Marden looked downstairs to see her mother. She wasn't happy.
Marden dived beneath the bed after dropping Bobby's foot. Her mother went up the stairs and tried to grab Marden.
Marden tried to get away from her mom. Her mother dragged her down the stairs and into the basement after catching her.
Marden said her mother kept her in a wooden crate for the night.
Marden said he fought. I yelled and cried. The box was trying to be smashed. I heard what you were saying. I had a very strong recollection of that night.
She woke up in her bed in the morning. The entire night had been a nightmare, she thought.
Then Marden's mother called her upstairs.
Alice told Marden that her purse was open, that money was missing from it, and that her brother, Bobby, was nowhere to be found.
According to Marden, her mother said that Bobby stole money from her purse and fled. Bobby is no longer with us.
Marden said her mother told her to have breakfast.
Marden said that no one talked about Bobby for a long time. The family relocated to Kittery Point.
Marden said that there was a culture in the family that children were to be seen and not heard.
Borst is now asking the questions.
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Borst had to start his own investigation as though the boy had vanished today and not in 1964 as he told Low during her podcasts.
Borst talked about his efforts during the past four years, which included asking around, poring through old newspaper articles, and reaching out to three of his siblings, including Marden. Borst said he and Marden talk on the phone weekly.
The list of missing persons was the first thing Borst looked at. There wasn't a name that appeared there. When Borst searched the systems and databases available to him, he didn't find his name. He was told by the state attorney general's office that the case file was no longer relevant.
Borst said he couldn't believe what he saw.
It was hard for him to believe that nobody remembered his disappearance.
Borst had coffee with a man who was a police officer in the 1960's, but he had no recollection of what happened. Borst reached out to a former reporter from Biddeford who covered the excavation of the home in 1976, but he had no recollection of his assignment.
Borst said it was so strange. Every time we go down a road to see if this can work, the person has passed away, or the person you are interviewing doesn't have a case file, I feel like it's pointless. It is difficult.
Borst said that posts on social media didn't generate any helpful comments.
He said that nobody has spoken.
Borst noted that people are still interested in two other cold cases in town.
The body of Olenchuk was found in a barn 10 miles away from where she was last seen. Two days after she was last seen, her body was found in an airfield. The film is about the case.
According to Borst, he has a theory as to why the Olenchuk and Tanner cases have different profiles. The parents were working with law enforcement to locate their daughters. His parents didn't report him missing.
According to Borst, he has thought about the idea that he ran away.
Is an 11-year-old in the sixties still alive? Borst wanted to know. Is it possible that someone took him in? I think anything is possible. We try to think about what is most likely.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System is a database of missing and unidentified people. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Borst worked together to create an ageprogression sketch of Desmond, showing what he might look like at 69 years old.
Borst wants anyone who might have information that could help resolve the case to contact him at (207) 604-1319 or sborst@kennebunkmaine.us
The major crimes unit of the Maine State Police can be reached by phone.
Borst wanted someone to remember something. There are sisters around. They have a right to know the truth.
Marden expressed gratitude to Borst for his work.
She said that Steve putBobby on the map. I'm thankful for his assistance.
When she was 17 years old, Marden began to recover memories of that night. She has been in therapy for a long time.
She said she had worked her entire life to remember that night.
Marden asked her mother about the missing person.
Alice once said, "I don't know what you think, but you're wrong."
Marden spent decades trying to speak to his mother.
According to Marden, Chet didn't say anything about Desmond.
She said she just wants to go away.
She wanted to know if he was okay. It would end the biggest nightmare of my life. I could keep going.
This article was originally published on the Portsmouth Herald.
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