00:00:00
♪♪ -It's been 7,680 days since my sister disappeared, and I've been waiting for
answers on what happened to her.
00:00:14
-This is one of those cases that has haunted me
my entire career. I was there from day one.
00:00:21
This could be a very significant
break in this case. June 27, 2000, I was a reporter
at WBZ-TV in Boston.
00:00:32
We received word that
there was a teenager missing in Warren, Massachusetts. It was a lifeguard
who was supposed to
00:00:40
be working at this pond. -Do you remember coming here?
-Yes. It started like every other
missing-person case
00:00:48
that I've ever worked. -And about what time
did Molly arrive here? -We believe
sometime after 9:50.
00:00:59
Molly went to work that day. It was her eighth day
as a lifeguard at Comins Pond.
00:01:04
She drove with her mom to work. She stopped at a XtraMart
and purchased a bottle of water.
00:01:11
She went to the police station,
secured a police radio. Her mom and she then
drove the short distance
00:01:17
down to Comins Pond. -I was with Molly,
and I dropped her off, and everything seemed fine.
00:01:23
-And the rest is a mystery
at this point. -And what was left behind? -Chair. Radio.
00:01:31
Her flip-flops.
A bottle of water. It was all right there. -They said that she was dr--
00:01:36
-Possibly
-She possibly drowned. Knowing that
she probably didn't. But I ran into the water.
-He did.
00:01:42
He was trying
to get to the deep end. -You're just
going on adrenaline. And it's your baby sister.
00:01:50
[ Dog barking ] -You saw, you know,
fire boats coming in. You saw dive teams coming in.
00:01:56
♪♪ The state police helicopter
was hovering from up above. They had cadets
from the state police...
00:02:08
-Take your time!
-...doing grid searches all throughout the town,
in the woods. And they were stopping cars.
00:02:17
-Was it an abduction? Did she drown?
Did she walk away? -I was, like, frantic. My mom and I were frantic.
00:02:24
And we were just staring
into this pond like it'll resurrect her or it'll tell us
what happened to her
00:02:31
like it had the answers
that we didn't have. -We had to sleep with
not knowing where she was
00:02:36
the first time in our life. -You were actually on this case
from the very beginning.
00:02:43
-Yes, my role was
as the anthropologist, the archaeologist. They were coming to me
and saying, "Dr. Mires.
00:02:49
We're not finding her.
Where could she be?" They were focusing
down around Comins Pond,
00:02:54
and I said,
"You need to branch out." ♪♪ -The months went by,
the years went by,
00:03:02
and then the decades went by. -So that's when
I became a warrior. Ever since that day,
I've been trying to find
00:03:09
the person who took my sister. I'm asking you for help. I picked up that sword and I started marching on.
00:03:18
To the man responsible for the abduction of my sister,
Molly Bish, I want you to know
I'm coming for you.
00:03:24
I will never give up. Maybe we won't know why, but we at least deserve
to know who.
00:03:29
I will use science. I will use technology. I will use my voice. I will not stop screaming
from the mountaintops
00:03:38
for justice for Molly. I'm coming for you.
I'm coming. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Overlapping dialogue ]
00:04:28
-Have you heard of Molly Bish? She looks like this. She was abducted in 2000. She was only 16 years old.
00:04:35
-In 2021, two decades
after her sister went missing, Heather Bish did something
she never thought she would do.
00:04:43
-40-year-old me
got into the TikTok game. It's allowed me to, like,
share my story
00:04:49
and share Molly's story
and really just be honest. It's been 7,680 days
since my sister disappeared,
00:04:57
and I've been waiting for
answers on what happened to her. -She hopes that by going public
with her TikTok videos online,
00:05:05
she will generate tips that will finally
solve her sister's case and put an end to a painful
25-year-old mystery.
00:05:14
-If you know something,
please say something. The wait needs to be over. -The last time Heather Bish
saw her little sister, Molly,
00:05:24
was the morning
of June 27, 2000, just before Molly
left for her job as a lifeguard
00:05:32
at Comins Pond
in Warren, Massachusetts. Molly was playing with Heather's
11-month-old daughter, Mikaela.
00:05:40
-She was having fun
with Mikaela, and I remember my mom saying,
"Come on. We gotta go.
00:05:44
We gotta go.
You're gonna be late." -But shortly after Molly
was dropped off, beachgoers arrived,
and she wasn't there.
00:05:52
Police were eventually
called to the scene. By the time
they told Magi Bish, Molly had been missing
for three hours.
00:06:01
-And my mom
was frantic on the phone. She said, "She's not there.
She's not there.
00:06:05
Her shoes are there." My heart dropped. I just knew something was wrong because I knew Molly wouldn't go
anywhere without her shoes on.
00:06:12
-Why? -Because she didn't like
icky feet. -When you first heard
that she was missing,
00:06:18
did you think maybe she had... -No.
-...gone out with friends? -No. -John Jr. is
Molly Bish's brother.
00:06:25
-It's not what we do. It's not our personality,
our character. We were raised better than that.
00:06:30
-16-year-old Molly was
Magi and John Bish's third and youngest child. "48 Hours" interviewed John
back in 2003.
00:06:41
-She was heavily involved
in school, with sports, with her friends. -Molly was an honor-roll
student, varsity athlete,
00:06:49
and she had just completed
her junior year of high school. -Molly was just
very loud and fun.
00:06:57
-Heather says despite
their six-year age difference, they were extremely close. It was a bond
she had had with Molly
00:07:05
ever since the day she was born. -I do remember thinking that,
"Oh, that baby is my baby, too.
00:07:11
I'm gonna teach her
everything I know. and, um, you know, we're
gonna do this life together."
00:07:16
-Molly also had a close
relationship with her brother. -She very much wanted
to be like my brother.
00:07:23
-I took her
underneath my wing. You know?
I was a lifeguard before her. She wanted to be a lifeguard.
00:07:28
We played soccer together,
baseball together. -Molly was 5'7". You know, she was athletic
and in shape and strong.
00:07:34
-So when police suggested
that Molly could have drowned, they didn't believe it.
00:07:40
-When Molly went missing,
I mean, it was inconceivable. And then what I was told
was the first-aid kit was open.
00:07:47
-Adding to the mystery,
the police radio was there, but Molly had not used it for
her required morning check-in.
00:07:55
-Why? So what was --
What happened? [ Chatter ] ♪♪ -Later that afternoon, when it became clear
to local police
00:08:07
that Molly had not just
walked off with friends... -The K-9 commences
water search.
00:08:14
-...state police
took over the investigation and launched
an extensive search. -We're looking for
a 16-year-old.
00:08:21
Name's Molly Anne Bish. She's the lifeguard
up at the town beach. -Massachusetts State Police
Lieutenant Colonel Dan Richard
00:08:29
headed to Warren to help out. -I had a 3-year-old daughter.
Her name was Molly. She had blond hair.
She has blue eyes.
00:08:37
This case has every day
been with me from that day till today. -Also present at the scene
00:08:43
was then Worcester District
Attorney John Conte. -The state police are working
around the clock on this.
00:08:50
Okay? -Detectives zeroed in on
everyone who was close to Molly, including
family members, friends,
00:08:59
and Molly's boyfriend,
Steven Lukas. They had only been dating
for three months and had just gone
to the prom together.
00:09:08
-What raised some suspicion was that Steven Lukas
had a fat lip and he had
some scratches on him.
00:09:16
-Former WBZ investigative
reporter Kathy Curran. -Could a young kid
pull off this crime
00:09:24
in such a short amount of time? -The Bishes never believed
that Steven was involved.
00:09:32
Within 24 hours, authorities were looking at known
sex offenders in the area. -We've looked at 35 to 45
sex offenders in the area.
00:09:44
-That's been the scariest part
about all this, is realizing how many bad people were within the fabric
of our community.
00:09:52
-Molly's dad worked
tirelessly with police. -He was always going
every weekend, trying to work with the police
and trying to find
00:09:59
different ways to to find Molly. -And despite the fact
that DNA testing was still in its early stages
back in 2000,
00:10:08
Detective Richard
says they did collect and document many items found
in and around the pond area,
00:10:15
including discarded cigarettes
and trash. -When we did the initial search, anything that wasn't there
by nature or by God
00:10:24
was at least identified
as potential evidence. [ Organ playing ] -As the days went by,
the Bishes' despair grew.
00:10:34
-It wasn't like Molly
was hit by a car or got sick. She was just suddenly gone, and we didn't know
where she was.
00:10:42
-But it would be Magi Bish who would give detectives
their biggest lead. -We pulled
into the parking lot here.
00:10:51
-The morning
before Molly disappeared, as Magi went to drop Molly
off at work at Comins Pond,
00:10:57
she recalled seeing a man
sitting alone in a white car that resembled this one. -And I see this guy, and
he's just smoking a cigarette,
00:11:06
and he just gives me,
like, a little look. And I said,
"Oh, I can't leave her here."
00:11:10
You know, it's like
the mama bear comes out. -Magi says she waited for 20
minutes until he finally left.
00:11:16
When she brought it up
with Molly that evening, Molly didn't seem concerned. -She says, "Oh, no, Ma.
It's just fishermen.
00:11:24
Don't be -- I'm not afraid." -The next day,
when Molly disappeared, Magi told the police
about what she had seen.
00:11:32
-That became very significant because now we had
a piece of information. -A sketch was composed
based on Magi's description,
00:11:39
and it was released
to the public. -This is the individual that we're looking for
in that white car.
00:11:47
-I had seen the hair.
It was gray. It was very thick. It's just that smoking,
you know?
00:11:53
That doggone smoke.
And that's what I remembered. -Almost immediately, hundreds
of tips started flooding in.
00:11:59
-If you were a 50-year-old
white male with a mustache and salt and pepper hair, somebody may have
wanted to give us a call.
00:12:06
[ Chatter ] -Many months later,
authorities released a second, different sketch.
00:12:13
-I believe that this sketch
is a remarkable sketch, and it's very distinctive, and I think it's gonna
help us a great deal.
00:12:23
-But still no Molly. -I think that's what makes
this case so difficult. You know? You have so many
people who resemble that sketch.
00:12:35
♪♪ -You know, when time
kept going and passing, you knew it wasn't good. You just know
that somebody either has her,
00:12:47
and that's horrendous. -And then almost three years
after Molly disappeared... -Live from Warren,
Kathy Curran, WBZ-4 News.
00:12:56
-...police were notified
that a bathing suit had been found in the woods just five miles
from Comins Pond.
00:13:04
-It's the first major break
in this case in years and a very anxious time
for Molly's parents.
00:13:19
♪♪ -Do you remember the very
first time you came here? -Yes, I do. It was May of 2003.
00:13:36
We came here
for what we thought would be the recovery of Molly Bish. -Three years after
Molly Bish disappeared,
00:13:43
Dr. Ann Marie Mires,
a forensic anthropologist for the Boston
Medical Examiner's Office,
00:13:49
was summoned by police to
the area known as Whiskey Hill, located about 5 miles
from Comins Pond.
00:13:58
♪♪ -This is how we came in
at first. So, right above us here
are these rock ledges,
00:14:06
and this is where
the bathing suit was found. -A local hunter
had stumbled upon pieces of a weather-beaten
blue bathing suit
00:14:15
much like the one
that Molly Bish was wearing when she disappeared. -When I saw the bathing suit,
I said,
00:14:22
"This has probably been up here
for roughly three years." -And how could you tell?
00:14:26
-It was covered by deadfall,
so leaves and debris, from three years
of foliage dropping.
00:14:33
But then it had also grown
into the surface, and roots had come up
through it. -I arrived with my photographer,
and I was let in.
00:14:45
-Acting on a tip, Kathy Curran and her crew
got there in time to take pictures
of the bathing suit.
00:14:52
What's going through your head? -I was sick to my stomach. Just thinking
about Magi and John...
00:15:03
...and knowing
what it could mean. -As Kathy left Whiskey Hill,
she called Magi.
00:15:12
-And she said, you know,
"Could you show us the video?" And I said, "Magi, you know,
00:15:20
I really don't want to do that, but, you know,
if that's what you want to do, I want to do
whatever I can to help."
00:15:30
-She just had the little van, and it had the six little TVs
or whatever inside, and she showed it to us.
00:15:38
-So distinctive. ♪♪ It looks like hers. ♪♪ ♪♪ -And I knew. I knew that was
Molly's bathing suit
00:16:04
right then and there. -Let's go in the house.
-Come on. -And I went up and
I locked myself in the room.
00:16:11
I cried so hard.
There was nothing. I was gut-wrenched. -It was one of the
toughest days of my career.
00:16:20
♪♪ Because, you know, for three years,
there was still hope. And she knew at that moment
00:16:33
that something
was drastically wrong and something horrible
had happened. -Investigators
sent the bathing suit
00:16:43
to the Massachusetts
State Police lab and a private lab in Virginia
for DNA testing.
00:16:50
-So now we've got to
search the area and see if we can find evidence that can help us determine
what happened up there.
00:16:57
♪♪ -As they waited
for DNA results, under Dr. Mires' instruction... -You all know
what we're looking for.
00:17:10
-...a new search was launched. ♪♪ -And that's when
I basically said, "We're going to grid this area."
00:17:23
-Anyone who has compasses,
we're working off 110. -110 magnetic. -We did grid searching
arm-to-arm.
00:17:30
They were within sight
of each other. They raked. They combed the forest
with rakes.
00:17:37
-And had any of that area
been searched before? -No. -When John Bish
arrived to the scene,
00:17:44
Dr. Mires assured him
of one thing. -You know, I looked him
straight in the face
00:17:49
and I shook his hand
and I said, "Mr. Bish, if your daughter's remains
are here,
00:17:55
we're gonna bring her
home to you." -D.A. John Conte announced that the DNA results
came back as inconclusive.
00:18:04
The search continued
and intensified. ♪♪ -And it was the biggest search that's ever been conducted
in Massachusetts history.
00:18:15
-And almost two weeks later,
they made an horrific discovery. -This afternoon, we did discover a human bone.
00:18:29
It's the upper arm bone. And Dr. Mires does describe it as the bone of a person between 14 and 20 years of age.
00:18:41
-What did that feel like
to finally find a bone? -Unbelievable. But immediately
I thought of the family.
00:18:48
-We've now established the area
as a crime-scene area. -As days went by, investigators
00:18:55
would come to find
more human bones. -It was, like, every day,
they came with small rib bones.
00:19:01
It was, like, oh, agonizing. And, you know,
they were trying to find Molly. And we went out every morning.
We thanked the searchers.
00:19:09
We were so grateful that people continued to look
and help us find Moll. -By the end
of the three-week search,
00:19:16
investigators found
as many as 27 bones and a human skull spread across
35 acres of forest.
00:19:25
It was confirmed
through DNA testing and dental identification that the bones were Molly's.
00:19:34
Dr. Mires believes
that Molly's killer most likely picked Whiskey Hill because of its hidden location.
00:19:42
Do you believe the killer
might have been a hunter, being that familiar
with the area?
00:19:47
-It's possible. It's possible. -She also believes
that after Molly was killed, a mountain lion
may have scattered her remains
00:19:55
among the 35 acres of forest. -I often felt that
the person knew the area and knew that there was
a large animal up there.
00:20:08
♪♪ -We want to tell you
that Molly's come home. We are extremely saddened. The depth of our sadness
no family should have to endure.
00:20:29
-With the discovery
of her sister's remains, Heather had a hard time
accepting the tragic news.
00:20:38
-I wanted to run away.
Honestly. I just wanted to run
outside of this nightmare and this life and maybe my --
even my own body.
00:20:47
But I remember feeling like
I wanted to run away immensely. -The search for Molly Bish
was now over...
00:20:58
but the search for her killer
was never more urgent. ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Bells tolling ] [ Bagpipes playing ]
00:21:19
♪♪ -Two months
after Molly Bish's bones were discovered
in August of 2003, on what would have been
her 20th birthday,
00:21:36
Molly was laid to rest. ♪♪ -We commend you now to the loving care
of the Lord of us all.
00:21:48
-We were so blessed
we got to have it in a church. ♪♪ [ Bells tolling ] -But after three years,
00:22:02
the Bishes still had no answers as to who could have
murdered Molly... and the man in the white car
00:22:08
who Magi had seen the day
before Molly disappeared had never been identified. -"Frustrating" is a reoccurring
word in this case.
00:22:18
-Magi wasn't the only one
who reported seeing a suspicious white car
in the vicinity,
00:22:24
say investigators. On the day
that Molly went missing, a white car was spotted
at a car wash
00:22:31
right down the street
from the pond and again in the cemetery
behind the pond. So where is Comins Pond
right from here?
00:22:40
-It's that direction
straight down, and you can see
there's a path opening there.
00:22:46
-Yes. So somebody saw a white car. Where? Right down
on that road down there? -Down on that road. Yes.
00:22:53
-So, is the thought that if somebody
brought the car down there, they could maybe grab her,
00:23:00
pull her back up,
get in the car before... -That's a theory. [ Children shouting ]
00:23:05
-In fact, in the early days
of the investigation, search dogs did follow
Molly's scent from the pond
00:23:13
leading up to the cemetery. -You don't just
stumble upon Comins Pond. That's why the person
who killed Molly Bish
00:23:21
had to have watched her and they had to have had a plan. -But there were still so many
unanswered questions,
00:23:31
like, why was
the first-aid kit left open? Kathy Curran believes
that Molly's abductor
00:23:38
may have pretended
to be injured. -And then someone
either forced her or threatened her
to get her up that hill.
00:23:48
Because she's athletic.
She's not going to go easily. -Then in May of 2004, four years
after Molly disappeared,
00:24:00
D.A. John Conte called for
a grand jury to be convened. -Whenever you hear
a grand jury in a criminal case,
00:24:07
you think, oh, they have
evidence against someone, so the hope was that the case
was moving forward.
00:24:15
-Heather, along with her family,
were called to testify. They say that many
of the D.A.'s questions
00:24:22
seem to be focused
on Molly's friends. -I remember we were
all kind of, like, mad
00:24:30
because we didn't feel like
they were really significant. -But detectives had learned
that some of Molly's friends
00:24:37
had gathered at her boyfriend,
Steven Lukas', house the morning of
Molly's disappearance.
00:24:44
-We have a timeline. -And they were telling police
conflicting stories about what happened
in the hours
00:24:51
before and after
Molly went missing. The grand-jury transcripts
are sealed, so it is not known
00:25:01
whom the investigators
actually questioned, but they would later clear
Steven Lukas
00:25:07
as a person of interest. After two long years, in December of 2006, the grand jury was dismissed
without an indictment.
00:25:22
-It was disappointing.
It was incredibly disappointing. -Just weeks after
the grand jury was dismissed,
00:25:29
John Conte retired... and Joe Early Jr. took over
as Worcester District Attorney.
00:25:36
He says the grand jury was used
as an investigative tool to preserve
witnesses' testimony.
00:25:44
-You get them right in,
you get them under oath, and there's a criminal penalty
if they lie in the grand jury.
00:25:49
And they can't say later,
"I didn't say that," because it's right there. And that is something
that helps us get cases
00:25:57
beyond a reasonable doubt
and prove guilt. -But Heather says
not having answers as to who murdered her sister
was taking its toll.
00:26:07
-I was giving up hope
in a lot of areas. -And things only got worse. In 2007, her father, John Bish,
00:26:16
who worked so closely
with police, had a stroke. Heather would now face
the daunting task
00:26:23
to take over
where her father had left off, and it would not be easy. -The police have
always stayed very careful
00:26:32
about what they'd let us know. -The police kept saying, "We're just one piece
of information away."
00:26:38
Well, where is that piece? -In 2008, a man
who resembled the sketch, named Rodney Stanger,
00:26:46
was arrested for murdering
his girlfriend in Florida. The victim's sister
reached out to Heather
00:26:52
and claimed that Stanger
may have been involved in Molly's murder, as well. -He has this violent history.
00:27:01
He lived very close to where
Molly trained to be a lifeguard. -Was he a smoker? -He was also a smoker.
00:27:07
He was known
to fish at Comins Pond and hunt in the area
where Molly was found. -Police were notified
about this tip,
00:27:16
but Heather says she was told that Stanger had been on
one of the investigators' lists
00:27:22
of persons of interest
from the very beginning. -I've actually
visited him in prison.
00:27:28
-Sean Murphy is a lieutenant with the Massachusetts
State Police. -He didn't have much
to say to me, but I attempted.
00:27:36
And so have other
investigators, as well. -Stanger was convicted
of murdering his girlfriend
00:27:42
and was sentenced
to 25 years in prison. In 2012, state police
went down to Florida again
00:27:52
to search Stanger's trailer. -We did execute a search warrant
at his residence with our law-enforcement
partners, and we did take items.
00:28:02
-Detective Murphy says the items were tested for DNA to see if they could
be connected to Molly.
00:28:09
-We've tested and continue
to test and move forward. -But there was not
enough evidence
00:28:15
to make him an official suspect. And then in 2011, a private investigator
came to Heather
00:28:23
with a new tip about a man
named Gerald Battistoni. -He had actually raped a woman
00:28:31
in the woods
where Molly was found. His ex-wife had a white car
that she reported
00:28:37
he was driving in Warren
the day Molly disappeared. -Heather says she took this tip
to the state police,
00:28:44
who have confirmed
that Battistoni, who died in prison in 2014,
was on their radar,
00:28:52
along with many others. -There are times you could say, "This person's
really good for this.
00:28:58
This person's really good
for that." That's not how
you solve a crime. You know? You have to have
the evidence to support it.
00:29:05
-Finally, in 2021, 21 years after
Molly disappeared, it looked like investigators
had enough evidence.
00:29:16
The District Attorney's Office officially named
a person of interest. -For the first time, I thought,
00:29:26
"This is it.
There will be justice." -On June 3, 2021, more than two decades
after Molly Bish disappeared,
00:29:44
there was finally news. -Tonight, a break
in the murder of Molly Bish. More than 20 years
after the teenager was killed,
00:29:52
investigators have named a new
person of interest. Molly... -We named
the person of interest.
00:29:58
-But you had never
done that before. -Never done that.
Never done that in this case.
00:30:01
But we did get more information
to come in, we pursued those leads, and at that point,
I was comfortable saying,
00:30:08
"This person is
a person of interest, yes." -Francis "Frank" Sumner Sr. was a local
auto-repair shop owner
00:30:18
with an extensive
criminal record. Kathy Curran was the first
to report the details.
00:30:25
-Frank Sumner
seemed like a great suspect. Frank Sumner has a violent past. He was convicted
of rape and kidnapping.
00:30:37
-Was he familiar
with the area? -He was -- He was familiar
with the area. He was from the area.
He had access to a white car.
00:30:45
And when you compare the photo
of him smoking the cigarette to the sketch, you can see a resemblance there.
00:30:54
-And just like the sketch, Sumner was photographed
smoking with his left hand. D.A. Joe Early says Sumner,
who died in 2016,
00:31:06
had been well known to investigators working
the Bish case for years. What made Frank Sumner
rise to that top,
00:31:14
to actually be called a suspect? -Information that came in,
some dots that were connected.
00:31:20
-Although tight-lipped
about the details, the Worcester D.A.'s Office was confident that Sumner
was a viable suspect
00:31:29
and planned to compare his DNA to DNA found
at the crime scenes. But as it turned out,
00:31:36
they couldn't obtain
Sumner's DNA. Sumner had been cremated, and his DNA
had never been submitted
00:31:45
to the national CODIS database. -I don't know
who dropped the ball, but somebody dropped the ball.
00:31:51
-So authorities traveled to Ohio to get DNA from his son,
Frank Sumner Jr. He was serving time in prison
for robbery.
00:32:03
-And so we waited and we waited. Because they said,
"We're going to, you know, do some DNA analysis."
00:32:09
-Heather, who had started
that TikTok months earlier, reached out to her followers
00:32:15
to see if she could
drum up more evidence. -If you know something,
if you heard something,
00:32:22
please call
the state-police tip line. We are still waiting
for answers. -Heather says it took
investigators about a year
00:32:32
before they finally told her
the results of the DNA testing. -It was inconclusive.
00:32:39
-What do you mean, inconclusive? Was he eliminated from the DNA? -I don't know what that means.
00:32:45
-Oh, you don't --
-And they won't tell me. -Heather wonders if authorities who collected discarded
cigarettes and other evidence
00:32:54
at Comins Pond even have a viable sample
of the killer's DNA. Do you have enough DNA
00:33:03
that you could do
genetic genealogy? And have you done any -- -I can't speak to the DNA.
00:33:09
I can speak in this regard. We continue to test,
and we've gotten well over 100 pieces
of information tested,
00:33:16
and we continue to test. -You know that the Bishes
have been frustrated. They don't feel they're
getting enough information
00:33:24
from your office. They want to know, is the DNA
being preserved properly? What kind of DNA?
00:33:30
-As a general rule of thumb,
no matter what family it is -- the Bishes,
other families that we have --
00:33:36
we just don't share
the information because someone might say
something they shouldn't say
00:33:41
and it can compromise
the entire case. -However, he says DNA is
just one piece of the puzzle.
00:33:50
-This isn't just a DNA case. There's a lot of investigation
that's been done. We need a little bit more.
I'm not going to say what it is,
00:33:59
but we need a little bit more
to get to where we need to get to name a person
as a defendant in this case.
00:34:06
-But Heather says she's losing
faith in the investigators. -It's really a sad situation
to be a victim family member
00:34:15
in the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts. -Investigator Sean Murphy says he understands
Heather's frustration.
00:34:24
-Heather is a fierce advocate
for her sister and her family, and I wouldn't have it
any other way,
00:34:29
and I have no problem being
held accountable by Heather, and I'm happy that
she holds me accountable.
00:34:34
-25 years after
Molly Bish's murder, the case remains active, and there is a new detective
00:34:42
who has recently joined
the investigation. She has a plan. -When I dedicate myself
to something,
00:34:51
I do not stop
until it's accomplished. ♪♪ -In March of 2025, Detective Chelsea Safford
was hired...
00:35:12
[ Beep ] ...to take over
the Bish investigation. ♪♪ -It's a perfect job for someone
that has an overactive mind,
00:35:28
thrives on challenges,
and doesn't sleep much. -One of her first tasks
has been to weed through
00:35:35
and organize
over 80 boxes of case files that have accumulated
over the years. -I saw all those boxes,
and I just wanted to dive in.
00:35:45
I just wanted to learn more. -Detective Safford believes
the answer to who killed Molly
00:35:50
may just lie within
these 80 boxes. -This one. I found Molly's
high-school yearbook,
00:36:01
and I went through that. You know, I have a few tips
that I was trying to track down.
00:36:07
-It's part of her strategy... -These are all tips. -...to organize and look
at past tips with fresh eyes.
00:36:17
-Who else might have heard
or seen something that they didn't realize
was significant?
00:36:23
That one person
that we haven't spoken to, they might be the missing piece that we've been searching for
this entire time.
00:36:30
I believe that that one more
piece is out there. I just have to keep digging. -And Detective Safford
faces an overwhelming task.
00:36:38
She says there has been
almost 8,000 tips that have come in
since Molly went missing,
00:36:45
and they keep coming. -I can honestly say that
since I've been in this office, I don't think a week has gone by
00:36:52
where we haven't received
a Molly Bish tip, if not multiple,
throughout the weeks.
00:36:56
-Detective Safford
says she's also studying the many pieces of evidence
involved in Molly's case.
00:37:04
She allowed "48 Hours"
to accompany her to the Massachusetts
State Police Crime Lab's
00:37:10
DNA cold-storage facility in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Boy, it's shivery in here! Sherri Mittelholzer
is a forensic support
00:37:22
section manager
at the crime lab. And what am I looking at
right in front of me?
00:37:27
-So this is a bay,
um, full of evidence and all of these items here
go with the Molly Bish case.
00:37:33
-Inside some of these
brown paper bags are items taken
from the crime scenes. Is the swimsuit here?
-It is.
00:37:42
Um -- Oh, it's this one,
I believe. I don't think it says it on it, but I know it was sent out
for additional testing.
00:37:48
-Are there any cigarettes here
or any...? -There definitely
are cigarettes. -Containers A-B-C. There are
a lot of them in A-B-C.
00:37:57
-A-B-C is this one here. They've been repackaged
over time. -Have they been tested?
00:38:02
-Oh, yeah. -Chelsea, are you going to
be looking at this to see if there's
something else?
00:38:08
You're thinking,
"Why don't we try to test that?" -Absolutely. Yeah. -Today Detective Safford
has her eye
00:38:14
on one piece of evidence
in particular -- Molly's backpack. -I'll tell you,
this is the number-one item
00:38:20
that I've been looking for.
-Why? -I think what we carry in our
backpack or our pocketbook,
00:38:27
I think it says a lot, and I -- I personally think learning
about the person, the victim,
00:38:34
I think, is a very important
part of each case. ♪♪ -Despite the challenges, Detective Safford
says she is determined
00:38:46
to find answers
for the Bish family. -None of us
can bring Molly back, but the best thing I can do
is find out what happened.
00:38:54
-I see you have some of these. "Solved." "Guilty." "Captured." Is that what you want to do
in this case?
00:39:02
-It's not what I want to do.
It's what I'm going to do. Yes. "We." We will do it.
00:39:07
-Heather Bish,
who has been critical of the Massachusetts
State Police investigation
00:39:12
in the past,
says she is encouraged by Detective Safford's passion. -I feel like she has the same
energy and commitment
00:39:21
to solving this as I do. -Heather still makes TikTok
videos about Molly's case, hoping her efforts will one day
00:39:30
generate a tip
that can help investigators. -Somebody knows something and somebody knows
who killed Molly Bish.
00:39:38
I will never give up.
I'll fight. Mollie deserves that justice. -D.A. Joe Early Jr. Insists
00:39:47
that investigators are moving
in the right direction. As you sit here,
is Frank Sumner still on the top
00:39:54
of the list
of people of interest? -He's the only person
of interest we've named,
00:39:59
the only person of interest that's been named
in this case, yes. -On June 27, 2025,
00:40:07
the Bish family gathered
with friends and family to remember Molly 25 years after her death...
00:40:14
-♪ Rest eternal ♪ ♪ Grant unto her, O Lord ♪ -...first at the cemetery... -♪ Let light perpetual
shine upon her ♪
00:40:25
-...and then at
a more formal ceremony in the center of Warren. -I feel her beside me.
00:40:33
Because of Molly,
I have become braver than I ever thought possible. I have faced my deepest fears.
00:40:41
I have endured
unimaginable heartbreak. I have survived. -I believe
Molly's love and light
00:40:48
have guided us
through these 25 years, so today we share
our family's gratitude.
00:40:54
And because of Molly, we have
conquered what evil could not, for love is much stronger.
00:41:01
[ Bagpipes playing ] ♪♪ -The evening ended with
a gathering at Comins Pond. -I don't want people
to ever forget Molly.
00:41:16
♪♪ And we will never stop
honoring her. ♪♪