Maryland: Uncertainty Twines With Daily Details
Escaped Patient
Uncertainty Twines With Daily Details
Alison Thresher has been missing since May 23.
By Fredrick Kunkle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 24, 2000
For two months, Alison Thresher's sister has been picking through the details
of the Bethesda woman's life and rummaging through her belongings in the search
for answers to her disappearance.
But Sarah Goodwin Thomas is going through her sister's life for other reasons,
too.
As next of kin, Thomas must decide what to dismantle and what to keep intact of
a life her sister spent 45 years creating, a painstaking task all the more
disconcerting because she doesn't know whether Thresher is dead or alive.
How long then should the family pay the rent at Thresher's apartment on
Sangamore Road? What happens with her car? Her computer? Her mementos? An
unpublished novel? While emptying out her sister's apartment, Thomas wrestles
with decisions about what to keep and what to toss. Under the words "guardian
for," she signs her sister's checks to pay bills.
"You know, you really don't know what to do with things. You don't want to
throw away things that belonged to her," said Thomas, 41, who lives in College
Park. "Stuff that's not valuable, stuff that's personal, that's harder to
decide what to do with."
Jewelry and other valuables go into storage. So does a cigar box stuffed with
keepsakes, like the collection of ID badges Thresher saved from college and
work, including early jobs at The Washington Post. There are birthday cards and
old photographs, like the one of Thomas's 17-year-old son Michael when he was 3
years old and chomping on some grown-up's pants leg.
"It was kind of touching," Thomas said.
The situation Thresher's family finds itself is unusual but hardly unique.
The National Crime Information Center, an FBI-run computer database of missing
and wanted persons, has on file 41,292 active cases of missing adults reported
by law enforcement agencies across the country, said FBI spokesman Steven
Berry.
Other than that, though, there is not much hard data on the number of missing
adults in the United States, and most organizations that deal with missing
persons focus on missing children. Complicating adult missing persons cases is
that a number of people reported missing have left home voluntarily.
Laws vary by state, but most codes provide legal avenues for interested parties
to assume control of the affairs of a missing or disabled person, said Kym
Pasqualini, president and founder of the Nation's Missing Children Organization
and Center for Missing Adults in Phoenix.
Lawyers say the laws are applied most often to situations in which a person is
physically incapacitated by accident or illness. Cases involving missing adults
have become more frequent as Alzheimer's disease becomes more common, but the
incidents are still rare, lawyers say.
"Never had it come up," said Richard C. Manson Jr., who has been in practice 32
years and, as commissioner of accounts, is head of probate matters in
Richmond's Circuit Court. Virginia law allows for a conservator to be appointed
to manage a missing person's affairs, he said.
In Maryland, rules authorizing guardians to assume control of a missing
person's financial affairs are included in the law's section that allows
someone to assume decision-making power for a person incapacitated by physical
or mental disability, disease, confinement or even habitual drunkenness. The
District has similar provisions.
"The mandate is sort of to preserve the property of the ward," said Robert E.
Grant, a lawyer with Furey, Doolan & Abell in Chevy Chase, who handled the
petition for Thresher's sister. "Typically, you're going to have to make a
decision about a house. The car. Personal effects."
If a person is missing and unheard from for seven years in the District or in
Virginia, the person is presumed dead. Maryland, however, repealed that common
law presumption in 1984. As a result, an interested party must petition a court
for a finding of death.
Thresher, a divorced mother of two who began working as a news producer at
washingtonpost.com in February 1999, was about to start at The Post as a
part-time copy editor on the National Desk when she disappeared.
After undergoing computer training at The Post on May 23, a Tuesday, Thresher
dined with her parents in Georgetown. Her children were staying with her former
husband, a Post photographer. A friend talked with Thresher by telephone around
9:30 or 10 p.m. that night, and she sent an e-mail to a supervisor at The Post
shortly after midnight in response to a query about her future schedule. The
next morning, a tenant in her apartment building heard her alarm go off without
stopping around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.
When Thresher failed to report to work that day, her supervisors at The Post
thought at first that there might have been a misunderstanding about the
flexible schedule she was starting. After another no-show at work on Thursday,
however, her family was notified. Her 1997 Volvo station wagon, locked and
undisturbed, was found in the Brookmont neighborhood that night, not far from a
footpath to the C&O Canal.
Montgomery County police have characterized Thresher's disappearance as
"suspicious," but say there is no evidence of foul play.
Heightening the mystery are reports that she was seen holding hands with an
unidentified man in the weeks before she disappeared. And in the early hours of
May 24, a downstairs neighbor at the Sumner Highlands apartments was awakened
by gut-wrenching sobs coming from Thresher's apartment.
Maria Sepulveda, whose apartment is directly below Thresher's, said she was
awakened by the sound of a woman crying. It was about 3 or 4 a.m., and the day
was dawning gray outside.
"Someone was crying, like when you feel terrible pain," Sepulveda said. "When I
heard that person crying, I thought maybe I should call the police. I thought
maybe she needs help."
Sepulveda said she also heard footsteps--not unusually heavy footsteps--going
between the bedroom and the bathroom. Sepulveda wondered if perhaps Thresher's
daughter was sick. Or if perhaps Thresher had hurt herself.
"I was very scared. I never heard anyone crying like that in my life,"
Sepulveda said. When Sepulveda awoke later that morning, she did not see
Thresher's car.
A couple who live in Thresher's complex--and who spoke on condition of
anonymity--said they saw her with an identified man a couple of weeks before
her disappearance. The woman said she knew the Thresher family because their
adolescent daughters played together.
About two weeks before Thresher's disappearance, the woman watched from her
window at midday as Thresher and the man strolled down the sidewalk of the
complex. After turning a corner and heading down an out-of-way sidewalk, they
were holding hands. In an empty playground behind the building, they kissed.
The witness described the man as in his mid-40s, medium to short in stature,
with a round face and no facial hair.
Capt. Bernard J. Forsythe, director of the Major Crimes Division, said police
would like to talk to the man and are still trying to identify him. Forsythe
said the missing persons investigation is active, but despite the announcement
of a $25,000 reward--$20,000 of which was pledged by The Washington Post--leads
have slowed to a trickle.
Thomas believes her sister was the victim of foul play, but she has no way of
knowing.
The uncertainty overshadows almost everything. Nailing up fliers near
Fletcher's Boat House on the C&O canal path, when the talk turned to the
deceptively smooth dangers of the Potomac River, Thomas could not help
mentioning that there have been a couple drownings since her sister's
disappearance and that the river has surrendered the bodies.
The implication is clear: If her sister had perished in the canal or the river,
her remains should have surfaced by now.
Just a few minutes later, however, as a straw hat slipped off her head and she
mangled a nail with the hammer, Thomas kidded about her sister's return: "If
she came back, she might say, 'What's this BS about the power of attorney--and
why are you wearing my hat?' "
Thresher's 71-year-old parents inhabit the same limbo. In a brief interview at
their home last month, Frances Goodwin said she held out hope that her daughter
might still be alive. But Guy Goodwin said he fears the worst.
Thomas said: "It would be nice to have some kind of prayer thing. But it's also
like--we don't know what happened. She could still be alive."
That shadow land of doubt and uncertainty about her sister's fate brushed up
against everyday details that demand attention. Rent. Utility bills. Car
payments.
On June 16, Thomas filed a petition in Circuit Court in Montgomery County, to
assume guardianship of her sister's financial affairs. After finding that there
were no objections from other interested parties, Judge Nelson W. Rupp Jr.
granted the request June 21.
By law, guardians must inventory anything valuable: real property, bank
accounts, stocks, bonds, 401(k) plans and personal belongings in some detail.
Thresher's former husband, James M. Thresher, also has been forced to attend to
the quotidian details of his former wife.
After police had impounded the apartment to collect evidence, James Thresher
arranged with detectives to have some of his children's toys and clothing
removed. In June, James Thresher went to court in Prince George's County to
obtain sole legal custody of the children and suspend child support payments.
He said he is also looking into whether he or the children are eligible for
Social Security death benefits.
"I'm sure her sister thinks there's a chance she's going to show up. I don't
blame her. I know my kids at some level feel that. The bottom line is we don't
know what happened," James Thresher said last month.
Thomas said her sister's belongings were modest, but taking control of her
estate is daunting just the same.
"I think it's doubly hard for Sarah because it's her only sibling, and her
parents are elderly," said Rebecca Feldburg, a friend of Thomas's who lives in
Riverdale Park. "It's a lot on her shoulders. . . . It's amazing how well she's
held up."
While taking apart her sister's apartment, Thomas came across a particularly
touching find that conveyed the magnitude of her sister's loss: files stuffed
with school records and correspondance that documented her involvement with her
son's education.
"It really hit home for me," Thomas said. "You can see how much a mother is
doing for her children, and no one will ever be able to do that."
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
Maggie
>Uncertainty Twines With Daily Details
> Alison Thresher has been missing since May 23.
>
>By Fredrick Kunkle
>Washington Post Staff Writer
>Monday, July 24, 2000
>
>
>For two months, Alison Thresher's sister has been picking through the details
>of the Bethesda woman's life and rummaging through her belongings in the
>search
>for answers to her disappearance.
>
>But Sarah Goodwin Thomas is going through her sister's life for other reasons,
>too.
***Interesting story. It screams "suicide" to me, but it is curious that no
body has turned up.
Maggie
"A long dispute means that both parties are wrong." Voltaire
Sarah
Maggie wrote:
>
> escaped patient posted a news story:
> >Uncertainty Twines With Daily Details
> > Alison Thresher has been missing since May 23.
> >
> >By Fredrick Kunkle
> >Washington Post Staff Writer
> >Monday, July 24, 2000
> >
> >
> >For two months, Alison Thresher's sister has been picking through the details
> >of the Bethesda woman's life and rummaging through her belongings in the
> >search
> >for answers to her disappearance.
> >
> >But Sarah Goodwin Thomas is going through her sister's life for other reasons,
> >too.
>
> ***Interesting story. It screams "suicide" to me, but it is curious that no
> body has turned up.
Sounds like it to me, too. Evidently the children are
minors, and were at least part of the time (if not
full-time) in their mother's custody... a daughter and a
son.
One possibility: the husband? Seems a bit premature to try
to apply for the woman's SS _death_ benefits when there's no
real evidence she _is_ dead. At least there's no mention of
him applying for an insurance payout. Was there any kind of
legal dissension over the kids? Custody battles have led to
murder before.
One more thought: Any women over 40 who's been divorced
already and has kids to take care of should know that crying
over a man is a waste of time (there's always going to be
another man, and he'll always be some kind of problem --
yes, I'm definitely a cynic when it comes to men!), but if
she'd discovered something like an inoperable tumor that
would take her away from her kids, _that_ would be cause for
real grief as described. Maybe the sister should check with
her doctors?
Maggie
>> >Uncertainty Twines With Daily Details
>> > Alison Thresher has been missing since May 23.
>> >
>> >By Fredrick Kunkle
>> >Washington Post Staff Writer
>> >Monday, July 24, 2000
>> >
>> >
>> >For two months, Alison Thresher's sister has been picking through the
>details
>> >of the Bethesda woman's life and rummaging through her belongings in
>the
>> >search
>> >for answers to her disappearance.
>> >
>> >But Sarah Goodwin Thomas is going through her sister's life for other
>reasons,
>> >too.
>>
>> ***Interesting story. It screams "suicide" to me, but it is curious that
>no
>> body has turned up.
>
>Sounds like it to me, too. Evidently the children are
>minors, and were at least part of the time (if not
>full-time) in their mother's custody... a daughter and a
>son.
>
>One possibility: the husband? Seems a bit premature to try
>to apply for the woman's SS _death_ benefits when there's no
>real evidence she _is_ dead. At least there's no mention of
>him applying for an insurance payout. Was there any kind of
>legal dissension over the kids? Custody battles have led to
>murder before.
***Don't know anything about that, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence
that anyone else was involved--no neighbor saw or heard anyone else, and the
woman's car was found far from her house. How would a killer have gotten away
without a vehicle?
>
solitaire said:
>One more thought: Any women over 40 who's been divorced
>already and has kids to take care of should know that crying
>over a man is a waste of time (there's always going to be
>another man, and he'll always be some kind of problem --
>yes, I'm definitely a cynic when it comes to men!), but if
>she'd discovered something like an inoperable tumor that
>would take her away from her kids, _that_ would be cause for
>real grief as described. Maybe the sister should check with
>her doctors?
***A good possibility. I wonder if Dr/patient confidentiality would keep them
from telling her? I would imagine that an examination of the missing sister's
appointment book and maybe a computer analysis of websites she'd visited lately
might reveal whether she had health concerns.
But, you know, there are just so many possibilities. People suffering from
depression don't always *act* depressed. An acquaintance of mine died just
this past weekend of a suicide attempt made a month ago. I had no idea he was
depressed--always seemed really upbeat to me.
Maybe this woman had just begun to realize that the new job she was starting
the next day wasn't going to be the solution to all her problems.
Also--different things affect people differently. Maybe a disappointment in
love *was* enough to make this particular woman suicidal--wouldn't be the first
time. It wouldn't surprise me if the sister knows a little bit more about the
reasons for a possible suicide than she is saying.
Escaped Patient
Path: lobby!newstf02.news.aol.com!audrey05.news.aol.com!not-for-mail
From: maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC (Maggie)
Newsgroups: alt.true-crime
Lines: 76
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X-Admin: ne...@aol.com
Date: 25 Jul 2000 14:57:17 GMT
References: <397CA136...@earthling.net
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Message-ID: <20000725105717...@ng-mf1.aol.com>
Maggie wrote:
<snipped>
>But, you know, there are just so many possibilities. People suffering from
>depression don't always *act* depressed. An acquaintance of mine died just
>this past weekend of a suicide attempt made a month ago. I had no idea he
>was
>depressed--always seemed really upbeat to me.
>
>Maybe this woman had just begun to realize that the new job she was starting
>the next day wasn't going to be the solution to all her problems.
>Also--different things affect people differently. Maybe a disappointment in
>love *was* enough to make this particular woman suicidal--wouldn't be the
>first
>time. It wouldn't surprise me if the sister knows a little bit more about
>the
>reasons for a possible suicide than she is saying.
>
I'm reading all the comments in this thread with great interest.
Here's an update which does suggest someone, (even if it turns out not to
be Alison Thresher's sister), knows something about the circumstances of the
disappearance:
Man Seen With Missing Bethesda Woman Is Sought
Wednesday, July 26, 2000
Montgomery County police are looking for an unidentified man who was seen with
Alison Thresher in the weeks before the Bethesda woman disappeared.
The man-- described by police as 5 feet 4 inches tall, 48 to 50 years old, of
medium build and "possibly of Hispanic descent"-- was last seen with Thresher
in March or early April at her Sumner Highlands apartment complex on Sangamore
Road, police said. Neighbors told police the man was cleanshaven with thick,
black, medium-length hair that brushed the collar.
Neighbors told police he drove a small, white, four-door sedan of unknown make
and model that was about 10 years old.
"We want to stress that the person is not a suspect, but he may have
information helpful to the investigation," said Officer Joyce Barrow, a police
spokeswoman.
A Bolivian couple, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they saw a man with
Thresher a couple of weeks before her disappearance. The woman said she saw
Thresher and the man kiss and hold hands. Except for the time frame and minor
details, their description matched the information released by police.
Thresher, who had just been hired as a part-time copy editor at The Washington
Post, was last seen May 23. Her 1997 Volvo station wagon was found two days
later in the Brookmont neighborhood.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
>
Sarah
Maggie wrote:
>
> >> escaped patient posted a news story:
> >> >Uncertainty Twines With Daily Details
The car was found in DC, not far from the C&O towpath. I
know that area, it's only 1-2 blocks from a major bus route,
and only 1/2 mile from a metro stop.
> solitaire said:
> >One more thought: Any women over 40 who's been divorced
> >already and has kids to take care of should know that crying
> >over a man is a waste of time (there's always going to be
> >another man, and he'll always be some kind of problem --
> >yes, I'm definitely a cynic when it comes to men!), but if
> >she'd discovered something like an inoperable tumor that
> >would take her away from her kids, _that_ would be cause for
> >real grief as described. Maybe the sister should check with
> >her doctors?
>
> ***A good possibility. I wonder if Dr/patient confidentiality would keep them
> from telling her? I would imagine that an examination of the missing sister's
> appointment book and maybe a computer analysis of websites she'd visited lately
> might reveal whether she had health concerns.
That's a good plan! (Unfortunately, if she was
security/privacy-savvy at all, she'd dump her caches, clear
her history file and the location bar, clear the "documents
last used" menu, and edit her cookies file, every time she
logged off the internet, like I do.)
Escaped Patient
>Path:
>lobby!newstf02.news.aol.com!portc03.blue.aol.com!portc01.blue.aol.com!cpk
-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanf
ord.edu!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!edrn
>From: Lord Sir Lord_...@newsguy.com
>Newsgroups: alt.true-crime
>Date: 25 Jul 2000 08:40:09 -0700
>Organization: Extra Newsguy News Service [http://extra.newsguy.com]
>Lines: 69
>Message-ID: <8lkccp$p...@edrn.newsguy.com>
>References: <397CA136...@earthling.net>
><20000725105717...@ng-mf1.aol.com>
>NNTP-Posting-Host: p-999.newsdawg.com
>X-No-Archive: Yes
>
>
>
>In article <20000725105717...@ng-mf1.aol.com>,
>maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC says...
>where
>they will have the victim drive to.
Or, she knew him, well, and they both used her car.
Possibly take a bus or other public
>transportation to an area within walking distance of victim's residence or to
>a
>good place to meet and snatch victim. The meeting place could even be the
>place
>where the victim's vehicle will be found .
>
>Call and lure the victim : tell them some terrible news (ex husband : child
>ill, in danger, missing ? or some other "sob inducing" story - lover : "I
>can't
>keep seeing you" ?).
Maybe Alison Thresher had information on the man she was seeing--the man people
reported seeing her with--confronted him with it and said they 'needed to talk'
which would give him some time to plan and even arrange with another unknown
person. Maybe she had been weeping about what she'd found out or seen for days
in anticipation of his reaction and what it would do to their relationship and
when they did meet, things got out of hand?
>Arrange an immediate meeting with the victim to deal with the "emergency
>situation" (have victim drive to a place to meet). Snatch victim in/from
>their
>vehicle when they arrive at place of meeting. Have victim drive victim's
>vehicle to where it will be found ? Do the deed. Retrieve perp's vehicle
>from
>nearby parking spot. Drive away ?
Maybe a friend picked him up and helped him take Alison's body. Of course,
this would make it premeditated murder which contradicts the 'things getting
out of hand' suggestion....
<sigh> Columbo, I am NOT, even though I have an old raincoat, love to ask
people questions and have been told I do a realistic impression of appearing
incredibly dense.
Escaped
(Thinks it should be mandated that all unsolved murder case suspects appear on
the John Edward 'Crossing Over' show)
>LS
>
>"I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is
>for
>or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for
>whoever
>and whatever benefits humanity as a whole."
>- Malcolm X -
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Escaped Patient
>Alison Thresher Disappearance
>Path:
>lobby!newstf02.news.aol.com!portc03.blue.aol.com!portc01.blue.aol.com!new
s.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!n>Date: 27 Jul 2000 08:48:39 -0700>Lines: 111
>Message-ID: <8lplkn$1m...@edrn.newsguy.com>
>References: <20000725105717...@ng-mf1.aol.com>
><20000726030433...@ng-ck1.aol.com>
>NNTP-Posting-Host: p-973.newsdawg.com
>X-No-Archive: Yes
>
>
>
>In article <20000726030433...@ng-ck1.aol.com>,
>escaped...@aol.com says...
>>
>>Subject: Re: Maryland: Uncertainty Twines With Daily Details
>
>
>>
>>
>><snipped>
>>>But, you know, there are just so many possibilities. People suffering from
>>>depression don't always *act* depressed. An acquaintance of mine died just
>>>this past weekend of a suicide attempt made a month ago. I had no idea he
>>>was
>>>depressed--always seemed really upbeat to me.
>>>
>>>Maybe this woman had just begun to realize that the new job she was
>starting
>>>the next day wasn't going to be the solution to all her problems.
>>>Also--different things affect people differently. Maybe a disappointment
>in
>>>love *was* enough to make this particular woman suicidal--wouldn't be the
>>>first
>>>time. It wouldn't surprise me if the sister knows a little bit more about
>>>the
>>>reasons for a possible suicide than she is saying.
>>>
>>
>> I'm reading all the comments in this thread with great interest.
>
>
>>***Don't know anything about that, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence
>>that anyone else was involved--no neighbor saw or heard anyone else, and the
>>woman's car was found far from her house. How would a killer have gotten
>away
>>without a vehicle?
>
>crime
>in at-c ...
LOL, I just answered your other post a little while ago (an hour or so?--I
lose track of time) and then THIS one of yours showed up on my server just two
minutes ago--recently enough for me to be quite sure how much time had passed
<g>. I'm glad it did appear because I'd forgotten to add to my previous reply
that I really like your sig quote. Each time I see it I think of something I
read which goes something like: "I'd walk fifteen miles to the house of my
enemy if I could learn something from him."
There are many times when I post something which is interesting to me even
though I have absolutely nothing to offer except fairly obvious observations,
opinions and 'feelings' about the story. Usually someone will end up posting
something that reflects at least part of what I was thinking, so I don't feel
there's any loss to the group in my not having written a response.
When people respond to something I post or say--if I can't think of anything
to add, especially in a public forum ; ) it seems a waste of bandwidth to just
post "I agree" or "I disagree" if my opinion isn't critical to the issue. (
In other words, in every case ; ) Also, when I see certain posts, such as
certain ones from Lucy : ), the replies that seem adequate require so much time
to formulate because I'm always losing references to studies, etc...that I
never do manage to finish the many drafts that end up in a LUCY file on my hard
drive. lol
From time to time I will email someone with further comments, or
information if I have it available and if I'm able to remember!
So..... that was my long way of assuring you that I wasn't ignoring you. :
)
>Thanks for the update. I'd be interested in reading more.
>
>LS
And more you shall have, if more is written in the Post. : ) I'm still waiting
in hopes that there will be updates to about three stories I posted a while
ago.
Escaped
Maggie
>>The car was found in DC, not far from the C&O towpath. I
>>know that area, it's only 1-2 blocks from a major bus route,
>>and only 1/2 mile from a metro stop.
****WHICH metro stop???
sal
<20000729005355...@ng-cb1.aol.com>:
Roslyn maybe ? Just across Key Bridge, isn't it ?
-Sal