Gone Girl – Joan Risch

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8th November 2017  •  6 min read

In 1961, housewife Joan Risch disappeared without a trace. Did she stage her own disappearance or did something more sinister take place?


Gone Girl - Joan Risch

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Morbidology is a weekly true crime podcast created and hosted by Emily G. Thompson. Using investigative research combined with primary audio, Morbidology takes an in-depth look at true crime cases from all across the world.


The extremely perplexing disappearance of housewife, Joan Risch, very closely parallels the New York Time’s Best Seller, Gone Girl, written by Gillian Flynn. The outstanding book (which was later adapted into a movie) follows the disappearance of a young wife.

Joan Risch had a tragic childhood with both of her parents perishing in a fire while Joan was out visiting family. Following their death, she lived with a foster family. A Boston Herald article from 1993 reported that Joan had been sexually molested by her foster father. In 1954, Joan met her future husband, Martin, at a Harvard football game. They were both Brooklyn born and hit it off immediately. Joan ultimately left her career as an editorial assistant at a publishing company in New York City to settle down with Martin and start a family. The young couple had two children – Lillian and David – before moving to a modern home on Old Bedford Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Joan was a housewife while Martin was a Fitchburgh paper company executive.

Gone Girl - Joan Risch
Joan, Lillian and David.

“I think they were extremely happy. They had a beautiful home, two lovely children and they were congenial companions, as far as I know,” said Joan’s foster mother, Alice Nattrass, who had long divorced her ex-husband and the man who was said to have molested Joan.

On 24 October, 1961, Martin went on a business trip to New York, leaving his wife at home with their children. The morning was an uneventful one. Joan took 4-year-old Lillian to the dentist before returning home for lunch. Joan was such a generous woman that not only did she pay for dental care for her own family but she continued to pay for her foster sister’s dental care. She often worried about Alice’s financial situation after leaving her ex-husband.

When they came back home from the dentist, she put 2-year-old David, down for a nap. As David was napping, Joan sent Lillian over to the Baker’s house to play with their son, Douglas, who was the same age as Lillian. The homes on Old Bedford road were spaced far apart and were fenced off with large trees, giving the resident’s privacy.

What took place next is shrouded in mystery and conspiracy.

At approximately 4:15PM that afternoon, Lillian arrived back home. Moments later, she ran back to the Baker residence. When Douglas’ mother, Barbara, opened the front door, Lillian wailed that her mother had disappeared and that there was “red paint all over the kitchen.” Barbara accompanied Lillian back home and was met by a particularly shocking scene.

What Lillian had seen was not red paint but blood.

The walls were spattered with spots of blood and there was a small puddle of blood on the floor. The blood led to David’s nursery, where the toddler remained untouched. It then led out to the car and the trunk of the car. Investigators noted that it appeared as though some of the blood had been wiped up.

Gone Girl - Joan Risch
Credit: Massachusetts State Police.

The phone had ripped from the wall and tossed into a wastebasket while a phone book sat nearby; it was opened on the page of emergency numbers although phone records showed that no calls had been made. Investigators believed that the blood had most likely come from a superficial wound. On the wall beside the phone, investigators found an unidentified bloody thumbprint. Over the forthcoming years, over 5,000 people would be fingerprinted in an attempt to find a match but to no avail.

Nothing appeared to be out of place and nothing had been stolen, ruling out robbery. In fact, other than the spots of blood in several locations and a tipped over table, the house was practically spotless. It certainly didn’t look like a violent struggle had ensued.

Gone Girl - Joan Risch
Credit: Massachusetts State Police.

The initial theory from investigators was that Joan had been abducted. However, eyewitness statements complicated this theory.

Barbara Baker told police she had noticed Joan walking or running, with her arms outstretched towards her car which was parked in the driveway at around 2:15PM.1 She appeared to be carrying something red in one hand. From there, she turned back and walked towards her house. Another neighbour told police that at approximately 3:20PM, she saw a grey Oldsmobile Sedan parked behind Joan’s own car.

Gone Girl - Joan Risch

As news of Joan’s disappearance wended through the town of Lincoln, police started to receive tips from those who believed they had seen her that fateful afternoon.

Several motorists reported seeing a woman who they believed to be Joan. She had been walking along Route 128 in Waltham. Situated nearby was the Cambridge Reservoir. Investigators placed much credence on these reports and had the water searched scrupulously in the hopes that it would turn up some clues. It was an unfruitful search.2

Another reported sighting was at about 2:15PM on the afternoon Joan disappeared. A caller described seeing a woman who looked like Joan walking along the side of Route 2A, approximately 200 yards from her home. She was wearing a loose fitting grey coat that came down to her knees and had a handkerchief tied under her chin in a peculiar fashion. Was she trying to hide her face? She was “shuffling along and hunched over as though she were cold.”

Shortly after this sighing came another. This caller said they too saw somebody who matched the aforementioned description, although this caller said that the woman had blood on both of her legs. She was walking on Route 128 and appeared to be dazed. The caller recollected that she was walking “in a plodding manner with her head down.”

Gone Girl - Joan Risch

Could this have been Joan and if so, what was she doing? In all of these reported sightings, the witnesses described her as wearing the same clothing and acting in the same obscure manner. After these reported sightings, investigators searched extensively for this woman, making sure they checked each and every hospital. They were never able to confirm or deny if this were Joan.

The case took an even more mysterious twist when instigators discovered that Joan had check out numerous library books in the run up to her disappearance; all of these books were about murders and disappearances. “The Hunt for Richard Thorpe” was one of the books. It is about a schoolboy who disappeared on purpose. Another was “Death of The Heart,” a novel about an orphan who dropped from sight. The book which almost paralleled the so-called crime scene at the Risch household, however, was “Into Thin Air” which follows the story of a woman who planted her own blood stains in her home before disappearing.3

These discoveries sent the rumour mill running wild.

Many people theorise that Joan, bored with her marital life after abandoning her publishing career in New York City, staged her own disappearance. The other theory is much less romanticised: Joan was the victim of a sadistic murder and her body is abandoned somewhere unfound. Her son, David, likes “to think she’s in heaven.”4 Friends and family say that she was a devoted mother and wife and wouldn’t dream of abandoning them.

Over the years, Martin still held onto hope that one day his wife would return home; he came to believe she had potentially suffered amnesia and would one day remember who she was. He remained in the same marital home following her disappearance and kept it the same as it was before she disappeared. Despite the numerous crank calls he received, he refused to change his telephone number just in case Joan called. She never did call and she never did return home; he refused to declare her dead. Martin Risch went to his grave in 2009, never knowing what happened to his wife.

So what became of Joan? Could she have abandoned the life she made to start afresh? That’s the theory that the adventurer in all of of us likes to believe. Is it plausible? Very much so. It’s certainly more alluring than the glaring alternative theory: that she is dead. The bizarre vanishing became the center of one of New England’s greatest mysteries of the 20th Century and to this date, nobody truly knows what happened to Joan Risch.


If you have any information about the disappearance of Joan Risch, please call: 781-259-8113.


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Footnotes:

  1. Boston Record American, 12 November, 1961 – “Could You Trace Joan Risch?”
  2. Boston Herald, 5 November, 1961 – “Everyone Knows of Joan Risch”
  3. Boston Herald, 23 October, 1966 – “Joan Risch – Is She Alive or in a Lonely Grave?”
  4. The Boston Herald, 24 October, 1993 –“What Happened to Joan Risch?”

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John R
6 years ago

Given the information above, I wonder if the poor woman had a miscarriage (or similar) The attempts at cleaning up, the confused state, the reports of the bleeding The blood loss and shock may have resulted in confusion and unpredictable behaviour After that – I do not know. Maybe she tried to wash herself in a river and fell in. Pure speculation except that ‘falling in a river/the ocean’ seems to be a major way people disappear and are not found (Of course, the report of the presence of another car may suggest someone else was trying to assist with… Read more »

vicky
vicky
6 years ago
Reply to  John R

Exactly my thoughts when I was reading the story. Though it says the blood stem from a superficial wound.

Tobias
Tobias
6 years ago
Reply to  vicky

Keep in mind that many modern forensic methods are scientifically doubtful, at best, and that we had several scandals over mishandled, unhandled or simply fraudulent lab tests in evidence labs lately. I’ve no background in medicine, forensic or otherwise, but I wouldn’t take the conclusion as absolutely reliable before confirming with someone knowledgable about forensic methods of the early sixties.

Michelle Bay
Michelle Bay
6 years ago
Reply to  John R

I thought the same exact thing.The reports of seeing her walking on the Rd with blood going down her legs and the report of a nieghbor seeing her having her arms streched out with something red all over her arms and walking in the garage and then turns around to go back in made me think of either a miss carrige or a abortion which I thin the person in the gray car was assisting her with either one.im thinking maybe she had an affair and accidentally got pregnant I think the guy in the gray cat might be the… Read more »

Todd Jones
Todd Jones
5 years ago
Reply to  Michelle Bay

1+1=1000000 in your book.

Knut Olestad
Knut Olestad
2 years ago
Reply to  Michelle Bay

The rest of us has left the 50’s, maybe you should as well.

Leslie
Leslie
2 years ago
Reply to  Michelle Bay

Whose values? My family is just fine without the church or state involved.

Cassie Fitts
Cassie Fitts
5 years ago
Reply to  John R

That’s a good theory, but in order for that to happen, she would have had an affair. If she was having an affair, It would be somewhat clear to her family. She was a full time mom, so her kids would know if she was gone. One of her kids is four, so they don’t take naps and therefore would know if their mother was having an affair because the child only sleeps at night. The only way for her to be having an affair is late at night. Her husband would most likely have woken up to see her… Read more »

Jennifer Keese
Jennifer Keese
5 years ago
Reply to  Cassie Fitts

I see no reason to believe your affair scenario is valid. Nothing in the article says her and her husband were abstinent. Nothing in the article indicates cheating or a scorned lover. The article was clear about Joan having a normal life, she was a good mother and wife. It mentions her husband leaving out of town for work, but she disappeared the same day. She could have been weeks, or months pregnant. Your statement” That’s a good theory, but in order for that to happen, she would have had an affair.” is not backed by any evidence in the… Read more »

Peggy Pruett
Peggy Pruett
5 years ago
Reply to  Cassie Fitts

She sent the 4 year old to the neighbors. Maybe often?

Todd Jones
Todd Jones
5 years ago
Reply to  John R

You really pulled that one out of your ass.

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  John R

what about Barbara husband re ck question who ever is still alive joans husbands family maybe someone knows something ck where the bakers moved underground where they moved before they moved there joan was alive redue talking to the dry cleaner just a start ask her daughter who that man was she seen in her house

Lawrence Swed
Lawrence Swed
6 years ago

I was 12 years old when Joan disappeared, and I remember reading about the story in the local Boston newspapers at the time. It still fascinates me to this day. I don’t believe she was kidnapped, nor was there a strange intruder that day. To me, the biggest clue is the two-tone blue car seen in her driveway, by two separate neighborhood residents. The car was observed BEFORE the police arrived. I also read for the first time recently, that the Risch’s regular milkman claims seeing the same car at the house just five days earlier. She had an invited… Read more »

SaffiEriksdottr
5 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Swed

This makes me think it may have been an illegal abortion, too. It would explain both the blood and the mysterious visitor.

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Swed

i remember the case as well i lived near her

LeeLee Bronson
LeeLee Bronson
6 years ago

I also thought of miscarriage but I also thought of a botched termination even though that doesn’t fit for her lifestyle.

SaffiEriksdottr
5 years ago
Reply to  LeeLee Bronson

Why wouldn’t it fit with her “lifestyle”? She was depressed and had two young kids at home. If she didn’t feel like she could handle another one, that’s plenty of reason to seek a termination.

The other possibility that occurs to me is that she cut herself, not necessarily to fake a disappearance but with the intent of suicide, but then couldn’t go through with it and left instead.

Britt B
Britt B
6 years ago

While the idea that she was abducted is easier for the family to believe, they should probably consider the real possibility that she left. I think that there is one of two scenarios that are the most plausible. #1. She left. Before she got married, she had a fast paced career. She was on top of the world. Did things, and went places; but then she meets her husband. For some reason, she didn’t think she could be a career woman, and a mother (or her husband decided for her) and she stayed home to raise the children. As any… Read more »

Lawrence Swed
Lawrence Swed
6 years ago
Reply to  Britt B

So many possibilities here. I don’t believe she was dazed from loss of blood–there wasn’t much blood at all at the scene. Not much in the kitchen, and only a few drops in the driveway and on her car. There were also a few drops of blood both at the bottom and the top of the stairs leading to the upstairs bedroom where her 2 year old son was napping–did the loss of blood start upstairs? If she was in trouble or struggling with a visitor, would she have stopped to try to clean up the blood? Maybe her visitor… Read more »

Judy Metzroth
Judy Metzroth
6 years ago

Many years ago when I lived in Boston I was approached by detectives questioning me about being Joan Risch.I was approached several times and it was said that I was a stunning resemblance of Joan. I had been kicked out of my home in Maine by my Mother and went to Boston.This continued for sometime and it was hard to convince them that I was not her. I had no id to prove who I was.It continued until I left the area.When I just came across this I was stunned to read this.I had forgotten all about this. I`m so… Read more »

Lawrence Swed
Lawrence Swed
6 years ago
Reply to  Judy Metzroth

Wow Judy, that is amazing. I can see why they would question you since you looked so much like Joan. She still has not been found. I would love to know what really happened that day she disappeared.

Lisa
Lisa
6 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Swed

If you really know.. I know the entire story..my grandfather had jusy retiref as the chief of police in Medford when this happened and my father has spent a fortune researching this case for over 40 years and he and I know the truth as to what happened and where she is and who did what!! And just to let you know she murdered and burried…and we even know where and who

Michael
Michael
5 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

Only a fool or a liar would reveal on an internet forum that they had evidence to solve a case. In your case, I’m going with liar.

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Michael

Since you’ve already got ‘liar’ covered; I’m going with ‘fool’.

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  Michael

just tell your theory

Lar
Lar
5 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

So who was it

John Fitzgerald
John Fitzgerald
5 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

I noticed Chief Sacco of the Medford PD announced his retirement earlier this year. He has three grandchildren, none named Lisa. That being said, I know a gentleman by the name of Lawrence Ford also “spent a fortune” looking into the Risch case. Did your grandfather present his finding to Middlesex County DA?

Teresa
Teresa
4 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

Isn’t that against the law, withholding evidence

Mulbery gray
Mulbery gray
4 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

Lisa ..I tend to believe you ..I have followed this case now since 1967..so many theories out there..All of them so far off..I recently revisited the area…Minute Man Park ..I was looking for something that I once had found but the area had changed somewhat with the exappropriation of the homes that were there..The old tavern that had been boarded up is now open to the public…There was this older man that was following me ..maybe in his 80’s but in good shape..I didn’t like the feeling…He showed up everywhere that I was looking…Out of nowhere..He obviously knows the area… Read more »

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

She is undoubtedly starved for attention inasmuch as her ‘father’ spent both a fortune AND over 40 years researching the Joan Risch case. Neither he nor his father had any time reserved for her, so she’s left to troll these pages with her inane comments.

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

so true we need proof

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

the bakers right

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Judy Metzroth

Way to make everything about YOU, narcissist.

Shari Kizziar
Shari Kizziar
6 years ago

I have followed this case for so long now. I have a couple of theories, but the trouble is, the details of this case always contradict just about any theory one can come up with. Botched abortion makes sense…until you think of the logistics of it. Why on earth would she have it at home with her children there. Why would she run off if bleeding profusely and not get help? Kidnapping..not likely, as blood is in her home and then she is seen stumbling along the highway. Why not just flag someone down? Amnesia…I don’t know…seems so far fetched.… Read more »

Lawrence Swed
Lawrence Swed
6 years ago
Reply to  Shari Kizziar

I agree, there are contradictions no matter which theory you explore. Contrary to some reports, there was not a lot of blood at the scene. I doubt if she staggered away in a weakened state due to blood loss. Was she really seen stumbling along the road? Several people allegedly saw her, and none stopped to help? Did these people who reported to have seen her wandering around identify themselves to the police? I have never heard of any names, and I can’t help but think the sightings of her were phoned in by accomplices of her in order to… Read more »

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Swed

Who’s to say at this late date, how much blood was cleared away by the paper towels? Upon closer inspection of the record; indications are that “a good deal of blood” was found on the kitchen floor and reported as such. This is aside and apart from all of the other blood evidence along the walls, walkway and vehicle. What accounts for the ‘red object’ that she was viewed carrying towards the garage? Could it have been a miscarried fetus and requisite placenta? Evidence of an altercation of sorts with the misplaced items, overturned table and phone ripped from the… Read more »

Lisa
Lisa
6 years ago
Reply to  Shari Kizziar

My father investigated this case my entire life, my grandfather was chief of police in Medford, he knows what happen and where she was burried..and who did what..u people are way off.

SHARI KIZZIARjyNxR
SHARI KIZZIARjyNxR
6 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

I don’t buy it. If your father knew all of this for sure he would have revealed it. Come on…

Lawrence Swed
Lawrence Swed
6 years ago

She is off the wall, judging by those recent posts she made.

Michael
Michael
5 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

If you were any more full of crap, your eyes would turn brown. Go get some fresh air and then step back into the real world….

Swankerz
Swankerz
5 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

Lisa, if you truly want to be believed, state the disappearance scenario you are aware of. If you have no viewpoint, then get off the forum. In other words, shit or get off the pot.

Jean
Jean
4 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

Somehow I doubt the veracity of your statements. This sounds more like trolling than honesty.

tina
tina
4 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

Was your grandpa William Grady? Share your knowledge with us.

Knut Olestad
Knut Olestad
2 years ago
Reply to  tina

He was not.

Carol
Carol
2 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

The chief of police of Lincoln was Leo Algeo. What does Medford have to do with anything?

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

on the barkers new land

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Shari Kizziar

I assume that you are NOT a female, otherwise you would know that a ‘normal’ menstrual period consists of less than 7 teaspoons of ‘blood’ dispensed during a ‘normal’ 7 day period. Of course, there are those that fall outside of what is considered the norm. Hemorrhaging due to cysts, endometriosis, miscarriage and other medical conditions and injuries can account for heavier bleeding loss.

Elle
Elle
3 years ago
Reply to  Phancy

Shari didn’t ask if it was period blood. They asked if blood from a miscarriage would be the same kind of blood – eg fleshy, internal lining etc – as menstruation.

Shari Kizziar
Shari Kizziar
1 year ago
Reply to  Phancy

Well two years later I am getting back to this thread. I think you completely misunderstood my question. But at any rate, Elle below understood.

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  Shari Kizziar

yes it would be i remember the case

Park Min - Mi
6 years ago

We need Sherlock.

Lawrence Swed
Lawrence Swed
6 years ago
Reply to  Park Min - Mi

Bring him in…….

Tara White
Tara White
5 years ago

Whatever happened to her is forever shrouded in mystery. Her husband went to his grave in 2009 never knowing where his love went…heartbreaking for him and the children. I believe the botched abortion theory after an affair…sounds plausible. Women who are going to leave their kids certainly don’t waste the day and money at a dental office!
Gone girl certainly was an awesome movie! This lady should get more credit.

Chasity J.
Chasity J.
5 years ago

Although I have heard of the novel and movie Gone Girl I never knew it was based on a true story. How unfortunate for the husband and kids to lose a wife and mother. A few of the theories are plausible. The miscarriage and abortion bit add up well. I have a theory she may have hit her head in the kitchen causing the bleeding. Head injuries bleed A LOT. She may have been confused and tried to clean it up and in a hazy state was confused about her actions and whereabouts and it may have caused amnesia which… Read more »

Be ev
Be ev
5 years ago

I think she was killed inside the house, dragged to and leaned against her own car, first on the front fender and then on the trunk ( there was blood found on the left front fender near the windshield, and on the rear right fender and trunk area – her car was facing the garage/house) to allow the murderer to open his own car that was parked behind hers before loading the body in it for removal from the scene. Witnesses saw a car backing out of her driveway. The house itself was pretty well secluded from neighbors by trees.… Read more »

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Be ev

The house wasn’t THAT secluded, homes in the neighborhood were set on ample plots but Mrs Barker had no problem viewing Joans comings and goings. She even had a birds eye view of Joan when in her back yard, as the children played on the swings.

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Be ev

The FBI estimated that the ‘considerable blood type O on the floor of kitchen and on the wall boards shows the same type blood as the victim and the quantity was one pint or more’. The FBI report also states they were unable to determine whether or not blood in the residence sufficient to indicate victim was killed. The agency eventually excised itself as there was no indication of a federal violation which may have been erroneous as Joan Risch disappeared from within the boundaries of a relatively new declared United States National Park.

Vicki
Vicki
5 years ago

Just found this case and read several places. What about the police report online that says they thought she was buried in a tract of land that the Barker’s owned? What looked odd to me in crime scene photos was that overturned table. Looks like someone moved it out intending to clean the floor then in staging later turned it over causing books on the bottom shelf to fall off right there. The phone ripped off the wall looks staged, too. That wasn’t necessary. Those phone receiver and cords unplugged at the bottom of the phone. I wonder if the… Read more »

Vicki
Vicki
5 years ago
Reply to  Vicki

Correction! Someone researching and writing about the case had a theory about the neighbors, the Barkers. NOT the police report.

Gypsy
Gypsy
4 years ago
Reply to  Vicki

I have a total different thought! She still had connection with her foster family? What if she was still being sexually abused? Since there was still a connection, if there was a connection still with her foster father? Did anyone ever check her children for DNA. What if, she was still a victim and the children were his. A thought!

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Gypsy

That’s a thought that you should have kept to yourself. I could be mistaken, but I believed she was placed with relatives that she didn’t know; after her parents death. After college, marriage, moving and her ‘Aunts’ divorce; it is doubtful that any contact continued or was uncovered by police or FBI.

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Vicki

For your edification: telephones manufactured in the 1960’s HAD NO PLUGS AT THE BOTTOM. The receiver and phone were one solid piece. One could not access the inner workings of a phone without unscrewing the metal plates on the undersides. One either ripped the receiver cord from the phone base, cut the cord leading to the base or the one leading into the home in order to disable phone use. The table sat below the kitchen phone and the telephone books sat on the bottom, as was the custom. An attack may have occurred as she was attempting to use… Read more »

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[…] Article | Feb 21, 1963 | Books New Link in Blood Disappearance Morbidology | Gone Girl – Joan RischDiscovery […]

Tabitha Hobbes
Tabitha Hobbes
4 years ago

How about you read your article and get rid of the poor spelling and wrong words?

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  Tabitha Hobbes

How about you politely point out errors instead of being rude for no reason?? Plus I just read this and see no errors or wrong words. Point them out if you are so convinced something is wrong and I am sure the author would fix it.

Don’t understand keyboard warriors. Being kind and polite will get you further in life.

Mulbery gray
Mulbery gray
4 years ago
Reply to  James

I agree with you James..MG

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  James

bad english wrong spelling still ok i can read what is meant some of us had parents no english etc its ok still get the job done

DIANE CONTI
DIANE CONTI
3 years ago

I was abt 11 when this happened – I had lived in Lincoln MA for only 2 yrs when I was 6-8 yrs old – and very close to where this happened ….My grandma was a newspaper junkie – and turned me into one – when I was abt 10 !! I remember following this case when I was just 11-12 – I remember looking at all the crime scene pics in the Globe and the Herald ….I was fascinated ! ( and ended up in Medford btw – no not Lisa !!!!!!!!) But it did for some reason just… Read more »

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  DIANE CONTI

On the one hand, I can’t envision that a “very sleepy little town” would have a monopoly of telephone booths about. The fact that these sightings are a part of the case is indication that THEY WERE REPORTED. Some of the possible scenarios involve Joan either being picked up by someone who intended to transport her to a hospital facility but became spooked when she died in their vehicle or being picked up by someone who eventually killed her and secreted her body. Yes, fingerprints were discovered at the Risch home. I’m interested in those that were found but the… Read more »

Denise Brugger
Denise Brugger
3 years ago
Reply to  DIANE CONTI

I was also 11 when this happened, living in Lexington and for whatever reason I became fascinated and followed this closely for as long as there was info about it. Every few years I also look up info about it just to see if anything has turned up. The following year I became hooked on the Everett Knowles story from Boston.

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  DIANE CONTI

im 70 as well and remember this case agree

Alf
Alf
3 years ago

My theory is that she was having an affair, of some sort, and it went sour/ maybe her period started, maybe she said no more>. Were the beers and other drinks checked for any drugs. Perhaps whoever owned the second car drugged her, she attacked back, and got cut or injured. Then impaired with the drug tried to make her escape- the house destroyed by the lover in a rage and then he left? Or a dr who preformed abortions, also gave her a strong anesthetic, which she reacted to, (one comment said menstrual blood was found) The operation happened… Read more »

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  Alf

Usually, when one becomes pregnant; ones menstrual cycle ceases until after the child is born.

FRANKIE
FRANKIE
3 years ago

I have a theory though it is a little wild. It could be that Mrs Risch would have had a possible look-a-like or a twin that she herself never knew about it until only lately. Perhaps it was this look-a-like or twin who was seen walking around while Mrs Rosch was abducted or killed. People did tell that it looked like she (Mrs Rosch) was trying to hide herself ryt…maybe it was actually the twin or look-alike that they saw who was just walking around so that she could complicate the case and distract the investigators from the actual site… Read more »

Phancy
Phancy
3 years ago
Reply to  FRANKIE

Joan was an only child.

M. Spencer
M. Spencer
3 years ago

Like so many for some reason this case really sticks with me. What a tragedy for her whole family. It’s so frustrating because I believe that it could possibly be solved now. I wish some cold case officers would take it on. My own feeling about what happened is that it was some type of home accident/medical emergency. Middle of the day. No screams from the home. ONLY Joan seen outside once near her car with “something red” in/on arms. (Probably blood.The neighbor never said she was “carrying something red” as reported.) This turned out to be false and is… Read more »

millard thompson
millard thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  M. Spencer

AGREE YES

kay
kay
2 years ago

imagine what it’s like to live in that house

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[…] main source for this episode was The Trail Went Cold podcast. The Morbidology blog. You can view more crime scene photos on Historic Horrors. View Joan’s profile on The […]

David Moser
David Moser
2 years ago

I think she had a spontaneous miscarriage caused by novocaine at her dentist. She started bleeding, became dizzy, grabbed for the phone, accidently yanked it out, stood up put her bloody hand on wall to steady herself. Disorientated from blood loss, and possible concussion, she tried to clean up floor, pulled out telephone directory, walked about house, tried to go to car, disorientated took off walking. I think she was walking about for the nextt 2 hours. Believe she fell in the open pit construction of route 28, and perished. She was then covered up by road work. This all… Read more »

Shari Kizziar
Shari Kizziar
1 year ago

I recently read a couple of books written on the Joan Risch case. Both were highly informative and enlightening. One is poorly edited, however with many copies of documents too fuzzy to read. (The Disappearance of Joan Risch: Case # 6162 and the other book is titled “A Kitchen Painted in Blood: The Unsolved Disappearance of Joan Risch. It is in this latter book I believe lies the answer as to what happened to Joan Risch. I strongly believe her uncle/adoptive father either killed her or had her killed due to family issues that were taking place at the time… Read more »

Ginny
Ginny
1 year ago
Reply to  Shari Kizziar

Hi Shari — I just finished both books, and I agree with you. “A Kitchen Painted in Blood” by Stephen Ahearn is excellent and explores the fractured relationships in the adoptive family that raised Joan Risch more deeply than any other account I’ve read. Not long before she disappeared, Joan had revealed the abuse to her adoptive mother in order to protect her sister, who was in her teens. Mother and little sister were living apart from the father, and he was pressuring them to return home in part due to the family’s severe financial strain. Risch was attempting to… Read more »

Marylou Sweeney
Marylou Sweeney
7 months ago
Reply to  Ginny

I have no idea what happened to Joan Reich.What gets me is the position of the phone in the bucket !Someone just hung it on the side..was not thrown there,whoever put it there had to bend over to put it in that position ! The woman (Joan) was said to have only 10:00 in her purse! Did Mrs Barker see a car in the driveway ? Wherever she is I wish her peace..her beginning of life was horrific..so was her end!..🙏💙 RIP.

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