Disappearance of Andy Puglisi

The disappearance of Angelo "Andy" Puglisi (born September 2, 1965)[1] is an unsolved case of a 10-year-old American boy who went missing on August 21, 1976,[2] from the Higgins Memorial pool across the street from his apartment in the Stadium Housing Projects, Lawrence, Massachusetts.[3][4]

Andy Puglisi
Born(1965-09-02)September 2, 1965
DisappearedAugust 21, 1976 (aged 10)
Lawrence, Massachusetts
StatusMissing for 44 years, 5 months and 14 days
NationalityAmerican
Height4 ft 0 in (1.22 m)
Parents
  • Angelo Puglisi (father)
  • Faith Puglisi (mother)

Disappearance
External image
Age progression of Puglisi to age 50

Melanie Perkins and Andy met at the pool late in the morning of August 21, 1976.[5] As usual, they spent the entire day playing there. At about 2:00 that afternoon, Melanie was hungry and decided to go home. While she usually walked by herself to her mother's apartment less than 200 yards away,[4] on this occasion, she was afraid to go alone. Andy was not ready to leave, so Melanie's 11-year-old brother, Jeff, walked her home. Melanie last saw Andy sitting by the pool in his green bathing trunks, talking with friends.

Later, at around 3:30 P.M., Andy called home. The phone was answered by one of his brothers, and Andy reportedly did not indicate any problems at the time. The last known sighting of Andy was at roughly 5:45 P.M., when a lifeguard saw him walking around the pool area. Andy never returned home that evening; while authorities initially thought he might have run away, as his parents were divorced and he may have felt torn between them, they soon came to suspect foul play.[1]

National Guard troops and Green Berets scoured the neighborhood the next day, with neighbors and truckers with CB radios assisting with the search. Dogs were brought in to sniff a local city dump and woods adjacent to the pool. Scuba divers dragged the nearby Shawsheen River. In all, more than 2,000 volunteers participated in the search.[5] The search was called off after six days.

In 1998, while researching for her documentary, Melanie Perkins met with two locals, Alan and Tony, who described finding a rectangular hole dug in the woods near the pool a year or two after Andy's disappearance when the two were children.[6] They described the hole as being "perfectly rectangular, with a flat bottom and flat sides" and looking "like something had been removed from it -- like a chest, or a crate, or maybe a coffin." The hole was filled in two days later, and neither individual reported the finding until hearing about Perkins' documentary. Perkins added that she had heard rumors a year after Andy's disappearance that the police intended to dig in the area Alan and Tony described to her.

Two weeks after Andy's disappearance, Wayne W. Chapman was arrested in Waterloo, New York. In his van, police found Polaroid pictures of naked children, maps of wooded areas, a fake police badge and starter pistol, duct tape, 8 mm movies of children, child pornography, high end camera equipment, a bloody child’s sock and rope.[7] Shortly afterward, Chapman confessed to raping two boys in Puglisi's hometown of Lawrence and, according to one of the victims later interviewed by Melanie Perkins, displayed a familiarity with the area. Despite being considered a prime suspect, police did not have sufficient evidence to arrest Chapman in the Andy Puglisi case.[8]

In media and aftermath

In 2007, a feature-length documentary film, Have You Seen Andy? was made by Melanie Perkins. It was broadcast on HBO and won the National Emmy for Best Investigative Journalism in 2008.[5][9] Puglisi's parents divorced in 1975, and his father has since moved to New Hampshire.[10]

In 2016, his case was profiled on the podcast The Vanished.[11]

See also

References
  1. Good, Meaghan Elizabeth. "The Charley Project: Angelo Gene Puglisi". www.charleyproject.org. Archived from the original on April 15, 2018. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  2. "The Doe Network: Case File 69DMMA". www.doenetwork.org. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  3. Gaines, Judith (July 4, 1999). "The Case of Andy Puglisi". Boston Globe. Globe Newspaper Co. Archived from the original on November 8, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  4. "Americas | Search for abducted childhood friend". BBC News. June 12, 2007. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  5. "Etan Patz Case Reopens Old Wounds | Here & Now". Hereandnow.wbur.org. May 30, 2012. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  6. "Boston Globe Online / Metro | Region / Search For Andy Chapter 3". graphics.boston.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  7. "Boston Globe Online / Metro | Region / Search For Andy Chapter 4". graphics.boston.com. Archived from the original on July 12, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  8. "Boston Globe Online / Metro | Region / Search For Andy Chapter 5". graphics.boston.com. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  9. Avdoian, Dave (September 1, 1999). "Have You Seen Andy? Filmmaker Melanie Perkins turns the camera inward for a film about the disappearance of her childhood friend, Andy". NewEnglandFilm.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  10. "Boston Globe Online / Metro | Region / Search For Andy". graphics.boston.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  11. "EPISODE 29: ANDY PUGLISI". The Vanished Podcast. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
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