North Adams Transcript Newspaper ArchivesMay 28 1977, Page 14

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North Adams Transcript (Newspaper) - May 28, 1977, North Adams, Massachusetts Second Section transcript saturday May 28, 1977 North Adams Adams Williamstown Massachusetts Page 7 Todd Case someone else teaching her class in Wareham by Patricia a. Francis North Adams a substitute teacher takes Carol Ann Todd s seventh Grade English classes at the intermediate school on Marion Avenue in Wareham. The District school committee has hired a permanent substitute on a one year contract for next year. It s been nearly six months since anyone saw Carol Ann Todd but no one is quite ready to concede that she May never return to her classroom. Her fellow faculty members still Harbor a gleam of Hope she May still be alive said Anthony Tullio assistant principal at the school. Television stations in the area have followed closely As police search for some Trace of miss Todd. Each time there is something on the evening news or in a newspaper there a bit of flurry among the teachers. The children s memories of miss Todd May have dimmed a bit but they too still ask questions or make reference to the latest bit of news. Everyone s memory was brutally shocked two weeks ago when another woman also a teacher was killed at nearby Myles Standish state Park in Plymouth. Carol Todd drove her baby Blue Volkswagen each Day from the Rooming House where she lived in Falmouth to the Wareham school. For the first five years of her career she taught French. She asked to be transferred to English and started that subject last fall. The Saga of Carol Todd s disappearance began dec. 12, 1976. That was the Day she disappeared from a third floor room at the Sheraton North Adams inn. Although police officially had to classify the Case As that of a missing person they treated it As a homicide investigation. Foul play just Short of six months later the head of the investigating unit is perhaps even More convinced that foul play had a part in miss Todd s disappearance. Carol Todd came to North Adams Friday dec. 10, driving from school with Carl Cellana a City native. They had been dating several years since they were students at North Adams state College. She often accompanied him when he returned to his Hometown to visit his children from a previous marriage. She checked into the hotel about 7 ., and or. Cellana went to his parents Home on Goodrich Street. They saw each other a couple of times Over the weekend and breakfasted together sunday morning. Carl Cellana called North Adams police about 10 Sunday. He was quite worried because he had tried to reach miss Todd several times that afternoon and was unable to get an answer. He had gone to the hotel and asked manager Jack Wilson to open her door but or. Wilson said he could t unless or. Cellana was accompanied by a policeman. When the door was opened police found the room stripped of miss Todd s belongings. There were two spots on the carpet in the floor that later were positively identified As bloodstains. In the inn s trash dumpster they found sheets with a considerable amount of blood on them and shoes and boots identified As miss Todd s. Over the next few Days police investigators questioned hotel employees and anyone else they thought might be Able to provide a clue to miss Todd s disappearance. People search a City woman who teaches school in Pownal vt., organized a group of volunteers to search for some design of miss Todd. Eileen Gillooly said she Felt someone ought to do something to show Community concern. The volunteers found miss Todd s pocketbook and school textbooks dec. 23. The articles were Over an embankment at the hairpin turn on the Mohawk Trail. The next Day sear Chers found her Wallet. Since then about the Only other break police have had in the Case was a grand jury hearing in april. District atty. William r. Flynn or. Summoned about 30 witnesses including the Man police seem to be eyeing As a suspect to give evidence to the grand jury. Police have consistently refused comment but it was Well known they closely questioned Robert Nimblett 30, about miss Todd s disappearance. Or. Nimblett a Monroe prison Camp inmate was employed at the hotel under a prisoner work release program. His jobs was variously described As janitor and Security person. Or. Nimblett was summoned before the grand jury but refused to testify standing on his fifth amendment right against self incrimination. Legal sources say that indicates he knows something that would implicate him in a crime. It does t necessarily mean he killed Carol Todd. Or. Nimblett denied killing Carol Todd in an interview published in the transcript in March. He was interviewed at Walpole state prison where he was remanded three Days before he was due for parole. The reason Given by corrections depart ment spokesman linked the Transfer with the investigation being con ducted by the District attorney s of fice. Investigator heading the investigation since it began is Milo f. Brown jr., who holds the rank of detective lieutenant of the Massachusetts state police. He and five other plainclothes detectives Are assigned to the crime prevention and control unit that makes investigations for the a s office. In an interview this week it. Brown said the passage of time has reinforced his belief that miss Todd is probably no longer alive. All i can say is he said because we still Don t have a from the beginning it. Brown has insisted they must have a body or some definite proof that the Young woman was murdered before they can be certain a crime was committed or that she is dead. It. Brown has by now pretty much rejected the possibility that miss Todd staged her disappearance and went somewhere else to make a new life for herself. It was or. Nimblett who held that out As a serious explanation for her disappearance. Police considered it for a time but after making what they feel is a thorough Check of her background they reject the idea. There is no evidence to indicate she was the Type of girl to do something like he said. There was no reason for her to take of District atty. William r. Flynn or. Makes the Legal decisions on cases like this. It was he who decided to Call witnesses before the april grand jury not so much because he hoped to get indictments As to get testimony on the record while witnesses have fresh memories of events. Or. Flynn declines to speculate on How much of a Case police have or on whether he could bring charges against a specific person. I Don t want to answer that until we find the he said. Then i la present the evidence to the grand jury and see what they clothes missing none of miss Todd s clothing has been found. Neither has anyone found the red Canvas athletic Type bag she carried the weekend she came Here. It. Brown said they Are still looking for a red coat with a Hood probably three Quarter length. They re also looking for women s Slacks and sweaters and an Orange hair dryer of the pro Max Type he said. The Volunteer search efforts were suspended when Snow fell right after Christmas. A different Type of search began when the Snow cover lifted in Early april. It. Brown called in natural resource officers from the state s department of environmental management. They began by searching specific areas and then looked Over Likely roads and wooded areas where someone could have disposed of miss Todd s body and belongings. The ground was Frozen hard enough in december to pretty much eliminate the possibility that she was buried then although it has t been ruled out that she May have been buried since. The searchers have pretty much eliminated North Adams it. Brown said because if she were in somebody s trash can or cellar we d Sheraton North Adams inn from which Carol Todd disappeared have heard about it by so they re searching vacant and Remote areas outside the there Are lots of them. Back roads culverts old Wells could provide a convenient place to dump a body. Search hampered the search has been hampered by manpower restrictions illnesses vacations and other problems. It has t helped that hardly anyone has been in the Woods because of Winter weather. Often in a search of this Type a Hunter or hiker stumbles across something before police can get there. With More activity in the Woods in summer it. Brown is hoping for another break. He s asked owners of summer Camps to Check dry Wells and other Remote spots on the Chance it might turn up some Trace of the missing woman. All along the police have checked every tip they have received it. Brown said. Some have been based on ouija boards or astrology. A dowser came from new York claiming he could pinpoint miss Todd s whereabouts with a map and Pendant. Sometimes the tips come from residents of the area who suggest an area to be checked. If we Haven t done what they suggest we go out and do it. Brown said. We re in no position to say you re nuts to anyone. Wierd things have been known to he described his attitude As open minded scepticism about the conclusions of ouija boards astrology dowsers and the like. I Haven t seen any of those be right yet he said. No time limit it. Brown won t put a time limit on the investigation or say after a certain period they la Stop working on the Case. In one sense they need t worry about time there is no statute of limitation on murder or. Flynn said. Nor is there a time limit for presuming death in an apparent criminal matter that would parallel the seven year period insurance companies require before they would pay death benefits. We can t Tell if time is working for or against said it. Brown. No Case is Ever closed he said. His men Are still working on two other murders that occurred in Northern Berkshire county. One was barely two months before miss Todd s disappearance. Cynthia Rocky Krizack 17, left Home oct. 7 for the Williams College Library two blocks away. She never arrived at the Library. A trapper found her body three weeks later beside a Stream in Windsor 30 Miles away. A detective is still spending a fair chunk of time on that daily investigation it. Brown said. Recently detectives did some work on the Case of Kim Benoit 15, who left her North Adams Home for a High school dance in 1975. Her body was found some time later near the Hoosac Tunnel. It. Brown declined to say whether that file was out routinely or because they had received new information. Nor would he comment on whether there is any connection among any or All of the Young women s deaths