WARREN, MASS. (WHDH) - Friday marks 25 years since Molly Bish was abducted while working as a lifeguard in Warren; Molly’s mother Magi has spent those 25 years looking for answers as her daughter’s murder remains unsolved.
“We don’t know anything more than we knew the first day,” Magi Bish said. “Who did it? Why?”
Molly was just 16 years old when she disappeared, working as a lifeguard at a pond in her hometown of Warren. Magi dropped her off at that job on the morning of June 27, 2000.
“She just runs and says, ‘I love you, Mom’,” Magi said. “That was the last time I’d seen her.”
A massive search and investigation followed, an effort that stretched for days, then weeks, then years.
“We’re watching this like truly a movie that you can’t get out of,” Magi said. “That’s when it started. You didn’t know what to do or how to do it. The hardest thing we ever did was come home without her.”
In 2003, the search for Molly ended when her remains were found in the woods in Palmer, just miles from where she went missing. The investigation, though, continues, as after more than two decades there have been no arrests – and no closure for Molly’s loved ones.
“I guess in the end we really do need to know if we can in this lifetime, who did this and why?” Magi said. “Somebody has to know something.”
There have been a number of leads in the case, but no one has ever been charged. The current Worcester district attorney has vowed to keep investigating.
A few years ago his office named Frank Sumner as a person of interest, but Sumner died in 2016.
Molly’s new gravestone stands just yards from the pond where she was last seen, serving as a permanent reminder of her life and legacy.
“Her legacy is still who she was,” Magi said. “Such a good and sweet and kind person.”
Over the years, the Bish family has become fierce advocates for protecting children — launching the first Missing Children’s Day in Massachusetts and helping to pass the national AMBER Alert Act.
Heather Bish, Molly’s sister, is also hoping legislation passes that changes the way investigators use DNA to catch criminals.
The Bish family is holding a vigil for Molly on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Warren Town Common.
Anyone with any information on the abduction and murder of Molly Bish is asked to contact the Massachusetts State Police tip line at 508-453-7575.
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