On the evening of August 7, 1974, seventeen-year-old Rhonda Labbe was at her mother's home on Andover Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts. After having dinner with her mother, younger sister, and her mother's boyfriend, Rhonda decided to head back to the apartment she shared with her boyfriend in Lowell, a city about 10 to 11 miles away. It was around 8:00 p.m. when she left, accompanied by her eleven-year-old sister for a portion of the way. The two walked together for less than a mile before Rhonda told her younger sister to return to their mother's house. It was near Bob's Grocery Store on Andover Street that Rhonda intended to hitchhike the rest of the way home, a common practice at the time that caused little concern. Wearing a white blouse, blue jeans, and carrying a black suede handbag, Rhonda said goodbye to her sister, a moment that would unknowingly become their last.
When Rhonda failed to return to her Lowell apartment the following morning, her mother and boyfriend reported her missing. Left behind were all of her personal belongings, including a paycheck from her job at the Paris Shoe Store. Initially, her disappearance was considered a potential runaway case, as she had briefly left home about six months prior. However, as time passed with no word from the typically shy teenager, who was known to be close with her mother, her family's concern grew into a deeply held fear that something serious had happened. Despite her father's efforts to publicize her disappearance by getting stories on Boston television stations, the initial investigation did not generate significant leads or the large-scale search efforts that are more common today.
The investigation into Rhonda Labbe's disappearance has remained open for decades, a frustrating case for law enforcement due to the lack of witnesses or concrete evidence from the moment she was last seen. No one reported seeing her get into a vehicle, leaving her direction of travel and the identity of anyone she may have encountered unknown. Over the years, her case has been entered into national missing persons databases, and DNA from her family members has been collected and submitted to be compared against unidentified remains. Despite these efforts, there have been no matches. The Billerica Police Department continues to hold the case file, hoping for a breakthrough that might finally provide answers to her family, who have spent years waiting and wondering what became of Rhonda after she set out to hitchhike home on that summer evening in 1974.Last Seen: Aug 7, 1974
