On the morning of March 25, 1994, two-year-old Sarina Pretty Towle was found dead in her bedroom by her mother, Loralee Meserve. The family lived in an apartment on Danforth Street in Portland, Maine, including Meserve, Sarina, two brothers aged four and nine, and Meserve’s boyfriend, Carl Bickham. The medical examiner determined Sarina had been beaten and sexually assaulted, noting bruising on her genitals and marks of various ages across her abdomen, chest, arms, and legs; police believe she died sometime after 11 p.m. the night before from multiple internal injuries caused by blows to her chest.

Investigators focused on people who were in the apartment because there were no signs of forced entry; Meserve and Bickham told police they did not know how Sarina died and were treated as persons of interest. Bickham had been indicted three months earlier on assault and criminal threatening in a case involving a former girlfriend and was later listed on a sex offender registry in 2005. No arrests have ever been made and police say they believe they know who is responsible but lack sufficient evidence for charges.

If anyone has information that could help bring justice for Sarina, please come forward.