Fifteen-year-old Judith Hand left her Farmington, Maine home on September 10, 1971, to walk to a babysitting job and never returned. A responsible ninth-grader at Mt. Blue Junior High, she parted ways with two friends about 2:50 p.m. after declining a ride; when she did not come home that evening her parents reported her missing.

After a thirteen-day search, Judith’s badly decomposed body was found on September 23, 1971, buried in a sawdust pile at an abandoned mill off High Street. Damp sawdust and heavy rains prevented the medical examiner from determining an exact cause of death, though the death was ruled a homicide and it remained unclear whether she had been sexually assaulted.

Hundreds were interviewed, two false confessions were made, the case was reopened in 1988, and investigators at one point examined a possible link to a Massachusetts father-and-son suspect pair; no arrests were ever announced. Anyone who knew Judith or has information that could help bring justice is asked to come forward.