Melanie Melanson

CrimePAY$          $5,000 Reward           TipLine 1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

WOBURN, MASS – A reward is still being offered for information leading to the discovery of the body of Melanie Melanson, a girl who disappeared on October, 27, 2009 five days before her 15th birthday after a party in the woods with a group of friends, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, the Woburn Police Department, and members of Melanie’s family announced today. Authorities believe the girl was killed, but her body has never been found and no suspects have ever been named in the case.

At a press conference held at the location in Woburn where Melanie was last seen, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, Woburn Police, and the family of Melanson announced the $5000 reward that is now being offered for information that leads to the discovery of her body.

“Over 20 years ago, Melanie Melanson went into these woods behind me with a group of friends,” District Attorney Leone said. “She was never seen again. We are asking the public’s help in finding Melanie as part of our continuing efforts to determine the circumstances of her death.

“No information at this stage is insignificant,” Leone added. “There were people who were with Melanie at the time, as well as people who have been told information since her disappearance. We ask them to come forward to help us solve this sad mystery that Melanie’s family has had to live with for the last 20+ years.”

“It has been over 20 years since we lost Melanie,” Maryann Masciulli, Melanie’s aunt, said. “We are asking anyone with information to examine their conscience and please step forward so that we can give Melanie the burial that she deserves.”

According to authorities, on the evening of October 27, 1989, 14-year-old Melanie Melanson, a freshman at Woburn High School, was in woods near the Woburn/Stoneham line at a party with a group of friends. In the early morning hours, Melanie remained with a group of five other friends. That was the last time that Melanie was ever seen or heard from again.

On the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 27, 1989, Melanie and her friend Carmen Gonzalez left high school after class and walked home for the last time. That night, Melanie told her grandmother she was going to sleep over with a friend who lived next door. What Melanie didn’t say was that she’d been invited to join a late-night gathering in the woods next to an industrial park.

Melanie Melanson, 14 at the time, was the youngest of a dozen kids gathered in the woods that October night, most of them older teens who had been there many times before.

Other kids at the party would later tell police that the party slowly dwindled down in the early hours of Saturday morning, and everyone drifted home.

In the ensuing days and months, family members, friends, and local law enforcement conducted extensive searches to find Melanie. That search included the use of cadaver dogs, dive teams in local waters, and repeated ground searches by local police. She was never located.

The District Attorney’s Office and Woburn Police are presently conducting an active investigation and following new leads that have been developed. The reward and request for the public’s help is part of those continuing efforts to develop further evidence regarding Melanie’s whereabouts and the circumstances of her death.

The $5000 reward money is being offered by the Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation which is committed to raising awareness to the issue of missing persons who have gone missing under suspicious circumstances. (www.carolesundfoundation.com)

CrimePAY$ $5,000 Reward TipLine 1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

This entry was posted on Friday, July 27th, 2012 at 9:12 am and is filed under $5,000+, Cold Case, Massachusetts, Missing Persons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.