In 2021, twenty years after her sister went lacking, Heather Bish did one thing she by no means thought she would do.
Heather Bish: 40-year-old me obtained into the TikTok sport. … It’s allowed me to love share my story and share Molly’s story and actually simply be sincere.
HEATHER BISH | TikTok: It’s been 7,680 days since my sister disappeared. And I’ve been ready for solutions on what occurred to her.
She hopes that by going public together with her TikTok movies on-line she’s going to generate suggestions that can lastly clear up her sister’s case and put an finish to a painful 25-year-old thriller.
HEATHER BISH | TikTok: If you realize one thing, please say one thing. The wait must be over.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MOLLY BISH
The final time Heather Bish noticed her little sister Molly was the morning of June 27, 2000 – simply earlier than Molly left for her job as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts. Molly was taking part in with Heather’s 11-month-old daughter Mikaela.
Heather Bish: She was … having enjoyable with Mikaela and I bear in mind my mother saying, come on we gotta go, we gotta go, you’re gonna be late.
However shortly after Molly was dropped off, beachgoers arrived and she or he wasn’t there. Police have been finally known as to the scene. By the point they informed Magi Bish, Molly had been lacking for 3 hours.
Heather Bish: And my mother was frantic on the cellphone …
Heather Bish: She’s stated, she’s not there, she’s not there … her sneakers are there. … My coronary heart dropped. I simply knew one thing was incorrect as a result of I knew Molly wouldn’t go wherever with out her sneakers on.
Erin Moriarty: Why?
Heather Bish: As a result of she didn’t like icky toes.
Erin Moriarty: While you first heard that she was lacking, did you suppose perhaps she had gone off with mates?
John Bish Jr.: No.
John Jr. is Molly Bish’s brother.
John Bish Jr.: Not what we do. … It’s not our character, our character. We have been raised higher than that.
Molly Bish disappeared the morning of June 27, 2000, shortly after she arrived for her job as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts.
Magi Bish
Sixteen-year-old Molly was Magi and John Bish’s third and youngest little one. “48 Hours” interviewed John Bish Sr. in 2003.
John Bish Sr.: She was closely concerned in class, with sports activities, together with her mates.
Molly was an honor roll scholar, varsity athlete and she or he had simply accomplished her junior yr of highschool.
Heather Bish: Molly was simply very loud and enjoyable.
Heather says regardless of their six-year age distinction, they have been extraordinarily shut. It was a bond she had had with Molly ever for the reason that day she was born.
Heather Bish: I do bear in mind considering that “Oh that baby is my baby too.” … I’m gonna educate her every part I do know. And, um, you realize, we’re gonna do that life collectively.
Molly additionally had a detailed relationship together with her brother.
Heather Bish: She very a lot wished to be like my brother.
John Bish Jr.: I took her beneath my wing. … You already know, I used to be a lifeguard earlier than her. She wished to be a lifeguard. Um, we performed soccer collectively, baseball collectively.
Heather Bish: Molly was 5 seven you realize, she was athletic and in form and robust.
So when police prompt that Molly may have drowned, they didn’t imagine it.
Magi Bish: When Molly went lacking, I imply we— it was inconceivable. … After which, what I used to be informed was, the primary assist package was open.
Molly Bish’s belongings – together with her sneakers, a police radio and an open first assist package – have been discovered by her seaside chair on the pond the place she labored as a lifeguard.
Massachusetts State Police
Including to the thriller … the police radio was there, however Molly had not used it for her required morning examine in.
Magi Bish: Why? So what was, what occurred?
Later that afternoon, when it grew to become clear to native police that Molly had not simply walked off with mates, State Police took over the investigation and launched an intensive search.
Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Colonel Dan Richard headed to Warren to assist out.
Det. Dan Richard: I had a 3-year-old daughter. Her identify is Molly. She had blonde hair, she has blue eyes. This case has on daily basis been with me from that day to right now.
Additionally current on the scene was then Worcester District Legal professional John Conte.
Detectives zeroed in on everybody who was near Molly — together with members of the family, mates and Molly’s boyfriend, Steven Lukas. They’d solely been relationship for 3 months and had simply gone to the promenade collectively.
Kathy Curran: What raised some suspicion was that Steven Lukas had a fats lip and he had some scratches on him.
Kathy Curran is a former investigative reporter at WBZ.
Kathy Curran: Might a younger child pull off this crime in such a brief period of time …
The Bishes by no means believed that Lukas was concerned.
Inside 24 hours, authorities have been identified intercourse offenders within the space.
D.A. JOHN CONTE (to reporters in 2000): We’ve checked out, uh, 35 to 45, uh, intercourse offenders, uh, within the space.
Heather Bish: That’s been the scariest half about all that is realizing what number of unhealthy individuals have been inside the cloth of our, of our group.
Molly’s dad labored tirelessly with police.
Heather Bish: He was all the time going each weekend making an attempt to work with police and looking for alternative ways to, to seek out Molly.
And even supposing DNA testing was nonetheless in its early levels again in 2000, Detective Richard says they did accumulate and doc many gadgets present in and across the pond space, together with discarded cigarettes and trash.
Det. Dan Richard: Once we did the preliminary search … something that wasn’t there by nature or by God was a minimum of recognized as, as potential proof.
As the times glided by the Bishes’ despair grew.
Heather Bish: It wasn’t like Molly was hit by a automotive or obtained sick. She was simply all of the sudden gone and we didn’t know the place she was …
However it could be Magi Bish who would give detectives their greatest lead.
The morning earlier than Molly disappeared, as Magi went to drop Molly off at work at Comins Pond, she recalled seeing a person, sitting alone in a white automotive.
Magi Bish: And I see this man … and he’s simply smoking a cigarette and he simply offers me a — like a bit of look and I say oh I can’t depart her right here. … you realize it’s just like the Mama Bear comes out.
Magi says she waited for 20 minutes till he lastly left. When she introduced it up with Molly that night, Molly didn’t appear involved.
Magi Bish: She says, “Oh no, Ma, it’s just fishermen, don’t be — I’m not afraid.”
The following day, when Molly disappeared, Magi informed the police about what she had seen.
Det. Dan Richard: That grew to become very important … as a result of now we had a chunk of knowledge.
A sketch was composed based mostly on Magi’s description and it was launched to the general public.
A sketch of an individual of curiosity based mostly on an outline Magi Bish gave to authorities.
Massachusetts State Police
D.A. CONTE (to reporters in 2000 holding up a sketch): That is the person that we’re searching for, uh, in that white automotive.
Magi Bish: I had seen the hair. It was grey. It was very thick. … It’s simply that smoking (she alerts together with her arms) you realize that doggone smoking. That’s what I remembered.
Nearly instantly, a whole lot of suggestions began flooding in.
Det. Dan Richard: If you happen to have been a — a 50-year-old white male with a mustache and salt and pepper hair, someone could have, uh, wished to provide us a name.
Many months later, authorities launched a second, completely different sketch.
John Sr. and Magi Bish with the second sketch launched of an individual of curiosity of their daughter Molly’s disappearance
Massachusetts State Police
D.A. CONTE (to reporters in 2000): I imagine that this sketch is a exceptional sketch and it’s very distinctive and I believe it’s gonna assist us an incredible deal.
However nonetheless no Molly.
Kathy Curran: I believe that’s what makes this case so troublesome. You already know, you might have so many individuals who resemble that sketch.
Magi Bish (emotional): You already know when, when time stored going and passing, you knew it wasn’t good. You simply know that someone both has her. And that’s horrendous.
After which, nearly three years after Molly disappeared, police have been notified {that a} bathing go well with had been discovered within the woods simply 5 miles from Comins Pond.
THREE YEARS LATER — A BREAK IN THE CASE
Erin Moriarty (strolling within the forest): Do you bear in mind the very first time you got here right here?
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: Sure I do. … It was Could of 2003. We got here right here for what we thought can be the restoration of Molly Bish.
Three years after Molly Bish disappeared, Dr. Ann Marie Mires, a forensic anthropologist for the Boston Medical Examiner’s Workplace, was summoned by police to the world often known as Whiskey Hill — positioned about 5 miles from Comins Pond.
Dr. Ann Marie Mires (strolling deeper into the forest): That is how we got here in at first … So proper above us listed here are these rock ledges. And that is the place the showering go well with was discovered.
An area hunter had stumbled upon items of a weather-beaten blue bathing go well with, very like the one which Molly Bish was carrying when she disappeared.
A remnant of a blue swimsuit believed worn by Molly Bish was discovered within the woods of Whiskey Hill by a hunter three years after her disappearance
WBZ-TV
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: After I noticed the showering go well with, I stated this has in all probability been up right here for roughly three years.
Erin Moriarty: And the way may you inform?
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: It was lined by deadfall, so leaves and particles from three years of, uh, foliage dropping. However then it had additionally grown into the floor and roots had come up via it.
Kathy Curran: I arrived with my photographer… And I used to be let in.
Erin Moriarty: What’s going via your head?
Kathy Curran: I used to be sick to my abdomen. Simply fascinated by Magi and John. And understanding what it may imply. (tears up)
As Curran left Whiskey Hill, she known as Magi.
Kathy Curran: And she or he stated, you realize, may you present us the video? And I stated Magi, you realize, I, I actually don’t wanna do this. However you realize if that’s what you wish to do … I — I wanna do no matter I can to assist.
Magi Bish (crying): She simply had a bit of van and had the six little TVs or no matter inside and she or he confirmed it to us.
John Bish Sr. (2003) (viewing video of the showering go well with and comforting Magi): So distinctive.
John Bish Sr.: (2003) It appears to be like like hers.
Magi Bish: (Covers her eyes and cries.)
Magi Bish: And I knew. I knew that was Mol’s bathing go well with proper then and there (cries).
John Bish Sr. (2003): Let’s go in the home.
Magi Bish: And I went up. I locked myself within the room … I cried so onerous. There was nothing, I used to be intestine wrenched.
Kathy Curran: It was one of many hardest days of my profession. … As a result of you realize for 3 years, there was nonetheless hope. And she or he knew at that second that one thing was drastically incorrect and one thing horrible had occurred.
Investigators despatched the showering go well with to the Massachusetts State Police Lab and a non-public lab in Virginia for DNA testing.
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: So now we’ve gotta search the world and see if we will discover proof … that may assist us decide what occurred up there.
As they waited for DNA outcomes, beneath Mires’ instruction, a brand new search was launched.
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: And that’s after I principally stated we’re gonna grid this space …
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: We did grid looking arm to arm, they have been nearby of one another, they raked, they combed the forest with rakes.
Erin Moriarty: And had any of that space been searched earlier than?
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: No.
When John Bish Sr. arrived to the scene, Mires assured him of 1 factor.
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: You already know I seemed him straight within the face and I — I shook his hand and I stated, Mr. Bish in case your, in case your daughter’s stays are — are right here, we’re gonna carry her residence to you.
District Legal professional John Conte introduced that the DNA outcomes got here again as “inconclusive.” The search continued and intensified.
Heather Bish: And it was the largest search that’s ever been carried out in Massachusetts historical past.
And nearly two weeks later, they made a horrific discovery.
D.A. CONTE (to reporters in August 2003): This afternoon … we did uncover a human bone. It’s the higher arm bone. And Dr. Mires does describe it because the bone of an individual between 14 and 20 years of age.
Erin Moriarty: What did that really feel prefer to lastly discover a bone?
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: Unbelievable … however instantly I considered the household.
DA CONTE (to reporters in August 2003): We’ve now established the world as against the law scene space.
As days glided by, investigators would come to seek out extra human bones.
Magi Bish: It was like on daily basis they got here with small rib bones. It was like aw, agonizing and, you realize, they have been looking for Mol. And we went out each morning. We thanked the, the searchers. We have been so grateful that folks would proceed to look and assist us discover Mol.
By the tip of the three-week search, investigators discovered as many as 27 bones and a human cranium unfold throughout 35 acres of forest. It was confirmed via DNA testing and dental identification that the bones have been Molly’s. Mires believes that Molly’s killer almost definitely picked Whiskey Hill due to its hidden location.
Erin Moriarty: Do you imagine the killer may need been a hunter?
Erin Moriarty: Being that —
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: It’s potential.
Erin Moriarty: — accustomed to the world?
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: It’s potential.
She additionally believes that after Molly was killed, a mountain lion could have scattered her stays among the many 35 acres of forest.
Dr. Ann Marie Mires: I typically felt that the particular person knew the world and knew that there was, uh, a big animal up there.
MAGI BISH (to reporters in August 2003): We wish to let you know that Molly’s come residence. We’re extraordinarily saddened, the depth of our disappointment no household ought to must endure.
Sisters Heather, left, and Molly Bish.
Heather Bish
Heather Bish: I wished to run away. Truthfully, I simply wished to run exterior of this nightmare and this life and perhaps my — even my very own physique. However I bear in mind feeling like I wished to run away, immensely.
The seek for Molly Bish was now over, however the seek for her killer was by no means extra pressing.
“ONE PIECE OF INFORMATION AWAY”
Two months after Molly Bish’s bones have been found in August 2003, on what would have been her twentieth birthday, Molly was laid to relaxation.
Magi Bish: We have been so blessed. We obtained to have it in a church.
However after three years, the Bishes nonetheless had no solutions as to who may have murdered Molly. And the person within the white automotive, who Magi had seen the day earlier than Molly disappeared, had by no means been recognized.
Det. Dan Richard: Irritating is a reoccurring phrase in — on this case.
Magi wasn’t the one one who reported seeing a suspicious white automotive within the neighborhood, say investigators. On the day that Molly went lacking, a white automotive was noticed at a automotive wash proper down the road from the pond and once more within the cemetery behind the pond.
Erin Moriarty: So the place is Comins Pond proper from right here?
Det. Dan Richard: It’s that path straight down. … And you may see there’s a path opening there.
Erin Moriarty: Sure. So someone noticed a white automotive, the place? Proper down on that –
Det. Dan Richard: Down alongside that highway.
Erin Moriarty: — highway down there? (pointing)
Det. Dan Richard: Sure.
Erin Moriarty: So, is the thought that if someone introduced the automotive down there they may … perhaps seize her, pull her again up, get within the automotive, earlier than …
Det. Dan Richard: That’s a idea.
The truth is, within the early days of the investigation, search canine did observe Molly’s scent from the pond, main as much as the cemetery.
Kathy Curran: You don’t simply come upon Comins Pond. That’s why the one that killed Molly Bish … needed to have watched her. They usually needed to have had a plan.
However there have been nonetheless so many unanswered questions: like, why was the primary assist package left open? Kathy Curran believes that Molly’s abductor could have pretended to be injured.
Kathy Curran: After which somebody both pressured her or threatened her … to get her up that hill as a result of she, she’s athletic. … She’s not going to go simply.
Then in Could 2004, 4 years after Molly disappeared, D.A. John Conte known as for a grand jury to be convened.
Kathy Curran: Everytime you hear a grand jury in a prison case, you suppose oh … they’ve proof towards somebody … So the hope was that the case was shifting ahead.
Heather, alongside together with her household, have been known as to testify. They are saying that most of the D.A.’s questions gave the impression to be targeted on Molly’s mates.
Heather Bish: I bear in mind we have been all kinda like mad as a result of … we didn’t really feel like they have been actually important.
However detectives had discovered that a few of Molly’s mates had gathered at her boyfriend Steven Lukas’ home the morning of Molly’s disappearance.
Heather Bish: We’ve got a timeline.
They usually have been telling police conflicting tales about what occurred within the hours earlier than and after Molly went lacking.
The grand jury transcripts are sealed so it’s not identified whom the investigators really questioned, however they might later clear Steven Lukas as an individual of curiosity. After two lengthy years, in December 2006, the grand jury was dismissed with out an indictment.
Heather Bish: It was disappointing … it was extremely disappointing.
Simply weeks after the grand jury was dismissed, John Conte retired, and Joe Early Jr. took over as Worcester District Legal professional. He says the grand jury was used as an investigative instrument to protect witnesses’ testimony.
D.A. Joe Early: You get ’em proper in. You get ’em beneath oath and there’s a prison penalty in the event that they lie within the grand jury. … and so they can’t say later, I didn’t say that as a result of it’s proper there. .. And that’s one thing that helps us get instances past an affordable doubt and show guilt.
However Heather says not having solutions as to who murdered her sister was taking its toll.
Heather Bish: I used to be giving up hope in a whole lot of areas.
And issues solely obtained worse. In 2007, her father John Bish Sr. — who labored so intently with police — had a stroke. Heather would now face the daunting job to take over the place her father had left off, and it could not be simple.
Magi Bish: The police have all the time stayed very cautious about what they’d tell us.
Heather Bish: The police stored saying it, we’re only one piece of knowledge away. Nicely the place is that piece?
In 2008, a person who resembled the sketch named Rodney Stanger, was arrested for murdering his girlfriend in Florida. The sufferer’s sister reached out to Heather and claimed that Stanger could have been concerned in Molly’s homicide as nicely.
Heather Bish: He has this violent historical past. He lived, um, very near the place Molly skilled to be a lifeguard.
Erin Moriarty: Was he a smoker?
Heather Bish: He was additionally a smoker. He was identified to fish at Comins Pond and hunt within the space the place Molly was discovered.
Police have been notified about this tip. However Heather says she was informed that Stanger had been on one of many investigator’s lists of individuals of curiosity from the very starting.
Lt. Shawn Murphy: I’ve really visited him in jail.
Lt. Shawn Murphy: He didn’t have a lot to say to me however I tried. And so have, so produce other investigators as nicely.
Stanger was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and was sentenced to 25 years in jail. In 2012, State Police went right down to Florida once more to go looking Stanger’s trailer.
Det. Shawn Murphy: We did execute a search warrant at his residence with our regulation enforcement companions. And we did take gadgets.
Detective Murphy says the gadgets have been examined for DNA to see in the event that they might be linked to Molly.
Det. Shawn Murphy: We’ve examined and proceed to check and transfer ahead.
However there was not sufficient proof to make him an official suspect. After which, in 2011 a non-public investigator got here to Heather with a brand new tip a couple of man named Gerald Battistoni.
Heather Bish: He had really raped a lady within the woods the place Molly was discovered. His ex-wife had a white automotive that she reported he was driving in Warren the day Molly disappeared.
Heather says she took this tip to the State Police who’ve confirmed that Battistoni, who died in jail in 2014, was on their radar together with many others.
Det. Dan Richard: There are occasions … you would say this particular person’s actually good for this. This particular person’s actually good for that. That’s not the way you clear up against the law. You already know, it’s a must to have the proof to assist it.
Lastly in 2021 — 21 years after Molly disappeared — it seemed like investigators had sufficient proof. The District Legal professional’s Workplace formally named an individual of curiosity.
Kathy Curran: For the primary time, I assumed that is it. There might be justice …
THE BISH FAMILY LOSES HOPE
WBZ NEWS REPORT: Tonight, a break within the homicide of Molly Bish. Greater than 20 years after {the teenager} was killed, Investigators have named a brand new particular person of curiosity.
D.A. Joe Early Jr.: We named the particular person of curiosity.
Erin Moriarty: However you had by no means accomplished that earlier than.
D.A. Joe Early Jr.: By no means accomplished that — by no means accomplished that on this case. … However we did get extra data to come back in, we pursued these leads. And at that time I used to be snug saying … this particular person is an individual of curiosity. Sure.
Francis “Frank” Sumner, Sr. was an area auto restore store proprietor with an intensive prison report. Kathy Curran was the primary to report the main points.
Kathy Curran: Frank Sumner appeared like an incredible suspect. … Frank Sumner has a violent previous. He was convicted of rape and kidnapping.
Erin Moriarty: Was he accustomed to the world?
Kathy Curran: He was, he was accustomed to the world. … He was from the world. He had entry to a white automotive.
Frank Sumner, left, and the sketch of a person smoking that was launched early within the investigation.
Worcester District Legal professional’s Workplace Proper/Massachusetts State Police
Kathy Curran: And if you examine the photograph of him smoking the cigarette to the sketch … you possibly can see a resemblance there.
And identical to the sketch, Sumner was photographed smoking together with his left hand. D.A. Joe Early Jr. says Sumner, who died in 2016, had been well-known to investigators working the Bish case for years.
Erin Moriarty: What made Frank Sumner rise to that prime to truly be known as a suspect?
D.A. Joe Early Jr.: Info that got here in … some dots that have been linked.
Though tight-lipped concerning the particulars, the Worcester D.A.’s workplace was assured that Sumner was a viable suspect and deliberate to check his DNA to DNA discovered on the crime scenes. However because it turned out, they couldn’t get hold of Sumner’s DNA. Sumner had been cremated and his DNA had by no means been submitted to the nationwide CODIS database.
Heather Bish: I don’t know who dropped the ball. However someone dropped the ball …
So authorities traveled to Ohio to get DNA from his son, Frank Sumner Jr. He was serving time in jail for theft.
Heather Bish: And so we waited and we waited trigger they stated … we’re going to, you realize, do some DNA evaluation.
Heather, who had began that TikTok months earlier, reached out to her followers to see if she may drum up extra proof.
Heather says it took investigators a couple of yr earlier than they lastly informed her the outcomes of the DNA testing.
Heather Bish: It was inconclusive.
Erin Moriarty: What do you imply inconclusive? Was he eradicated from the DNA?
Heather Bish: I don’t know what which means.
Erin Moriarty: Oh, you don’t —
Heather Bish: They usually gained’t inform me.
Heather wonders if authorities who collected discarded cigarettes and different proof at Comins Pond actually have a viable pattern of the killer’s DNA.
Erin Moriarty: Do you might have sufficient DNA that you would do genetic family tree and have you ever accomplished any?
D.A. Joe Early Jr.: I can’t converse to the DNA. … I can converse on this method. We proceed to check. … And we’ve gotten nicely over 100, uh, items of knowledge examined and we proceed to check.
Erin Moriarty: You already know that the Bishes have been annoyed. They don’t really feel they’re getting sufficient data out of your workplace. They wanna know is the DNA being preserved correctly, what sort of DNA?
D.A. Joe Early Jr.: As a normal rule of thumb, it doesn’t matter what household it’s, the Bishes, uh, different households that we now have, we simply don’t share the knowledge as a result of … somebody may say one thing they only shouldn’t say and it may compromise your entire case.
Nonetheless, he says DNA is only one piece of the puzzle.
D.A. Joe Early Jr.: This isn’t only a DNA case. There’s a — a whole lot of investigation that’s been accomplished. … We’d like a bit of bit extra. I’m not going to say what it’s … However we’d like a bit of bit extra to get the place we would like— have to get to call an individual because the per — as a defendant on this case.
However Heather says she’s shedding religion within the investigators.
HEATHER BISH (TikTok): It’s actually a tragic state of affairs to be a sufferer member of the family within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Investigator Shawn Murphy says he understands Heather’s frustration.
Lt. Shawn Murphy: Heather is a fierce advocate for her sister and her household, and I wouldn’t have it some other method. And I’ve no downside being held accountable by Heather and I’m completely satisfied that she holds me accountable.
25 years after Molly Bish’s homicide, the case stays energetic and there’s a new detective who has just lately joined the investigation. She has a plan.
Det. Chelsea Safford: After I dedicate myself to one thing I don’t cease till it’s achieved …
A RENEWED LOOK AT THE MOLLY BISH CASE
In March 2025, Detective Chelsea Safford was employed to take over the Bish investigation.
Det. Chelsea Safford: It’s an ideal job for somebody that has an overactive thoughts, thrives on challenges, and doesn’t sleep a lot.
One among her first duties has been to weed via and manage over 80 bins of case information which have accrued over time.
Det. Chelsea Safford: I noticed all these bins and I simply wished to dive in. I simply wished to be taught extra.
Safford believes the reply to who killed Molly may lie inside these 80 bins.
Det. Chelsea Safford (pulls out a yearbook from a field within the proof room): This one, I discovered Molly’s, um, highschool yearbook and I went via that. Um, you realize, I’ve a number of suggestions that I used to be making an attempt to trace down.
It’s a part of her technique to prepare and have a look at previous suggestions with recent eyes.
Det. Chelsea Safford: Who else may need heard or seen one thing that they didn’t understand was important. That one person who we haven’t spoken to, they may be the lacking piece that we’ve been trying to find this complete time. … I imagine that that yet one more piece is on the market. … I simply must hold digging.
And Detective Safford faces an awesome job. She says there was nearly 8,000 suggestions which have are available since Molly went lacking — and so they hold coming.
Det. Chelsea Safford: I can truthfully say that since I’ve been on this workplace, I don’t suppose every week has passed by the place we haven’t acquired a Molly Bish tip, if not a number of all through the weeks.
Detective Safford says she’s additionally learning the numerous items of proof concerned in Molly’s case. She allowed “48 Hours” to accompany her to the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab’s DNA Chilly Storage facility in Sudbury, Massachusetts.
Sherri Mittelholzer is a forensic assist part supervisor on the Crime Lab.
Erin Moriarty: And what am I proper in entrance of me?
Sherri Mittelholzer: So this can be a bay, um, stuffed with proof … And all of these things right here go along with … the Molly Bish case.
Inside among the brown paper baggage are gadgets taken from the crime scenes.
Erin Moriarty: Is the … swimsuit right here?
Sherri Mittelholzer: (pulls proof bag from a shelf): It’s … Oh, it’s this one I imagine. I don’t suppose it says it on it however I do know it was despatched out for extra testing.
Erin Moriarty: Are there any cigarettes right here? Or any –
Sherri Mittelholzer: There undoubtedly are cigarettes.
Det. Chelsea Safford ( an proof record): Containers ABC. There are a whole lot of them in ABC.
Sherri Mittelholzer: ABC is that this one right here. They’ve been repackaged over time.
Erin Moriarty: Have they been examined?
Det. Chelsea Safford (wanting down at her paper): Oh yeah.
Erin Moriarty: Chelsea, are you going to be this to see if there’s one thing else … your considering, what, why don’t we attempt to take a look at that?
Det. Chelsea Safford: Completely. Yeah.
Right now, Detective Safford has her eye on one piece of proof specifically: Molly’s backpack.
Det. Chelsea Safford: I’ll let you know that is the primary merchandise that I’ve been searching for … (factors to a field that claims “backpack.”)
Erin Moriarty: Why?
Det. Chelsea Safford: I believe what we feature in our … backpack or our pocketbook, uh, I believe it says loads. And I, I personally suppose studying concerning the particular person, the sufferer, I believe is a vital a part of every case.
Regardless of the challenges, Detective Safford says she is decided to seek out solutions for the Bish household.
Det. Chelsea Safford: None of us can carry Molly again, however the very best factor I can do is … discover out what occurred.
Erin Moriarty (Pointing to images of different instances posted on Safford’s bulletin board): I see you might have a few of these … solved, responsible, captured … Is that what you wish to do on this case?
Det. Chelsea Safford: It’s not what I wish to do, it’s what I’m going to do. We — we’ll do it.
Heather Bish, who has been vital of the Massachusetts State Police investigation previously, says she is inspired by Detective Safford’s ardour.
Heather Bish: I really feel like she has the identical vitality and dedication to fixing this as I do.
Heather nonetheless makes TikTok movies about Molly’s case, hoping her efforts will at some point generate a tip that may assist investigators.
HEATHER BISH (TikTok): Any individual is aware of one thing, and someone is aware of who killed Molly Bish.
Heather Bish: I’ll by no means hand over. I — I’ll struggle. … Molly deserves that justice.
D.A. Joe Early Jr. insists that investigators are shifting in the best path.
Erin Moriarty: As you sit right here, is Frank Sumner nonetheless on the highest of the record of individuals of curiosity?
D.A. Joe Early Jr.: He’s the one particular person of curiosity we’ve named. The one particular person of curiosity that’s been named on this case. … Sure.
On June 27, 2025, the Bish household gathered with family and friends to recollect Molly 25 years after her loss of life — first on the cemetery after which at a extra formal ceremony within the middle of Warren.
Heather Bish: I really feel her beside me. Due to Molly, I’ve turn out to be braver than I ever thought potential. I’ve confronted my deepest fears. I’ve endured unimaginable heartbreak. I’ve survived.
Magi Bish: I imagine Molly’s love and lightweight have guided us via these 25 years. So right now we share our household’s gratitude. … And due to Molly we now have conquered what evil couldn’t … for love is way stronger.
The night ended with a gathering at Comins Pond.
Heather Bish: I don’t need individuals to ever neglect Molly. … And we’ll by no means … cease honoring her.
Molly Bish
Magi Bish
If in case you have any data that may assist authorities discover Molly’s killer, please attain out to the Molly Bish Tipline: 508-453-7575.
Produced by Chris Younger Ritzen. Alicia Tejada is the coordinating producer. Michael McHugh is the producer-editor. Marc Goldbaum is the event producer. Michelle Harris is the editor. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.
