MISSING: Janice Pockett

A seven-year-old left her home to collect a butterfly she had found days before, not knowing that day would be the last time she saw her family.

Janice Pockett

July 26th 1973, would be the last day the Pockett family would see the sweet soul of 7-year-old Janice. They had just gotten home from grocery shopping, and like most siblings, Janice and the younger Mary were bickering over something minor. All of their built-up energy needed to be released, so when Janice asked their mother, Kathryn, if she could take her bike out into the neighbourhood, Kathryn took the opportunity gratefully.

Janice left the house after grabbing an envelope, dressed in navy blue shorts with an American flag printed on them, a blue and white striped top, and white socks with blue shoes. She planned on taking her metallic green Murray bike to get a dead butterfly she had hidden under a rock a few days prior. This would be the first and only time she had ever left the house entirely by herself.

Half an hour went by without Janice returning home from her short trip. Kathryn had become worried for her eldest; Mary was also concerned about where her sister had gone. Together, the Pockett family went out searching for Janice.
They found her bike near the home, in a slightly wooded area. There was no sign of Janice in the area; the butterfly, rock and envelope weren’t with her bike.

A search party was organized immediately. The search lasted for weeks, with around 800 people turning up to canvas the area for Janice or any sign of where she went. Nothing was found of her.

After the search, police came up with the theory that Janice had gotten her butterfly and was on her way home when someone abducted her. No leads came, and the case went cold quickly.

The police quickly jumped to abduction as two other girls were missing from the area. A third vanished a year later, and a fourth two years later. Going in age order of the four that disappeared:

Susan LaRosa vanished in 1975 while on a trip to the store; her remains were found years later.

Susan LaRosa

An unnamed 18-year-old disappeared, and her remains were found years later.

Deborah Spickler, a 13-year-old from Mystic, was in Veron visiting family. She was last seen on July 24th 1968, in Henry Park, walking alone toward the swimming pool. She has yet to be found.

Deborah Spickler

Lisa White, 13 years old, was last seen walking on Prospect Street in Rockville on November 1st 1974, after she had visited a friend. She has yet to be found.

Lisa White

The three missing girls’ cases are unlinked, but the Tolland County Cold Case Squad are still investigating them and urge anyone with information to come forward. Through the investigations, police have gotten two main theories that link closely to Janice’s case.

The first was Charles Pierce. He was a paedophile that lived in the area and was suspected of attacking kids throughout the 50s to 70s. He admitted to killing Janice and a 3-year-old called Angelo Puglisi. Angelo is another young child that went missing in the area; he was last seen on August 22nd 1976, and is still missing.

Angelo Puglisi

Pierce claimed that he buried both children in separate graves in Lawrence, Massachusetts. No burials have been found matching that description.

The second lead came in 2000 when bone fragments were found inside a Great Falls, Montana, residential garage. The owner of the garage was Nathaniel Bar-Jonah.

Bar-Jonah had previously served a sentence in prison for the abduction and attempted murder of 2 boys in Massachusetts in 1977. He was also suspected of the kidnapping and presumed murder of 10-year-old Zachary Ramsay in 1996; the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Zachary Ramsay

There were also suspicions of Bar-Jonah that he had partaken in acts of cannibalism and two counts of child molestation, but he denies all these charges.

At the time of Janice’s disappearance, Bar-Jonah lived in Webster, Massachusetts, under an hour’s drive from where Janice lived in Tolland. He was 14 but had already started harming other children as he strangled a playmate.

A handwritten letter entitled ‘Lake Webster’ was found in Bar-Jonah’s possession in December 2001. The list included 50 boys’ names, some were from Bar-Jonah’s childhood, and 3 were names of boys he had abducted in the 70s. One name on the list was “Zackery Ramsey”, with the word “DIED” next to it.
Janice’s name was not included on the list, but it is still possible that Bar-Jonah attacked her as his victim type wasn’t limited to only boys.

The Bar-Jonah lead soon fizzled out, with nothing concerning Janice’s case coming from it.

Mary Engelbrecht, Janice’s sister, hopes her sister is still alive and will be returned home at some point. She follows any case that holds similarities to her sister’s from the same time frame, looking to see if they lead to any discoveries towards Janice.

Today (April 15th 2023), Janice will be 56 years old.

Janice Pockett (age progression)