PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER Maine) --- It has been nearly half-century since a Maine mom has seen or heard from her 16-year-old daughter, Cathy Moulton, vanished without a trace.
It’s one of the oldest cold cases in the state. News Center Maine sat down with law enforcement and Cathy Moulton’s mother in hopes of finding out why she mysteriously disappeared.
The year is 1971. So long ago President Richard Nixon was in office. On a cool and crisp September night, Cathy Moulton, a beautiful and popular Maine teenager disappeared. Not a day has gone by that Cathy’s mother, Claire Moulton, doesn't think of her daughter, “we love her, and we miss her.”
Moulton remembers her 16-year-old daughter as kind-hearted and loving.
Cathy used to sit with elderly neighbors and look after them, her mom says. She also loved to make her own clothes and write poetry. That year, the Rolling Stones hit song, Brown Sugar was topping the charts and Cathy loved to dance, her mom says.
On the day she went missing, Friday, September 24th, Cathy was looking forward to attending a dance with her classmates that evening. Portland Police Dept., Lieutenant Robert Martin said, “This is pure speculation, but for Cathy to be missing this long something must have happened to her.”
Cathy, a junior, got home from Deering High School in Portland and had to run a few errands.
According to Lieutenant Martin, Cathy needed a new pair of pantyhose to go along with the pantsuit she made for the dance. “She asked her mother for money and her father, Lyman Moulton, who has since passed away, gave her a ride.” He dropped her off on Forest Avenue, less than a mile from her home, said Lieutenant Martin.
After shopping, Lt. Martin said, Cathy, stopped by Starbird Music Store to talk with a classmate.
She told a girlfriend she was going home to take a shower and then meet her at the dance.
Cathy never made it home. Police said her parents called to report her missing when she did not return for dinner. Mouton said she set rules for her three daughters, Cathy was the oldest. “If you’re going to be late for supper, you must call home.” Lieutenant Martin said, “This is pure speculation, but for Cathy to be missing this long something must’ve happened to her.”
To this day, no one knows what happened to Cathy. There have been numerous tips. None of them have panned out.
Cathy’s mother said, not knowing, “has been a burden on our family ever since.”
According to Cathy’s mother, a teenager that lived in their neighborhood told her that a friend of his, an older boy, gave Cathy a ride the night she disappeared.
That neighborhood boy was not the only person with a story about Cathy getting into a car with a boy.
Moulton said a woman who worked at a gas station in Presque Isle claimed she saw Cathy that Friday night with two boys.
She told Cathy’s mom one of the boys escorted her daughter to the gas station bathroom, and stood guard outside the door, then walked Cathy back to the car.
Cathy’s mother said, police checked out this story and confirmed that Cathy did get into a car with a boy. According to Cathy’s mom, police said the boy picked up Cathy and asked her to ride with him to pick up his friend.
Years later, police thought they tracked down the driver, only to find out he passed away.
To this day, no one really knows what happened to the vibrant Portland teenager.
Investigators said they are not giving up on solving this case, “we’d like to bring closure for her mom,” said Lieutenant Martin.
Cathy was last seen walking down Forest Avenue, and she was about a mile away from her home near the Woodford’s Corner area.
At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a navy all-weather coat and brown shoes. Police said she was carrying a unique item, a reversible multi-colored handbag that her family bought her during a vacation to Mexico just weeks before she vanished.
Police said they believe someone holds the clue to this decade-old missing person case. If you have any information on Cathy Moulton’s disappearance, please call the Portland Police Department at (207) 874-8479.