The Worcester County district attorney said they follow up on leads every week in the Molly Bish case.
WARREN - On the 13th anniversary of the day teenage lifeguard Molly Anne Bish disappeared, 100 people gathered at the town common on Thursday night to honor her memory and to remember that her killer has never been found.
Molly Bish "Thirteen years ago, evil triumphed not far from here, but evil does not get the last word," Reed V. Hillman, a former state representative and retired colonel-superintendent of the state police, told the crowd as a light rain fell.
"No family has done more to deter evil than the Bishes," Hillman said, alluding to the work the family has done over the years on behalf of missing children.
Molly was 16 when she was last seen at her lifeguard post at Comins Pond. Three years later, her remains were founded in a wooded area of Palmer known as Whiskey Hill.
A photograph of a smiling Molly was set on a table by a bouquet of yellow roses. A moment of silence was held for all the missing children, and one by one, candles were lit to represent the missing and murdered children: Molly Bish, Holly Piirainen, Lisa Ziegert, Sarah Pryor, Jeffrey Curley, Danielle and Dorothy Pitcher, and Caleigh Harrison.
Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. apologized that 13 years has gone by without finding Molly's killer, but said the case is not cold, it is unresolved.
Early said they continue to get leads on a weekly basis, and they have poured over old evidence, noting the advances in science since 2000. After the vigil, Early said that DNA is being checked from items such as cigarette butts that were at the pond the day Molly was last seen there. The items were sent to three locations - the state police crime lab, a private lab in Texas and another out-of-state location.
DNA from convicted Florida murderer Rodney Stanger also is being tested, as are items from his trailer. Early said there is no timetable regarding when the testing will be completed. All of the items were sent in a year ago, something that has frustrated the Bish family.
"We want to make sure we do everything we can to bring Molly's killer to justice," Early said. "This has the full attention of the district attorney's office."
"We want to do everything we can to give (the Bishes) some closure," Early added.
Molly's mother, Magdalen M. Bish, told the crowd that her daughter Heather Bish recently had a brain aneurysm. She said Heather went through a "medical miracle." Heather Bish, who was at the vigil, said later that she was feeling better, but tired. Heather Bish just spoke last month at Missing Children's Day in Washington, D.C.
"I was wondering how much more this mama bear can take," Magdalen Bish said, "but we are very strong. We are blessed."
She talked about promises, and the promise they made to Molly. She said Molly never left the space in her heart.
"Though there is a hole, she is always there with me," Magdalen Bish said.
"Molly's love is here. Her joy is still here," she said through tears.
Rep. Todd M. Smola, R-Warren, also spoke, noting the family's work to get the proposed Molly's Bill, the EZ-ID license plate, passed. This would include symbols such as a star or a heart amid numbers and letters to make it easier for people of all ages and abilities to remember license plates.
Police Chief Bruce D. Spiewakowski also was a speaker, and John Dyjak led the prayer. Palmer singer Noah Lis performed several songs, including "The Promise" by Tracy Chapman and "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion from "Titanic," one of Molly's favorite songs.
In an interview before the vigil this week, Magdalen Bish said she has been to Comins Pond in the years since, with different reporters covering the story, and said it's a hard, sad place to visit as a parent.
"This has been going on 13 years and we know nothing more than what we knew that first day," Bish said.
Bish said she remembers the day she dropped Molly off for lifeguard duty.
Before she dropped Molly off at 10 a.m., they stopped by her other daughter Heather Bish's house, and Molly ran in to give her baby niece a kiss. At 1:30 p.m., Magdalen Bish said she got the call from police that Molly was not at her post. They said she must have been off with her friends, but her mother said her daughter was responsible, and would never have left her job. Her shoes were found at the pond.
Keeping the memory of her daughter alive is important to her, said Bish, who wears a picture of Molly on a pin on her shirt. The day her daughter's killer is found, the pin will come off, she said.
"I know Molly would want us to have peace," Bish said. "There's a reason, a path . . . We haven't understood why all of this has worked the way it has."