That night, Laureen was with friends who were drinking. The boy left when he thought Judith was returning. Judith arrived to find the apartment building dark (all the lightbulbs were out) and her apartment unlocked. She thought she saw Laureen asleep, but it was actually Laureen’s friend. Laureen was gone, leaving behind her clothes and new sneakers.

Initially, police thought Laureen ran away, but Judith disagreed. Three months later, Judith found charges for three mysterious phone calls made from California – a place Laureen had never been. Two calls were between motels, and one was to a teen hotline. Investigations into these calls led to dead ends, including a possible connection to a pornographer and a woman in the adult film industry, but nothing conclusive was found.

Over the years, there were several possible leads: a phone call from someone claiming to be Laureen, a possible sighting in Boston, and mysterious late-night phone calls to Judith. A witness also claimed to have seen a woman resembling Laureen working as a prostitute in Alaska years later. These leads, however, never panned out.

The boy who had been with Laureen the night she disappeared later committed suicide. The case remains unsolved, and investigators suspect foul play. Another woman, Denise Daneault, disappeared six weeks later, and while they looked similar, no link was ever established between the two cases. Laureen’s mother continues to believe her daughter is alive.