Missing From: Tolland, CO
Missing since: July 26, 1973
Age at Disappearance: 7
Height: 4′ 0″
Weight: 65
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Distinguishing Characteristics: Scars, Marks, Tattoos: Caucasian female. Janice has a gap between her front teeth.
Details of Disappearance: Janice was last seen leaving her family’s home on Anthony Road in Tolland, Connecticut on July 26, 1973. She planned to ride her metallic green Murray bicycle, which had a bell and a banana seat, through the neighborhood to search for a butterfly she’d caught and left on a rock a few days earlier. She was carrying an envelope to carry the butterfly in. It was the first time she’d been allowed to go out by herself. She never arrived home and has never been seen again. Janice’s mother found her bike half an hour later, on Rhoades Road near a wooded area less than a mile from her residence. The butterfly and envelope were never found. Authorities believe something happened to Janice after she had picked up the butterfly and was on her way home.
Janice was one of five people to disappear in the general area during a ten-year time period; another was Lisa White. All of the missing were female; they ranged in age from 7 to 20 years old. Two of them were found deceased years after their disappearances but the other three, including Lisa, remain missing. It is not clear whether the cases are related. The late Charles Pierce, a pedophile who was suspected in many child disappearance cases in New England throughout the 1950s – 1970s, confessed to Janice’s murder. A photo of Pierce is posted with this case summary.
He claimed to have buried her in the Lawrence, Massachusetts area near an unidentified boy who was another victim. The boy was thought to be Angelo Puglisi, a Massachusetts child who vanished three years after Janice in 1976. Neither of the supposed graves has been discovered. Charges have not been filed against any person regarding Janice’s disappearance. Her case remains unsolved.
Investigative Agency: Connecticut State Police 860-685-8000
If you have any information on this case, please contact CUE Center for Missing Persons at(910) 343-1131 or call the CUE Center 24-hour tip line at (910) 232-1687. All information submitted to CUE Center for Missing Persons is confidential.