Sunday, April 13, 2008

I thought the detail about the white sneakers that were left behind was particularly interesting in this one:


The Boston Globe

June 22, 2006 Thursday
THIRD EDITION

PARENTS OFFER REWARD FOR MISSING SON

BYLINE: BY BRENDA J. BUOTE, GLOBE STAFF

SECTION: GLOBE NORTH; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 799 words

Maria and Joaquim Lima's youngest child, John, was first reported missing from his Middleton home nearly eight months ago. His family suspects foul play, but police haven't been able to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding the 26-year-old's disappearance.

His parents have hired a private investigator, but after four months, the family is not any closer to finding answers. Distraught, the Limas are offering a $20,000 reward for information that leads them to their son.

"The hardest part is the not knowing," said Maria Lima, 53. "It's so frustrating because there are so many people he knew, and no one has any idea what happened. I mean, how does someone just disappear? No one had any motive to hurt him."

Middleton and State police investigators have questioned numerous people about Lima's disappearance, and have combed the area around his River Street home by helicopter, on all-terrain vehicles, and with search dogs, but have not come up with any concrete leads.

"We will continue to keep this case on the front burner," said Middleton police officer Gayle Haley. "We're hoping the reward will generate some interest in the case, but at this point it has generated very few calls."

According to his family, John was a high school dropout who had had trouble with drugs in the past, but wasn't using them at the time of his disappearance. The last time they saw John, he was playing with his niece and nephew, chasing the youngsters around the two-story home he shares with his parents. John and the children were giggling. It was a Friday afternoon, Oct. 28. John was home from his construction job. At the time of his disappearance, he was working for his father's company, Lima Construction.

"His demeanor was fine," said Elizabeth White, 34, John's sister, who had stopped by that afternoon to pick up her children. "If something was bothering him, it didn't show. And honestly, I think we would have known. We're a very close family."

About 2 the following morning, Maria heard a car pull into the driveway. She assumed it was John, returning from his girl friend's place in Chelsea, and went back to sleep.

When his father went downstairs a few hours later, at about 7 a.m., John's bed looked as though it had not been slept in. John's keys, wallet, jacket, and cigarettes were in his room, but there was no sign of him or his cellphone. His car was parked in the driveway. His parents assumed a friend had come to pick him up, knowing he had plans to go to Salem with his girlfriend that weekend to celebrate Halloween.

But his mother was worried. She tried to reach John on his cellphone, but it went right to voice mail. She left messages, but he never called back. She began to make note of odd details: John's white sneakers were on the doormat, just inside the garage. And then there was the matter of the small front window in the living room of John's basement apartment. His father had found it wide open that chilly Saturday morning, the screen pushed out from the inside. It looked as though he had left through the window, even though there were three doors he could have used. All of the doors lead to the backyard.

"There's motion sensors out back, so the lights would have come on," said White. "Maybe he didn't want to disturb my parents, but then why go outside without shoes? It was cold. Either he was going outside to meet someone a meeting he thought would take just a minute or he was scared by someone and left quickly through the window. Maybe he saw somebody at the back door and tried to escape through the window, but was grabbed in the front yard. We just don't know."

What they do know is this: John's cellphone went dead shortly after his mother heard the car in the driveway. The battery didn't simply run out of juice. White said investigators told her they believe the phone was either damaged or destroyed, because its Global Positioning System signal disappeared at about that same time.

"We think it might have been smashed in a struggle," said White, speaking on behalf of her family. "We feel definitely that foul play was involved, but we're not able to get any answers. We're hoping the reward might convince someone, out of desperation, to come forward.
"None of us have had any peace since John disappeared," she added. "One day you're thinking, `Maybe he's OK,' then the next day, you think `No, he's gone' and you sink to the lowest level of depression. Even if something bad happened to him, at least having answers would bring us some kind of closure."

Lima is described as white, 5 feet 10 inches, about 170 pounds, with brown hair and tattoos on both his arms and his back. Anyone with information is asked to contact Middleton Police at 978-774-4424 or State Police at 978-745-8908.
Brenda J. Buote may be reached at bbuote@globe.com.

LOAD-DATE: June 28, 2006

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: GLOBE NORTH 3

GRAPHIC: PHOTO

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper


Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company

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