In the summer of 1972, just three days before her sixteenth birthday, Mary Lou Bostwick vanished from Waverly, New York. On July 17th, her father gave her a ride to a friend's apartment on Broad Street, where she was expected to babysit. This would be the last time a family member reported seeing the 15-year-old girl. Three days later, on what should have been a celebration of her birthday, Mary Lou's mother arrived at the friend's residence with a cake and gifts, only to be told
that her daughter had never made it there. In a confusing twist, Mary Lou's personal belongings, including a change of clothes she had carried in a grocery bag, were discovered at the apartment. Although she had occasionally stayed overnight with friends or relatives, her family was adamant that she was not a runaway and would have found a way to contact them.
The initial investigation into Mary Lou's disappearance yielded few leads, and as time passed, her case grew cold. The following year, the disappearance and murder of another local teenager, 16-year-old Sharron Coston, in the neighboring town of Sayre, Pennsylvania, raised unsettling questions. Sharron's body was found strangled and mutilated a few days after she went missing in October 1973. A man named Gerard Paul McKenna was convicted of her murder and sentenced to death in 1974. Though his conviction was later overturned on appeal, he was convicted a second time and died in prison. Mary Lou's mother held a strong belief that the two cases were connected. This suspicion was fueled by the fact that a witness who testified against McKenna in exchange for immunity was considered a suspect in Mary Lou's case.
Over the years, various theories and rumors have surfaced regarding Mary Lou's fate, but none have been substantiated. One claim suggested that she had been beaten to death at a party in a Sayre home, but the person who made this allegation could not provide any evidence. The family has endured decades of uncertainty, and the pain of their loss was evident when Mary Lou was listed as having predeceased her brother in his 2004 obituary. Both of her parents and a sibling have since passed away without knowing what happened to her. Foul play is strongly suspected in her disappearance, which remains an unsolved case under the investigation of the Pennsylvania State Police. The story of Mary Lou Bostwick is a tragic narrative of a young life cut short, a family left with unanswered questions, and a community haunted by the possibility of a connection between two brutal crimes.Last Seen: Jul 18, 1972
