On the morning of September 16, 1977, in Brockton, Massachusetts, 18-year-old Judith S. Bleiler, also known as Judy, began her day like any other. Her mother drove her to Pleasant Street, where she would catch the 7:05 a.m. bus to her job at the Knapp Shoe Store. After exiting her mother's car to wait for the bus, the young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes was never seen or heard from again. At the time of her disappearance, Judith was described as being 5'8" tall and weighing 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing an orange jumpsuit and a brown sweater.
The weeks and years following Judith's disappearance brought few answers for her family. Her mother, Molly Bleiler, passed away without ever knowing what happened to her daughter.
Judith's sister, Virginia Lynch, expressed the family's deep desire for resolution, stating, "I want to know." The case remained cold for many years, a persistent source of pain for those who knew and loved Judy. In 2010, the discovery of human remains near Shovel Shop Pond in a nearby town sparked speculation that they might belong to Judith, highlighting the community's memory of the enduring mystery, but she has never been found.
Over time, investigators identified a possible suspect in Judith's case, a convicted killer named Eric H. Anderson Jr., who had a history of violent assaults against women. Anderson was also considered a person of interest in the disappearance of another woman, Simone Ridinger, which occurred just two weeks before Judith vanished. A witness reported seeing a woman who matched Judith's description struggling with a man inside a blue car around the time she went missing. Anderson owned a blue Chevrolet Nova and had dropped his wife off at her job less than two miles from Judith's bus stop that very morning. Although Anderson was convicted in 2003 for the 1977 murder of Ruth Masters and died in prison in 2016, he was never charged in connection with Judith's disappearance. The case of Judith S. Bleiler officially remains unsolved, leaving a void in the lives of her loved ones and a lingering question in the community where she was last seen.Last Seen: Sep 16, 1977
