A woman leaves a party and is found murdered 2 days later On a hot and humid Sunday in July of 1978, the body of 18-year-old Mary Ellen Tanner, a white female, was discovered in a grassy field in Lyman, Maine. A pilot taking off from the small airstrip known as Gracie Evans Field spotted her partially clothed body and alerted the authorities. An autopsy would later reveal that the Kennebunk High School senior had been beaten to death with a blunt object. It was also discovered that she was pregnant at the time of her death.
Due to the state of her body, the medical examiner could not determine if she had been sexually assaulted. Investigators concluded that she had been killed elsewhere and her body had been dumped in the remote field, a location known to locals but not easily found by outsiders.
Two days earlier, on the evening of Friday, July 7, 1978, Mary had been out socializing with friends. She attended a local festival parade and later went to a party in a wooded area off Route 9 in Kennebunk. After the party, she and some friends went to Kennebunk Beach. Around 11:30 p.m., her friends dropped her off at the intersection of Routes 9 and 35, where she indicated she would hitchhike the final mile to her home. This was a common way for teenagers to get around at the time. She was last seen by another group of friends on the Mousam River Bridge, still trying to get a ride home. They were heading in the opposite direction but felt a pang of guilt and turned back for her, but by the time they returned, she was gone.
The investigation into Mary Ellen Tanner's murder has spanned decades, yet no one has ever been arrested or publicly named as a suspect in her death. Maine State Police have interviewed numerous individuals over the years, including several suspects. Her boyfriend at the time was quickly ruled out as he had a confirmed alibi, being in Massachusetts for his brother's funeral. Police also questioned a convicted violent sex offender who was out on appeal at the time of the murder. Despite ongoing efforts by law enforcement and the lingering suspicions within the small town of Kennebunk, the case remains one of Maine's most haunting unsolved homicides.
