by Becky Cooper
The Golden Girls
1 Through the years: This chapter is from multiple interviews with Mary McCutcheon in 2017.
2 Patricia had given over a den in her house: Author’s visit.
3 Mary and Patricia met with the DA’s office: Adrienne Lynch, “Additional Notes ADA on Investigation 2017,” undated (MDAO file).
4 the “Golden Girls”: Adrienne Lynch, “Additional Notes ADA on Investigation 2017,” undated (MDAO file).
Anne Abraham
1 Stretching away into the interior: Anne’s diary entry from July 21, 1976. (As I wrote in the book, Anne only sporadically dated her entries, and she tended to write about multiple days in one sitting, so pegging her entries to calendar days was challenging. Based on her changing from present to past tense mid-Aug. 1 entry, I believe she started an entry on Aug. 1, and continued it on Aug. 5, the same evening she wrote about Aug. 2–4. According to this timeline, her last entry is dated Aug. 6, which corresponds to the date of her disappearance in the Smithsonian Report. Where the date of the entry is unclear below, I’ve pegged it to the beginning of the paragraph instead. Also, if my description or timeline varies from the one set out in the Smithsonian Report, I have indicated why and how in subsequent source notes.)
2 Tongait, or “place of spirits”: Anne’s diary entry from July 21, 1976.
3 it was Anne’s sixth season in Labrador: Smithsonian Report, Part 2, p. 23.
4 Bill as a teaching assistant: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2017.
5 Anne impressed everyone: Description of Anne from Lynne Fitzhugh (2017) unless otherwise noted.
6 On one of her last mornings: Anne’s diary entry from July 25, 1976.
7 “the land God gave to Cain”: As quoted in Fitzhugh, “Tribute to Explorer Lost in Labrador,” p. 112.
8 “pure, grandiose country, stark”: As quoted in Fitzhugh, “Tribute to Explorer Lost in Labrador,” p. 112.
9 “Labrador’s…most lethal climates”: Lynne Fitzhugh, The Labradorians: Voices from the Land of Cain (St. John’s, NF: Breakwater, 1999), p. 17.
10 the mythic Ramah chert quarries: Interview with Bill Fitzhugh in 2017.
11 Chert, a kind of quartz: “Quartz, Chert, and Flint,” Department of Geology and Planetary Science’s website, University of Pittsburgh.
12 Gramly, an assistant professor of geology at Stony Brook: Smithsonian Report, Appendix 3.
13 met only once before: Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 2.
14 175 miles away: Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 3.
15 held each other until the morning: Anne’s diary entry from July 25, 1976.
16 last time Lynne Fitzhugh saw Anne: Interview with Lynne Fitzhugh in 2017.
17 Thalia Point where Anne loaded in: Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 3.
18 camp in the footsteps of an old Moravian mission: Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 3.
19 landscape was marshier: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “West of the mission.”
20 Dog’s Nose, a big basalt cliff: Interview with Lynne Fitzhugh in 2017.
21 sound traveled so clearly: Interview with Stephen Loring in 2017.
22 Anne could hear the waterfall: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “Moist, misty morning.”
23 “My ears are tired of his voice”: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “The next day I got up.”
24 tell Anne about his time in Africa: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “Mike told me about mambas.”
25 “I went up a chimney and the shale”: Here through “Anne had found a Ramah chert quarry,” Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “We started for a short hike.”
26 [Photo]: Photograph by RMG.
27 one-quarter of a mile long: Fitzhugh, “Tribute to Explorer Lost in Labrador.”
28 “’Twas a sacrifice to the mountains”: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “Mike fixed supper.”
29 “Time went unrecognized”: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “The time went unrecognized.” Red ochre detail also appears in “Brother Tells of His Labrador Search for D.C. Woman,” Washington Post, Aug. 16, 1976.
30 Mike signaled to Anne: Description from Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “My period started and I felt grubby.”
31 The following day was overcast: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “The next day (I am confused as to days).”
32 the one after wasn’t much better: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “The next day I got up.”
33 Anne put on her waders and tried: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “Today I tried.” Anne’s attempt to find another route to the quarry this day––as well as the goose detail––also in Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 6.
34 so still it felt strange: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “The most unusual thing”; Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 7.
35 hacking at a caribou antler…the radio: Anne’s diary entry, paragraph starting “The most unusual thing.”
36 About twenty-four hours later: Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 10; Report by Cst. W.W. MacDonald, Corner Brook. Sub-Division of the RCMP, Oct. 18, 1976, p. 2; Transcript of Interview between Cst. W.W. MacDonald & RMG, Nain, Labrador, Aug. 11, 1976, p. 7.
The Second Call
1 “When you’re in a remote tent camp”: This chapter is from an interview with RMG in 2017 unless otherwise noted.
2 the first set of mastodon remains: RMG, Archaeological Recovery of the Bowser Road Mastodon: Orange County, New York (New York: ASAA/Persimmon Press Monographs in Archaeology, 2017).
3 collection at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology: Interview with RMG in 2020; “MCZ Receives 13,000 Year Old Mastodon,” News, Museum of Comparative Zoology’s website, Nov. 27, 2017.
4 he met the news with composure and resignation: Interview with RMG in 2020.
5 “a sea-change in how archaeology is being done”: Interview with Bruce Bourque in 2020.
6 Gramly had told the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Transcript of Interview between Cst. W. W. MacDonald & RMG, Nain, Labrador, Aug. 11, 1976, pp. 1–4.
7 up a stream, across knife-edge ridges: Smithsonian Report, Part 2, p. 12. “Knife-edge” from interview with RMG in 2020.
8 a slope of rock that spilled: Here through “around 11 a.m.” from Smithsonian Report, Part 1, pp. 7–9.
9 Gramly attempted to go around the point: Gramly describes this moment in transcript of interview between Cst. W. W. MacDonald & RMG, Nain, Labrador, Aug. 11, 1976, p. 2.
10 jumped back onto the beach to avoid a fall: Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 9.
11 Anne tried, too, and got about thirty feet up: Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 9; report notes that Gramly said both ten feet and thirty feet up.
12 “I don’t like the risk”: RMG statement to RCMP, “Sequence of Events at Ramah, Labrador: July 30–Aug. 8, 1976,” Aug. 12, 1976, p. 1.
13 “No, I think Gramly got fired”: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2017.
14 Hilda’s Creek in honor of: Interviews with RMG and Alice Abraham in 2017.
15 checked with Stephen and with Anne’s siblings: Interviews with Stephen Loring in 2019; Ted and Alice Abraham in 2020.
The Anne Abraham Rescue Operation
1 radio in once a day at 7 a.m.: Smithsonian Report, Part 2, p. 6.
2 Fitzhugh was worried: “He viewed the silence from Ramah as ominous,” Smithsonian Report, Part 2, p. 7.
3 On August 8, Ted Abraham’s phone rang: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2017; “Brother Tells of His Labrador Search for D.C. Woman,” Washington Post, Aug. 16, 1976.
4 6:45 a.m., a search-and-rescue helicopter: Report by F. A. McCully, Happy Valley Goose Bay Detachment of the RCMP, Oct. 8, 1976, p. 3. Fitzhugh thought the helicopter would be able to take his search crew as well, but, loaded with extra fuel, it was already at capacity. Per the Smithsonian Report, Stephen Loring was only allowed on after insisting that the pilot offload two hundred pounds of equipment (Part 2, p. 21).
5 the diesel fumes…were nauseating: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2017.
6 They were on Saglek: The Smithsonian Report leaves this stop in Saglek out of their timeline, but I feel confident that it happened. Ted Abraham first mentioned it to me in 2017, and it’s corroborated in the RCMP files: “Arrived Saglek 11:40am and arrived Ramah Bay 12:30pm” (Report by F. A. McCully, Happy Valley Goose Bay Detachment of the RCMP, Oct. 8, 1976, p. 3). RMG did not dispute this encounter.
7 They never made eye contact: In response, RMG said in 2020, “I should have gone back, maybe, but I thought everyone knew where I was and everything. And I just didn’t think that––well I just didn’t want to––there wasn’t anything I could do to bring her back.”
8 herd of caribou: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2020. The Smithsonian Report also lists a polar bear sighting from this day, but that was after they dropped off the search party (Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 13).
9 dropped the three men off: Report by F. A. McCully, Happy Valley Goose Bay Detachment of the RCMP, Oct. 8, 1976, p. 3.
10 men set up camp: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2017.
11 no trouble reaching the Fitzhughs by radio: Interviews with Ted Abraham in 2017 and Bill Fitzhugh in 2020.
12 Gee, you shouldn’t have come: “Brother Tells of His Labrador Search for D.C. Woman,” Washington Post, Aug. 16, 1976.
13 tried to retrace Anne’s final hours: Description from Ted Abraham’s recollections (2017).
14 water was too noisy…concentrating hard on his footing: Transcript of interview between Cst. W. W. MacDonald & RMG, Nain, Labrador, Aug. 11, 1976, p. 11.
15 Ted thought he saw someone: Anecdote about floating orange object from interviews with Ted Abraham (2017, 2020). Per the Smithsonian Report, Anne’s raincoat was orange (Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 8).
16 Fitzhugh was angry that the search party: Through “no scent of Anne,” Smithsonian Report, Part 1, pp. 12–13.
17 “There is no proper grief”: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2017.
18 watched as the candles they lit: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2017; Stephen Loring did not remember this.
19 “Time’s up. You gotta get out”: Interview with Ted Abraham in 2017; this tracks with Fitzhugh’s experience. He felt “under intense pressure from the RCMP” to terminate the search for Anne (Smithsonian Report, Part 2, p. 16).
20 Gramly had passed “with flying colors”: Bill Fitzhugh, “A Brief Chronology of Events: Ramah,” Appendix 13, Smithsonian Report, p. 3.
21 a final search of the sea caves: Through end of paragraph, Smithsonian Report, Part 1, p. 16.
22 sea was swarming with sea lice: Report by F.A. McCully, Happy Valley Goose Bay Detachment of the RCMP, Oct. 8, 1976, p. 6.
23 Newfoundland Department of Justice announced: Letter from Asst. C.I.B. Officer, A. E. Vaughan to the Deputy Minister of Justice, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Oct. 29, 1976.
24 Smithsonian…own internal review: Memorandum from George S. Robinson (Assistant General Counsel of the Smithsonian Institution) to Mr. S. Dillon Ripley (Secretary), Subject: Internal Review Panel relating to the disappearance of Anne Abraham in Labrador, Oct. 21, 1976.
25 without access to the Canadian police files: Letter from John G. Kelly (Director of Public Prosecutions, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Justice) to George S. Robinson, Dec. 17, 1976.
26 In March 1977: Memorandum from John Motheral, John Eisenberg, and David Pawson to S. Dillon Ripley (Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution), Subject: Report of the Panel established to review the disappearance of Ms. Anne Abraham, Mar. 8, 1977.
27 fifteen-page partial transcript: RMG statement to RCMP, “Sequence of Events at Ramah, Labrador: July 30–August 8, 1976,” Aug. 12, 1976. The rest of this chapter is drawn from this source.
Don Mitchell and Sergeant Sennott
1 “All you got to do is brush your gums”: This chapter is from an interview with Don Mitchell in 2017 and the Don Mitchell interview transcript with Sergeant Sennott, July 17, 2017 (MSP file).
2 six feet tall: Sgt. Sennott’s response to his checking memo.
Birthday Cake
1 someone at the Harvard Archives wrote me: Latest email from the Harvard University Archives, Apr. 5, 2019, 1:32 p.m. When I told Gramly that the archives had no record of the class, he assured me that he and Jane had taken the course. He said he had taken it for credit and would try to get his transcript from Harvard to show me. As of the time of publication, I have not yet seen his transcript.
2 “In fact,” he had told me: Interview with RMG in 2017. He reconfirmed in 2020.
Come Out of the Dark Earth
1 ordered an in camera inspection: Letter from Rebecca Murray to Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth May re: SPR17/820, June 30, 2017.
2 Alice Abraham, Anne’s sister, wrote me: Email from Alice Abraham, Sept. 9, 2017, 12:22 p.m.
3 Alice was a big woman: The rest of this chapter is from an interview with Alice in 2017 unless otherwise noted.
4 married for thirty-five years: “Loring, Stephen” entry in Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, edited by Claire Smith (New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014).
5 one of the founders of Gender Archaeology: See, e.g., her work with Margaret Conkey to organize the “Women and Production in Prehistory” Conference, Apr. 5–9, 1988, Wedge Plantation, South Carolina.
6 Stephen had helped her with: In a 2019 interview with Stephen Loring, he wanted to make clear that Alice should get all the credit for the trip; he had been happy to help the family.
7 touch the rocks that Anne had loved: Description of this trip drawn from recordings that appear in “A Long Journey North to Say Goodbye,” The World, PRI Radio, Dec. 26, 2006.
8 Come out of the dark earth: May Sarton, “Invocation.”
9 “Most people react to death with sorrow”: Undated. Anne, it seems, got an A on the paper.
The Investigation
1 Cambridge Police officer John Fulkerson: Interviews with Fulkerson in 2016 and 2018.
2 Susan had gotten to know: Kelly, Boston Stranglers, preface.
3 letter arrived from a Dr. Richard M. Gramly: Letter from RMG to CPD Keeper of the Records, Aug. 31, 1995 (CPD file).
4 Jane’s case file—about four boxes: Interview with Fulkerson in 2018.
5 No record of what additional physical evidence: This squares with interoffice correspondence from Deputy Superintendent Thomas F. O’Connor (Commander of Detectives) to Commissioner Watson, Subject: “Cold Case” Homicides, Nov. 4, 1996 (CPD file).
6 The officer felt like he was digging for information: Interview with Fulkerson in 2018.
7 changed his mind and sent a package: Deputy O’Connor, “Cold Case” Homicides, Nov. 4, 1996 (CPD file).
8 a cover letter: Letter from RMG to John Fulkerson, Oct. 26, 1995.
9 never saw a roster of the Putnam Lab caretakers: Interview with RMG in 2020.
10 Fulkerson contacted Susan Kelly: Fax from John Fulkerson to Susan Kelly, Nov. 14, 1995.
11 felt sure they had their guy: Interview with Fulkerson in 2018.
12 fingerprints from the FBI: RMG fingerprints saved alongside FBI, US Department of Justice envelope (undated, no postmark) (CPD file).
13 By November 1996: Deputy O’Connor, “Cold Case” Homicides, Nov. 4, 1996 (CPD file).
14 In January 1997: “Det. Notes by unsigned re. Gramly,” Jan. 14, 1997 (MSP file).
15 The day after the meeting, Sennott contacted: Letter from Trooper Peter Sennott to Lt. Kathy Stefani, Crime Lab, Jan. 15, 1997 (MSP file).
16 there was no plan to reopen: “Det. Notes by unsigned re. Gramly,” Dec. 30, 1997 (MSP file).
17 On February 20, 1998, Dr. Katsas: Letter from George Katsas to John McEvoy (Office of the District Attorney), Feb. 20, 1988 (MDAO file).
18 Sennott sent the slides to the crime laboratory: Request for the Examination of Physical Evidence, delivered by Peter Sennott to the State Police Crime
Laboratory in Sudbury, MA, Feb. 25, 1998 (MDAO file).
19 Corporal Langille got in touch: Fax from Cpl. Langille to Peter Sennott, June 11, 1998 (MSP file).
20 “In short,” Sennott wrote: Letter from Peter Sennott to John McEvoy, July 12, 1998 (MSP file).
21 In September of the same year: Report of Laboratory Examination, Cellmark Diagnostics, Sept. 17, 1998, using the GenePrint STR Multiplex System and the GenePrint Sex Determination System (Amelogenin).
22 Labs across the country: At the time, Massachusetts had neither a DNA unit nor a CODIS database (ADA Lynch’s reply to checking memo).
23 people in Alabama: Letter from Sue Rogers (Alabama’s CODIS administrator) to Mary McGilvray, Dec. 14, 1998.
24 and Florida: Fax from Mary McGilvray to Peter Sennott, Nov. 24, 1998, which contains letter from Tara Hockenberry at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to Mary McGilvray, Nov. 4, 1998.
25 One of the people had been five years old: Chronology of DNA Investigation, Oct. 29, 2018 (MDAO file).
26 Again, they used a differential extraction procedure: DNA-STR Report, MSP Crime Laboratory (Sudbury, MA), Aug. 18, 2004. Due to the limited sample, only AmpFISTR Profiler Plus was used to test the sample.
27 a result that could help identify a suspect at any of the locations: The only result above threshold was the Amelogenin consistent with the X chromosome in the non-sperm fraction––to be expected since this was Jane’s (female) DNA.
28 MSP found Gramly’s license details: Mass RMV re: Richard Gramly, June 8, 2004 (MDAO file).
29 details about his family members: Mass RMV re: Gramly, same address, June 8, 2005 (MDAO file).
30 printout of the residential property record card: Property Record, same address, June 8, 2006 (MDAO file).