Dark Downeast - The Disappearance of Judith Leo-Coneys Part 1 (Vermont)

Episode Date: March 28, 2022

VERMONT, 1979: When the vehicle of Judith Leo-Coneys turned up at a junkyard in Roxbury, Vermont, it was the first big clue in the disappearance of the beloved school teacher and young mother. The case would spiral into an investigation spanning a decade and stretching across the United States, but before investigators would uncover any answers for Judy, they’d have to find a second missing person. The primary person of interest disappeared, too.This is Part 1 of Judith Leo-Coneys story. View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/judithleoconeys1Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

Reggie Brown stood at the counter of the motor vehicle's department, sifting through the limited paperwork he had on the red Volkswagen he'd just fixed up. The car appeared on the lot of his junkyard a few weeks prior, with the windows smashed out and some other damage that looked relatively fresh. A handwritten note left on the vehicle read, Dear Reggie, this hunk of junk is yours if you want it. Don't run too good, but okay for parts. I am leaving Vermont and don't need it no longer.

Signed, R. Peterson The note was good enough permission as any for Reggie, but he thought that with a little effort, he could bring the car back to life. Other than the broken glass and cosmetic damages, it was in good working order. It took a few weeks to fix up the damage, but this wasn't a hunk of junk as the note described. And so with the car running just fine, Reggie was at the motor vehicles department to get it registered. But when the agent returned to the counter where he stood waiting, Reggie was at the motor vehicles department to get it registered. But when the agent returned to the counter where he stood waiting, Reggie learned he wouldn't be registering the red Volkswagen that day.

There was a problem. A big one. This car came back already registered. It belonged to a woman from North Cambridge, Vermont. She'd been reported missing on November 5th, 1979. The same day, the smashed car appeared on Reggie Brown's junkyard lot. It was the first big clue in the disappearance of a beloved school teacher and young mother that would spiral into an investigation spanning a decade and stretching across the United States. But before investigators would uncover any answers,

they'd be searching for not one, but two missing people from Vermont. The primary suspect disappeared, too. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the case of Judith Leoconis on Dark Down East. It was Monday morning, November 5th, 1979, and Judith Leo Konies had a lot to do. Though she was a teacher at Milton High School and would typically be in the classroom on Mondays, Judith had a dermatologist appointment and so she planned to stack a few errands and make the most out of her few hours off. Judy was with another teacher that morning too, Noble Francour. Some sources report that Judy and Noble were dating at the time.

So she first dropped her three-year-old son off with a babysitter, and then stopped by the high school to drop off Noble in time for work, and then she headed to Burlington, Vermont for her appointment. Judith had just one more stop to make after that doctor's appointment, a quick pickup in Shelburne, Vermont. If she timed it right, she'd be back to school by 9 30 a.m. But when Judith never returned to Milton High School as planned, alarm bells rang in the minds of her fellow teachers. She was a dedicated educator, working with students who needed additional support with reading and comprehension. It wouldn't be like her to not show up as planned.

By the end of the school day, with no sign of Judith and no phone calls, Noble was the one who decided to take action. He reported Judith Leoconi's missing around 3.15 p.m. on November 5th. Three days later, news of Judy's disappearance made the papers, reporting her last known location as that doctor's appointment in Burlington around 8.15 a.m. on November 5th. A brief article by the Burlington Free Press included a photo of Smiling Judy, who was reported to be possibly driving her red Volkswagen with Vermont plates. The search for Judy began two days later, on Wednesday, November 7th, as state and local authorities in both Shelburne and Milton coordinated the investigation into her whereabouts. One week into the search for Judy, Chittenden County State's Attorney Susan Villa told the Times-Argus, quote, it doesn't seem to be the type of case where she just left town,

end quote. She added that foul play had not been ruled out. By the time Reggie Brown tried to register Judith's red Volkswagen, foul play was looking more and more likely. The name signed on the handwritten note on the car was apparently fictitious. Authorities unable to track down any R. Petersons who might be connected to Judy or the car. At that point, Judith Leoconis had been missing for 22 days. No sightings and no calls to her young son?

State's attorney Mark Keller told the Burlington Free Press, Investigators led on that they were following one strong lead, and it had everything to do with that final stop Judy planned to take in Shelburne on Monday morning, before returning to school. Noble had filled them in on her plan. The last quick errand Judy had to run that morning wasn't a pleasant one. She and her ex-boyfriend had recently ended their relationship, but a few of her things were still lingering at his house,

a small cabin he'd built himself in Shelburne. Judy was going to swing by his place that morning because she knew he wouldn't be home, he was a teacher too, so it would be an easy in and out, just grab her stuff and leave without incident. Whether she ever made it to his house before disappearing was unclear, and so police knew it was time to talk to Judy's ex-boyfriend, Francis Malinowski. Francis Malinowski, often called Frank, was the assistant director of special education for the Burlington school system. Judy and Frank had that in common, both working in special education, and when they met, they were school system. Judy and Frank had that in common, both working in special education, and when they met, they were both single. Judy was divorced with a young son,

while Frank's wife and mother of his two children died by suicide several years earlier. Judy and Frank dated for a few months. However, their relationship was strained. The reality of just how strained their relationship was wouldn't be revealed for several more months. Investigators spoke to Frank for the first time on the day Judy was reported missing, having learned about her intentions to stop by his house from Noble, her passenger that day. Frank wasn't considered a suspect during that first conversation, just a routine part of an investigation, chatting with the individuals who may have been among the last to see Judy. Frank didn't have

much to say to the police. He told them he didn't see Judy on the morning of November 5th and that he spent the day out shooting birds and out walking around. He said he was under a lot of pressure that day and couldn't recount his specific movements. Frank told police he went for a walk in the woods and the next thing he knew, he was in Burlington. He may not have been a suspect during that first conversation, but investigators kept running into clues and inconsistencies in his story that pointed at Frank Malinowski and his suspected involvement, or at least knowledge, of Judith Leoconi's disappearance. As it turned out, Frank wasn't

actually in school like he was supposed to be on the morning of Judy's disappearance. He didn't call in sick, and it wasn't a planned absence. He just didn't show up. The Times-Argus reported that his children said he got home late that night of November 5th and they were worried about him. When police caught up to Frank to speak with him later that night, he was wearing a torn down feather jacket. Police would later find feathers in Judy's abandoned car. And the connections got more compelling. Judy's red Volkswagen was found on Reggie Brown's junkyard lot. Frank had previously tutored Reggie's son when he taught at Northfield High School in the mid-70s, so Frank would have

known that Reggie took in junk cars and parted them out. So was Frank behind the handwritten note left on Judy's car? State and local authorities questioned Frank a second time after Judy's car was recovered from the junkyard. They read him his Miranda rights before moving forward with an interview, but Frank invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. When someone pleads the Fifth, as you've probably heard, it generally means they're invoking the constitutional protection against self-incrimination, though the Fifth Amendment encompasses other rights as well. Frank directed all questions to his lawyer. When state police approached Frank for a third time,

he cooperated to an extent, giving his fingerprints, non-testimonial identification, and a handwriting sample, as well as submitting to police photographs. Beyond that, though, Frank was tight-lipped. As reported by Margo Howland for the Rutland Daily Herald, Chittenden County State's Attorney Mark Keller said every time they'd talk to Frank, he'd tell them to talk to his lawyer. When investigators went to Frank's lawyer, the lawyer would say, quote, he's not saying anything, end quote. Though suspicion towards Frank Malinowski was mounting,

there was very little for the investigation to go on. Police still hadn't located Judith, and her smashed-up car dropped at a junkyard was the only sign of her left behind. Foul play was assumed, but with no body, there was no case, not against Frank or anyone else. Frank's friends and colleagues later commented on his character, saying that the speculation that he might be involved in Judy's disappearance was, quote, unbelievable. They told the Times-Argus that Frank had been a remarkable father and an able and talented teacher. One friend interviewed by the paper said Frank had been depressed lately, but they didn't elaborate on what that meant. Nearly a month after Judith Leo Conies disappeared, investigators still lacked the physical or testimonial evidence to confirm or rule out any working theories they had. But things were about

to get a lot more complex when on November 30th, 1979, Frank Malinowski didn't show up for work. It seemed the presumed suspect in Judith Leoconi's disappearance had disappeared too. He was just there one day and gone the next. Frank Malinowski was last seen at work on Thursday, November 29, 1979. When he didn't show up the next day or the following week, school officials were perplexed. Frank hadn't given notice or provided an explanation for his absence. Though it would be just over a month before news of Frank Malinowski's disappearance was public information, police were clued in early and took it as even further reason to dig into Frank's movements on November 5th

and seek out any further connection to the disappearance of Judy Leoconis. It actually surprised me how much information about the investigation made it into the news for this case, where news media is often left out from knowing the critical details of how an unsolved case is progressing, journalists for the Burlington Free Press, Rutland Daily Herald, The Times, Argus, they all seem to know exactly what police were learning

as they learned it. Mike Donoghue for the Burlington Free Press would later win an award for his reporting about this case. It's within the extensive coverage by local press that shocking details come pouring out. On Sunday, December 2nd, 1979, Frank Malinowski drove his two children to the bus station, buying two one-way tickets to Connecticut. He told his kids that the school in Milton was on strike and they needed to go stay with their grandparents, his late wife's parents, until the strike was sorted. Except, there was no strike. Sometime after the children made it to Connecticut, a letter also arrived

there from Frank. In the letter, Frank handed over power of attorney to his father-in-law, instructing him to sell his house in Shelburne and use that money to put his kids through high school and college. Frank had also emptied his bank accounts. It appeared that Frank disappeared on his own accord, and wherever he was going, he had little intention of coming back. It was certainly not a good look for a man with suspected involvement in the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. But what investigators learned next only boosted that suspicion. On the evening of November 5th, 1979, Mary Drown was working her hours with Northfield Taxi Service when she was dispatched to a phone booth on Vermont Route 1A.

It was about 7.15 p.m. when her passenger climbed into the cab. The man had requested a pickup at that phone booth in Roxbury, Vermont, with a drop-off in Montpelier, nearly a half hour away. Because it was going to be a longer trip, the cab company had made the man verify his identity before sending a car, just in case it was a prank. He said his name was Frank Malinowski. According to Mike Donaghy's reporting for the Free Press, Frank was quiet during the car ride, except for the moments when Mary's cab kept stalling out.

Frank advised her on how to keep it running. At one point during the drive, a deer jumped right out in front of the car. Mary swerved to avoid it and kept on going, but her passenger kept quiet during the brief incident. Frank didn't give a clear drop-off address for Mount Pillier. Once in the area, he just asked to be let out of the car. From there, Frank actually called another cab, this time from central cab of Barry, Vermont. Driver Steven Sundberg picked him up. Frank told Steven he was heading to Burlington, another 40 minutes away. He seemed to be a bit chattier during this part of the drive, making small talk about deer hunting season and the weather, and when they finally made it to Burlington, Frank was again indecisive about his drop-off spot, finally signaling to the

Gaines Department Store on Williston Road, telling Stephen he could let him off across the street. His ultimate destination on November 5th, 1979, seemed to be the Medical Center Hospital, about a half mile away from where the cab dropped him off in South Burlington, Vermont. Frank's young teenage daughter had recently been diagnosed with diabetes, and she was hospitalized at the time. At 9.15 p.m., Francis Malinowski was reportedly at his daughter's bedside. Frank previously told officials that he spent the day of November 5th out shooting birds and walking around the woods. So then, why was he an hour away from his home

at 7.15 that evening without a vehicle? He was in Roxbury. That's the same town where Reggie Brown had his junkyard. The same place Judith Leoconi's car was discovered with smashed out windows and a strange handwritten note on the dash. You're going to notice a frustrating trend throughout this case. Despite the mounting suspicion and circumstantial evidence falling into place and pointing squarely at Francis Malinowski for the disappearance and presumed death of Judith Leo Konies, there was tremendous reluctance to issue a warrant for Frank's arrest. Again, without a body, there was still no crime and therefore no arrest. At the time, Vermont had no precedent for arresting a suspect and prosecuting a murder case without a body.

It would be a case built on the foundation of suspicion only, something his defense team could knock down like a house of cards. Besides, authorities hadn't even labeled it a murder yet. It was still a disappearance. And so the investigation continued, while also trying to track down the now-missing Frank Malinowski. With the circumstances around Judy's disappearance indicating foul play, investigators also wanted to revisit the investigation into the death of Frank's first wife, Patricia. 22-year-old Patricia Malinowski died by apparent suicide in 1974. She was found in her car

with one or two notes sitting on the passenger seat and a bullet from a.22 caliber firearm in the right side of her head. Her car was parked off the side of the Falls Bridge Road in Williamstown, Vermont, facing towards Southbury. A source close to Patricia, her employer at the time, said the spot had sentimental value for her, but he didn't explain why. The employer would ultimately be the one to identify Patricia Malinowski's body after she was found because her husband, Frank, could not be located at the time. The case was closed as death by suicide in 1974, but certain details stuck out during the second review. As the Free Press reported, guns are uncommon in deaths by suicide for women. And there was the detail of the notes found on

Patricia's passenger seat. Assuming that Frank was the true author of the note left with Judy's car at the junkyard, is it possible that he was also responsible for the notes in Patricia's vehicle? Unfortunately, those notes were given back to Frank after the initial investigation. They could not be recovered for testing or handwriting analysis. On the other side of the case, one source reported that it was snowing the day that Patricia's body was found and there were no footprints around or leading to the car, possibly indicating no one else was there. As the state reviewed the details of Patricia Malinowski's death, new details emerged about the relationship between Frank and Judy. There were warning signs

of the clearest kind. Court documents filed in a million-dollar lawsuit by Judith's mother, Patricia Leo, against Frank Malinowski, alleged that on or about October 19th, 1979, Frank held Judy hostage at gunpoint for several hours, terrorizing and threatening to kill her if she did not get back together with him. The filings indicate that Judy and Frank dated for a few months, but the relationship ended in the summer of 1979. Frank was apparently distraught over its ending and began seeing psychiatrist Dr. Donald F. Hillman for treatment. Frank had six sessions with Dr. Hillman between September 4th and October 12th. As part of furthering his treatment, Dr. Hillman suggested that their next session include Judith. She agreed to attend that session with Frank on the afternoon of October 18th.

That same evening, Frank held Judy at gunpoint, demanding reconciliation. He told Judy that if she didn't break up with her current boyfriend, he would kill them both. Frank allegedly said that he wanted to take Judy into the woods so he could spend the final moments of his life with her. After several hours in fear for her life and safety, Frank let Judy go. The next day, Judy contacted Dr. Hillman and told him about the frightening incident that she'd just survived, but the doctor discouraged her from reporting anything to the police. 17 days after that, Judy disappeared. The suit against Frances Malinowski sought compensatory and punitive damages for the

intentional, willful, and torturous conduct towards Judith Leoconi's person and property, the wrongful taking and damaging of her car, and causing loss of care and support of Judith's young son. Because Frank himself was missing at the time Judy's mom Patricia filed this lawsuit against him, her attorney used notice of publication. This same method of service was actually used to serve Justin DiPietro, the father of Ayla Reynolds, in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Ayla's mother, Trista Reynolds. What it means is that Patricia Leo and her attorney published the summons and order for publication in the Burlington Free Press three times, once per consecutive week, in April 1980. The defendant, Frank Malinowski, had 41 days from the first publication to respond

to the order. If he didn't respond, judgment by default would be taken against him. Frank Malinowski did not reappear or respond to the suit within those 41 days, and the judgment was decided several months later after Frank's house was eventually sold. Patricia collected $15,000 on behalf of Judy's son. But regardless of that outcome, the court filing brought to light something even more crucial to the case, the very real and present danger that Judith Leoconis faced at the hands of Frank Malinowski. Still, authorities were unable or unwilling to name him a formal suspect and issue a warrant for his arrest. And without that, Vermont State Police told the Times-Argus that they couldn't put out a bulletin saying he was a suspect, which would have been more impactful across state lines than the notice

about a missing person who was wanted for questioning. Speculation swirled. Was Frank alive somewhere? Was he holding Judy captive? Did he leave Vermont or was he still lurking somewhere, keeping an eye on the case from a hideout spot? One detective told the Times-Argus, In other words, hard telling, not knowing. In early 1980, acting on a lead from a local Shelburne resident, police began digging at the former residence of Frank Malinowski.

The tip indicated that there may have been a hole near the foundation of Frank's house around the same time that Judy disappeared. Detectives excavated the foundation of the house, but found nothing. It was the last of the more credible leads police had to go on. Things were beginning to sputter and stall out. As the search for both Frank and Judy fizzled, the results of the second review of Frank's late wife Patricia Malinowski's death in 1974 came back. No signs of murder or foul play were detected.

The classification stood as death by suicide. An entire year passed in the investigation. In November of 1980, Mike Donoghue wrote for the Burlington Free Press that most leads had been exhausted and detectives had little else to follow. On November 11th, 1980, a letter to the editor of the Bennington Banner announced the collection of funds for Judy's son. In this brief letter, we learned a little bit more about Judith Leoconis. She had only just graduated from the University of Vermont with her master's degree in education, disappearing the very same year.

Her former classmates and friends felt that collecting contributions to support Judy's son, who was then just four years old, was exactly what Judy would have wanted. The investigation into Judith Leoconi's disappearance and presumed death froze over after the one-year anniversary. No new leads, no signs of Judith or the man wanted for questioning in her case. They were stuck. Judy's son would be a preteen before any new information in the case came to light.

It took a new detective assigned to the case, one with tenacity and dedication, to finally move the investigation forward. State Police Detective Sergeant Leo P. Blaze was assigned to Judy's case in 1986. Blaze had a hefty task in front of him, an extensive and complete review of the Judith Leo Coney's file to determine any angles not yet pursued, any clues not fully explored, and any indication that their primary person of interest, Frank Malinowski, was in fact the person responsible for Judy's disappearance and presumed death. And Detective Sergeant Blaze had to find Frank, too, a man who had somehow evaded detection and discovery for nearly seven years already. A hefty task, indeed. But Blaze seemed to be the right guy for the gig. He said the case had always bothered him,

telling the Burlington Free Press, quote, it angered the hell out of me. Blaise developed a relationship with Judy's family, especially her mother Patricia, saying, I dealt with the family and they were hurt. They just wanted answers, end quote. Not long into his review of the case, it became personal for the detective, who had a 20-year-old daughter of his own. Quote, if it was my daughter, I would do all I can, end quote. Tenacious as he was, Detective Sergeant Leo Blase faced the ultimate gatekeeper. The state's attorney at the time, Kevin G. Bradley, consistently reported that they just didn't have enough to turn the case into a criminal proceeding and seek an arrest

of Frank Malinowski. Bradley himself had reasonable doubt that a crime had been committed and kept pointing to the lack of precedent in Vermont to bring a murder trial to court without a body. It would take a big, undeniable break in the case to get this thing moving again. But not only that, Blase knew that if justice for Judith Leoconis and her surviving family members would ever be a reality, he'd need a changing of the guards,

a new state's attorney. As Blase would later say, someone with guts. One year into his review and reinvestigation of the case, Detective Sergeant Leo Blase got the first thing he needed. A big, undeniable break. It was standard procedure when searching for a missing person or a person on the lam. Running their name through different databases, seeing if they pop up in some distant town, applying for a social security card or a driver's license or some other official document that's hard to obtain without a real name and proof of your identity. Of course, other detectives searching for Frank Malinowski had done the same thing in the past, but with no

success. Frank wanted to disappear, and whether he was still alive or long since dead, he did a good job concealing his tracks. Every time Detective Sergeant Blase entered the name Francis Malinowski, he was disappointed with the same result. No hits, no Frank. Another day without answers for Judy. Until one morning in late 1986, he typed in the name he'd memorized in the last year, Frank Malinowski. Enter.

And there it was. A hit. Nearly 2,400 miles away from his small town in Vermont, Frank Malinowski reappeared. He was very much alive and no longer off the grid. Finally,

a break in the case of Judith Leoconis and the disappearance of the prime suspect in her presumed death. With the assignment of a new detective, the long, stagnant investigation was reignited. Now, all they needed was to track Francis Malinowski down. It would take several more years, a new state's attorney willing to act despite the lack of precedent, and a mother who never let anyone off the hook in their pursuit of answers for her daughter. In the next episode of Dark Down East, who the heck is Michael Bryant?

And the biggest, most critical question of them all, where is Judith Leoconis? Hit follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, so you are the first to hear part two of Judith Leoconi's story. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Sources for this episode include reporting by Mike Donoghue for the Burlington Free Press, Margot Howland and Elizabeth Slater for the Rutland Daily Herald, staff reporters at the Times-Argus, and more. All sources are listed and linked at darkdowneast.com so you can do some more digging of your own. This week for Missing New England, I want to bring your attention to the case of Sean Brian Hawley. According to the NamUs listing for his case, 25-year-old Sean Hawley was last seen on the afternoon of May 9, 2015,

in a black inflatable kayak by a witness in the area of Oakledge Park in Burlington, Vermont. It is believed that during the next couple of days, Sean may have been on Stave Island, located in South Hero, Vermont. Sean has not made contact with family or friends since, and though foul play is not suspected at this time, there are concerns for Sean's well-being. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Colchester Police Department at 802-264-5556. Thank you for supporting this show and allowing me to do what I do. I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones

and for those who are still searching for answers in cold, missing persons and homicide cases. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.