Dark Downeast - The Murder of Beverly Polchies (Maine)

Episode Date: July 19, 2021

UNSOLVED MAINE MURDER: Just before 10 p.m. on the night of October 13, 1984, an unknown man pulled into the emergency room drop-off at Eastern Maine Medical Center. The man didn’t identify himself, or the badly injured woman sitting in his front seat. The driver told hospital staff that she was hit by a car. As they placed the woman in a wheelchair and brought her inside, the driver sped off without another word.Within minutes, the injured woman succumbed to her injuries. She died there at the hospital, nameless and alone. Today, we know her name, but nearly 37 years later we still don’t know the truth about what happened to her.If you have information regarding this case, please contact the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit - North at [phone] or toll free 1-800-432-7381. You may also report information about this crime using the leave a tip form. View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/beverlypolchiesFollow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-caseDark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

This episode contains descriptions of domestic violence and violence against Indigenous women. Please listen with care. If you need help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or Stronghearts Native Helpline at 1-844-7NATIVE. Stronghearts provides culturally appropriate confidential support and advocacy. Just before 10 p.m. on the night of October 13, 1984, an unknown man pulled into the emergency room drop-off at Eastern Maine Medical Center. He threw open his door and hurried to the attendant on duty. The man didn't identify himself or the badly injured

woman sitting in his front seat. The driver told hospital staff that she was hit by a car. As they placed the woman in a wheelchair and brought her inside, the driver sped off without another word. Within minutes, the injured woman succumbed to her injuries. She died there at the hospital, nameless and alone. Today, we know her name. But nearly 37 years later, we still don't know the truth about what happened to her or who is responsible. Out of all the cold cases I've researched, this one leaves me with the most unanswered questions. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the cold case of Beverly Pulchies on Dark Down East. The woman was small in stature, with dark hair.

She wasn't carrying a purse, and she had no ID on her. But she did have three Canadian dollar bills in her pocket. That, along with her appearance, led responding officers to believe she might be part of a Canadian First Nation. The state medical examiner's office performed an autopsy the next day and immediately forwarded the results to the main attorney general's office. The result of that autopsy and the details of the woman's injuries were never publicly released in their entirety. But a source close to the investigation told the Bangor Daily News that the woman was badly bruised, with injuries consistent with either a beating or an automobile accident. The driver had told the hospital that the woman was hit by a car, but at the time, there were no immediate reports of pedestrian accidents,

or even missing persons, that could aid in the initial investigation to give the woman her name back. The hospital attendant told officers that the man who dropped the woman off at the emergency room was white, roughly 35 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, and around 170 pounds. The Bangor Daily News published a composite sketch of the man, who Bangor Police Lieutenant Donald O'Halloran named the prime suspect in her death. You can see this sketch in the show notes at darkdowneast.com and on the Dark Down East Instagram. The man is depicted with longer side-swept hair, thick eyebrows, and close-set eyes. He has an oval-shaped face with a round chin and no facial hair.

The attendant also told police that the driver had a small white car with bucket seats. I'm going to ask you to bear with me here, because the publicly available information on this case is sparse. I almost opted not to cover it, because I was frustrated by the limited details and the massive gaps in time and connecting facts. But then I paused, because isn't that why I started this podcast? To shine a light on long, unsolved cases, especially the ones with limited information, in hopes of bringing new information to light. By October 16th, 1984, three days after the woman died at Eastern Maine Medical Center, she finally had a name. 25-year-old Beverly Pulchis of Woodstock First Nation in New Brunswick, Canada. Along with her identity, Bangor police reported

that Beverly was last seen alive walking along U.S. Route 2 in Milford, Maine around 8 p.m. the night of October 13th, the night she died. What was Beverly doing in Milford, Maine, around 8 p.m. the night of October 13th, the night she died. What was Beverly doing in Milford, Maine, a full two hours away from her home and across the U.S.-Canadian border? How did she end up in the car of an unknown man with critical injuries that ultimately ended her life? And were those injuries truly the result of Beverly being hit by a car, an accident, or were those injuries inflicted on purpose? Was Beverly Pulchies murdered? In 2017, 33 years after Beverly's death, two family members came forward to give a statement as part of Canada's National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Valentino Pulchis, Beverly's brother, and Bonnie Pulchis, Beverly's sister-in-law, shared their memories and stories of Beverly, as well as what they remembered about the weekend of October 12, 1984. The life of Beverly Pulchies had not been easy. She became a mother at a young age, and reportedly, her husband was abusive. Her brother, Valentino, remembered one night when a pregnant Beverly showed up at his house bruised and bloodied. Her husband had hurt her again. In his words, Valentino said he planned to go teach Beverly's husband a lesson, that he couldn't be roughing up women. But, as he said in his statement, Beverly caught wind of the plan and defended her husband.

She returned to the unsafe household once again so she could be with her children. Beverly tried to leave several times. But each time, her husband prevented her from taking the kids. And so she stayed. According to marriage index records, her husband's name was Maurice Boyce of Holton, Maine. That name was frequently published in the court records of local papers for arrests on charges spanning grand larceny, assault, receiving stolen property, theft by unauthorized taking, criminal mischief, and beyond. In 1985, a year after Beverly's death, a man by the name Maurice Albert Boyce was arrested and charged with gross sexual misconduct.

Years later, in 1996, a man by that name was indicted for sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful sexual contact, and assault. I cannot confirm if the Maurice A. Boyce published in the paper with a laundry list of criminal charges against him is the same Maurice Boyce named on Beverly's marriage certificate. However, the name, the middle initial, and the hometown is the same. Eventually, Beverly and her husband divorced, and she was able to get out of the house. She moved in with her parents in Woodstock First Nation, and the kids went to live with her husband's parents as she began the fight for custody of her three children. She'd get to see the kids in McDonald's parking lots while she worked to find stability for herself and her kids. During that period of time, Beverly also started dating a new man. And in the words of her sister-in-law, Bonnie, Beverly was getting her act

together and healing from the years of domestic violence, establishing a new life for herself so she could be with her children again. On Saturday, October 13th, 1984, Beverly and her new boyfriend, along with another couple from the Woodstock First Nation, piled into their car for a night away in the States. At the time, passports weren't required to cross the Maine-Canadian border. It's about a two-hour drive to the Bangor, Maine area from Woodstock First Nation. The other couple she was traveling with had family in the Old Town area and at Penobscot Nation. From what I could discern from Valentino and Bonnie's statement, Beverly's ex-husband also had family at the Penobscot Nation.

All Valentino and Bonnie know is that the two couples left together and at some point over the course of the weekend, Beverly got separated from the group. What were they doing, and who were they with, remain unanswered questions that her family has asked again and again for over three decades. While her name was not known to the public until a few days after her death, Police from the Woodstock First Nation approached Valentino on that Sunday, October 14th, as he was mowing the lawn. The officer asked if his sister Beverly had any identifying tattoos. At that point, all Valentino knew was that Beverly was away for the weekend with her boyfriend. Valentino told them, yes, his sister does have tattoos, and asked what this was all about.

That's when the officer revealed that a girl matching his sister's description died at a hospital in Bangor, Maine, and they believed it was Beverly. Valentino was shaken, and he called his brother Terry, who lived in Bangor, and told him what he'd just learned. He asked Terry if he could go identify Beverly at the hospital morgue. Within an hour, Terry confirmed that the unidentified woman dropped at EMMC was his sister. Valentino and Bonnie shared the painful news with Beverly's mom, and with complete disbelief, she asked that they drive her to Bangor so she could see for herself. Bonnie said that they could see pieces of Beverly's hair was missing, and that she was terribly bru bruised with severe wounds to her head.

As they worked on arrangements to bring Beverly's body back home, Terry, the brother who lived in Bangor, focused on getting information from the police. All they were ever told was that she was hit by a car or thrown off a vehicle in some way. No matter who he asked, where he looked,

that was the only story the family heard. Witnesses placed Beverly at the Penobscot Nation in Old Town during the day on October 13th. Investigating officer, Maine State Police Corporal Ronald Foss, told the Bangor Daily News that the leading theory was Beverly had been hit by a car on Route 2 in Milford between 8 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. on the night of October 13th. He stated, quote, the probability is that she was hitchhiking on Route 2, trying to get back to Woodstock. She was seen just north of

the county road at about 8 p.m. that evening. We're trying to get people to jog their memories a little." The composite sketch of the driver was published in the Bangor Daily News two months later, but if it generated any new leads or information, it was never publicly reported. Beverly's name did not appear in any newspaper clippings or media reports after December of 1984, at least that I can find. And this is extremely unusual. I've looked into dozens of unsolved cases and what I typically encounter is an overwhelming amount of articles covering the details of the death or disappearance. Even with no new information available, publications run stories on the anniversaries, marking each year or a major

milestone in a still unsolved case. As far as I can tell, using the archival sources that I utilize as the foundation of my reporting on every case, there are just four articles in the first 33 years following the mysterious death of Beverly Pulchies. Beverly's brother Terry, who had been leading the search for answers for their family, passed away in the fall of 2016. It had been over 30 years since Beverly's death, and with Terry's death, Valentino was her only surviving family member. According to their statement as part of the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Attorney General's Office saw Terry's obituary published in the Bangor Daily News, and they contacted Valentino and Bonnie. They wanted a photo of Beverly. Bonnie said in her statement that the Attorney General's office said

that it was getting close to the anniversary of Beverly's death, and they didn't have a picture for the file of her unsolved murder. Bonnie asked them, What do you mean, unsolved murder? All the family had ever been told was that she was hit by a car and she was dropped off at the hospital. Never had they been told of the possibility that Beverly was murdered. Bonnie sent the photo to the AG's office, and soon after, Beverly's case was listed as an unsolved homicide by the Maine State Police. The listing reads, in part,

On 10-13-1984, Beverly Pulchies was picked up in Old Town by Old Town PD for being intoxicated. They contacted Penobscot Nation Police, who picked her up and took her to the Penobscot Nation Island. At approximately 8.30 p.m., she was dropped off on Route 2 in Milford by Penobscot Nation PD. At approximately 10 p.m., a small white vehicle pulled into EMMC-ER with Beverly Polges. The driver immediately left the emergency room area. The medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide. That listing, more than three decades later, contained new public information about the night Beverly was killed.

The very first line of the unsolved homicide listing is the most revealing. Beverly Pulchies was picked up by Old Town Police for being intoxicated. It doesn't say where, it doesn't say what time, it doesn't say who she was with or if they were in public or at a bar. They contacted then Penobscot Nation PD and the Old Town PD brought her to the Penobscot Nation Island. Remember, the other couple Beverly traveled with that weekend had family in Penobscot Nation and so did her ex-husband. It's not clear when she got dropped off there. The only timestamp is 8.30pm, when police dropped her off along Route 2 in Milford. I'm just not comprehending why they would take her from that place and drop her off in the dark along the main road that runs through town.

Then an hour and a half later, this unknown man in a white car dumps her at the hospital and disappears. It's entirely possible that an intoxicated woman walking along a main route in the dark could have been hit by a car. Maybe she was even hit by that very white car that transported her to the hospital. Though hospital staff didn't indicate, or at least, police didn't publicly disclose that the car had any damage that would have been indicative of an accident. But the theory is feasible. Still, what's most concerning to me is that Beverly was only on the side of the road in Milford because police brought her there.

Where were her friends and her boyfriend at that point? Why was she removed from where she was? Beverly's ex-husband had family there. Did they have anything to do with Beverly being removed and taken to the side of the road? The questions just keep coming for me. Like, why did police only tell the family her death was the result of a homicide 30-something years later? If Beverly died by being hit by a car, my first assumption is it would have been labeled manslaughter, not murder. Maine is only one of a few states that doesn't have a vehicular homicide statute.

It's either murder or manslaughter. A manslaughter charge or conviction means that the driver caused the death of another person while driving in a criminally negligent or reckless manner. Criminal negligence is unknowingly doing or failing to do something that creates a substantial and unjustifiable risk to others. Murder, on the other hand, would mean that the motorist caused the death of another person while driving in a way that shows a depraved indifference to the value of human life. It requires proof of a more culpable mental state of the driver than manslaughter. The fact that the Attorney General's office referred to it as a murder means to me anyway that they likely had some information not revealed to the public or even Beverly's family.

In one of the four news clippings about Beverly's death, a source close to the case told the Bangor Daily News that Beverly's injuries could have been the result of being hit by a car or a beating. The autopsy was never publicly released, not even to the family, as of 2017. Maybe the still unidentified man who dropped her off at the emergency room that night gave the hospital attendant a false but believable story that she was hit by a car, when it's still entirely possible that Beverly wasn't hit by a car at all. In the statement Bonnie and Valentino made for the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,

Bonnie explained that their suspicions were piqued long before the AG's office labeled Beverly's death a murder. She said, quote, We kind of had an idea it was something going on because the people that she was with that weekend, her friends, would never speak, would never say what happened that weekend. They were all together at one point. When did they get separated? Unquote. Her friends and boyfriend that she traveled with that weekend kept quiet. But it seemed someone had something to say about Beverly's death.

Bonnie said in her statement, quote, Valentino received phone calls in the middle of the night shortly after this would have happened. They said, welcome to your sister's death, and we could never get answers, unquote. These bizarre and taunting middle-of-the-night phone calls continued sporadically for months. Valentino would answer the phone to hear an unidentifiable voice of a woman saying, I know what happened to your sister, so I'd check it out if I were you. And then... Bonnie and Valentino resumed the efforts to learn more about Beverly's murder following the death of her brother Terry. They still lived at Woodstock First Nation in New Brunswick, and people still asked about Beverly, if they ever found out what happened for sure.

Sometimes, they'd receive tips from people within their community, telling them to speak with certain individuals. But each time they asked anyone about the weekend Beverly died, they came up with the same results. Nothing. No information at all. Bonnie personally has fought to get Beverly recognized by the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls list. Beverly's children grew up with their father, the same man who reportedly abused Beverly. And Bonnie said that they hadn't had much contact with the kids since Beverly died.

Every person that Beverly traveled to Maine with that night has since passed away, taking any information about what happened with them to their graves. On September 20th, 2019, Jay Polchese, Beverly's niece, told Fox Bangor, quote, In 2018 and 2019, the Maine State Police posted about Beverly Pulchee's still-unsolved murder on their Facebook page. The comment threads are long and flooded with the same questions I'm asking about this case. In 2020, Bonnie Pulchee's commented, quote, 35 years ago, and still no answers, unquote.

It's estimated that the man who dropped Beverly at the emergency room that night, leaving her to die, would be in his 60s or 70s if he's still alive. Take a look at the composite sketch posted at darkdownings.com and on Instagram. If you know anything, if the face of the man in the sketch is familiar at all, please contact the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit at 1-800-432-7381. 85% of Native women experience violence in their lifetime. Homicide is the third leading cause of death of Indigenous women, and Indigenous women are murdered and sexually assaulted at a rate 10 times higher than other women. According to a study released in 2020,

a majority of homicide cases and disappearances of Indigenous women go cold. Years, decades roll by without answers for the families who mourn the loss of their daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, and friends. Maine is not immune to this epidemic, and it's merely the tip of the iceberg of larger systemic issues that continue to impact First Nation communities across the U.S. and Canada. Beverly's family remembers her as a kind woman, a mom trying her best to do right by her children.

Her life was plagued with domestic violence, and she met a violent end, something that's long been part of the reality for Indigenous women. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Source material for this episode, including reporting by the Bangor Daily News and statements taken as part of Canada's National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, it's all linked in the show notes at darkdowneast.com.

Follow Dark Down East on Apple Podcasts and be sure to turn on automatic downloads in the top right corner of the app. If you listen on Spotify or another podcast app, same thing, hitting follow is the easiest way to support this show and the cases I cover. I wanted to take this time to recommend a podcast covering more stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in the United States and Canada. hosted by journalist Connie Walker, investigates the MMIWG crisis through the lens of two cases, the murder of Alberta Williams and a young girl named Cleo. Find it wherever you listen to this podcast. 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 murder 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.