Dark Downeast - The Murder of Kathy Frost (Maine)

Episode Date: February 1, 2021

MAINE MURDER, 1987: 26-year old Kathy Frost scanned the pages of her Bangor Daily News, concluding with a careful assessment of the personals. One ad caught her eye. An active outdoorsman searching for a lasting relationship. Kathy circled the address.Three weeks later, Kathy married the man from the ad. And 21 days after they said "I Do", Kathy Frost Larson died in an apparent accidental fall from Otter Cliff in Acadia National Park. But Mr. Larson's story wasn't adding up. View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/kathyfrostlarsonFollow @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.

26-year-old Kathy Frost delicately turned the pages of her Bangor Daily News. It was her morning ritual of scanning local stories and national headlines that then concluded with a careful assessment of the personal ads. The year was 1987, decades before the online dating and matchmaking app advancements that we know today. Kathy was lonely. She longed for a partner, a companion, the other half of herself that movies told her she was supposed to find by this point in her life. She owned her own home, and she had a good job as a nurse's aide in the Dexter Nursing Home. But despite all that Kathy had going for her,

she was deeply insecure. She scanned the short column, reading each new posting. Farm-oriented male seeking mature, attractive, honest, and fun-loving female companion, 25 to 40 years old, likes children, quiet weeknights at home, and exciting weekends out. Sincere man, 30s, humorous, attractive, positive, professional, seeks a sincere, trim, interesting, uncomplicated woman. Discrete introductions in your area, successful since 1972. I should note, they spelled discreet wrong. And then the next listing. Construction worker, 37, 5'7", 135 pounds. Active outdoorsman, seeks compatible childless lady, 20 to 35 years old, for lasting relationship. Lasting relationship. More than quiet weeknights

and exciting weekends, more than a humorous 30-something searching for his uncomplicated match, and definitely more than a misspelled, discreet introduction, Kathy wanted a lasting relationship more than anything. She circled the address, a box reserved at the Bangor Daily News offices for whoever placed the personal ad, and began crafting her response, signing it with her phone number. Kathy allowed herself to feel a little bit of hope in that moment. Who was the man behind the ad? Could he be the one she was searching for? Kathy Frost couldn't have known that the active outdoorsman, the construction worker, the 37-year-old 5'7 man who placed that ad was also looking for the one. The one victim for his dark scheme. This is Death on Otter Cliff,

the Kathy Frost Larson case. On the other end of that personal ad mailbox at the Bangor Daily News was a man named Dennis R. Larson. Recently divorced and reluctant to accept it, Dennis moved to Maine from Montana in June of 1987 with the deep-set belief that this place, the Pine Tree State, vacation land, might hold the answer to winning over his ex-wife Janine and getting her back into his life. The four-and-a-half-year marriage of Janine and Dennis Larson was constantly strained by his sporadic employment. Dennis worked as an electrician, and he chased high-paying gigs that often took him out of state. When the work was there, the pay was good. But when the more lucrative jobs in Utah and Minnesota dried up, Dennis went for long stretches

without pay. All Janine wanted was for him to find a steady position in town and just swallow his pride and take a pay cut. She was tired of being left alone with the kids as he chased contracts all over the Midwest and beyond. But Dennis continued his ways, and so, in May of 1987, they divorced. Janine got the house and residency for the kids, and Dennis packed up and made way for Maine. He told Janine he'd be back in two years. He was determined that distance would make the heart grow fonder. It's unclear why he picked Maine, or what may have called him here. As far as I can tell, he didn't have any family or local ties. Maybe it was just a promising employment opportunity. Another high-paying, short-term gig.

In East Millinocket, Dennis worked as a union electrician. He was out of sight, but certainly, Janine was not out of his mind. He called her every week. He sent her letters. He told Janine he was working to secure a better future for them and made her believe that he might be back sooner than he planned. Janine tossed every letter, discarding them as quickly as they arrived. She wasn't interested in the happy ending that Dennis was dreaming up. If only Janine could have read between the lines of those letters. What could he be working on to win her back and build their future, all the way over on the East Coast?

What was her ex-husband really up to that early fall in northern Maine? Whatever Dennis Larson was up to began with that personal ad in two local papers during the summer of 1987. The first person to respond was a woman named Randy Powers from Medway. They planned a day date for the next weekend, and Dennis picked her up from her house for a leisurely get-to-know-you drive. The conversation went from light small talk to more serious topics rather quickly. Within the first 30 minutes, Dennis asked if she wanted marriage in the near future because he was looking for a wife. Sure, the ad had said a lasting relationship, but to be talking nuptials so soon wasn't on Randy's agenda.

When she said no, marriage wasn't in her near future, he slammed the car's steering wheel with the butt of his palm and redirected their drive back towards her house. Dennis never went on another date with Randy. The second woman to respond was Sheila Carter from Aetna. Their first visit was at her house in August. Again, for some reason, the recently divorced Dennis brought up marriage and kept suggesting the idea. Maybe Sheila's initial response was more favorable than Randy's because they saw each other again the following weekend. And again, Dennis asked about marriage. He was adamant, pushy even. Sheila gave a more finite answer this time. She said she wasn't interested in marrying right off. Dennis left their second date and later

mailed Sheila a letter notifying her that he wouldn't be visiting anymore. Somewhere between his responses from Randy and Sheila came the letter from 26-year-old Kathy Frost. He ignored it at first. He apparently wasn't immediately drawn to whatever description she gave in her letter, but with his options shriveling, Dennis dialed Kathy's number. The two met in person for the first time on August 23rd, 1987. Dennis again brought up his favorite subject with Kathy, marriage. She'd always struggled to find love. She longed for a relationship. She was characterized by her own family as desperate and extremely lonely, battling insecurity over her weight and appearance for almost her entire life. Marrying Dennis? She wasn't immediately against it.

Though she didn't seem to approach it with excitement either. Rather, Kathy felt this could be her only option. After spending another day with Dennis, Kathy told her mother about the idea of marrying this man she'd only just met. Audrey Frost Pomeroy considered her daughter's new relationship, quietly skeptical of their speedy courtship, but not wanting to interfere in her daughter's life. Kathy told her mother, quote, If I don't marry him, he'll find someone else, and then I'll be all alone. End quote. Dennis Larson proposed to Kathy Frost on September 6, 1987, within two weeks of their first date, they picked September 13th as their wedding date, but ran into some sort of snag applying for a marriage license. The snag, though not clearly reported, could have had something to do with Dennis's marital history. On the marriage license application, he said his first marriage had

ended in divorce, and that his union with Kathy would be his second marriage. But that wasn't the entire truth. Whatever the issue with their marriage license was apparently resolved because at her mother's home in Bangor on September 20th, 1987, Kathy Frost said, I do, to Dennis Larson. The ceremony was tiny, just close family, and no guests attended the reception. Audrey said her daughter, Kathy, looked very happy, but her new son-in-law, the older man who swept in with a speedy courtship and a pushy proposal, did not show much emotion. Many newlyweds with the privilege of time and budget might spend the morning after their wedding laying up in bed, ordering room service to their marital suite,

or maybe hopping a flight for an immediate start to the honeymoon to continue their celebration of becoming husband and wife. But for the new Mr. and Mrs. Larson, there was no room service and no honeymoon. They spent the morning after their wedding at Allstate Insurance inside Sears at the Bangor Mall. According to court documents, with the help of an insurance sales representative named Timothy Callahan, the newlyweds purchased a combined universal life insurance policy of $300,000 coverage on Dennis' life and $200,000 on Kathy's with double indemnity for accidental death, meaning if either spouse died in certain rare and extreme accidental circumstances, the insurance payout would double. They named each other primary beneficiaries

and prepaid the policies for two months. At work at the nursing home the following day, Kathy chatted with her supervisor, Joanne Hume. Kathy recounted the modest details of their small ceremony and celebration, and then she told Joanne about the life insurance policy. Kathy smiled as she told Joanne, Three weeks into their marriage, as the down-east Maine trees traded up their uniform greens to the famed multicolored palette of red, orange, and gold, Dennis suggested to Kathy that they explore Acadia National Park during the next holiday weekend. Kathy didn't enjoy the outdoors like her new husband. She also knew that Acadia meant mountains and cliffsides and hills, and she was terrified of heights. Kathy confided in her mother. She didn't really want to go, and beyond that, her entire personality seemed to have shifted. Kathy was clearly very

sad in her new marriage. But regardless of her sadness and her fears, the last thing Kathy wanted to do was disappoint her new husband. She agreed, and they began planning their Acadia National Park getaway. But her active outdoorsman of a husband already had a plan in mind. Dennis and Kathy were going to hike Otter Cliff. Otter Cliff is the famously stunning 110-foot cliff on the east side of Park Loop Road in Acadia National Park. Acadiamagic.com notes that it is one of the highest coastal headlands north of Rio de Janeiro. The craggy rock of the vertical cliffside is striking against the blue Atlantic waves that crash against it. I love this description of sunrise at Otter Cliff from Acadia Magic. Quote, the viewing of this can quicken the heart and mind,

creating lasting impressions of millennium condensed into one's own life, end quote. Any local will tell you that visiting Acadia National Park and all of its stunning sites like Otter Cliff on a long holiday weekend isn't an original idea. In fact, Columbus Day weekend, as it was in 1987, is prime leaf peeping in the park. When Kathy and Dennis arrived on the 10th, it was busy. They never even got out of the car. Too many people. Dennis suggested that they come back the next day, Sunday, October 11th, when it was sure to be less crowded. The evening of October 11th was foggy and drizzly, with a chilly breeze cutting through the gloomy landscape. It was weather we know very well during fall in Maine.

Kathy and Dennis stepped out of his car and toward Otter Point, the path that would lead them to the looming cliffs ahead. Kathy's apprehension mounted as they set off on the trail. Hiking just wasn't her thing, and she had really downplayed her fear of heights. She was actually deathly afraid of them. She tried to keep her mind off the elevation as they traipsed upward. Dennis told her to look for the sea otters, and they had a friendly competition going on. The first person to spot an otter would get to pick their dinner restaurant. It was the friendly competition that had Dennis bounding ahead of Kathy, the pair separating in search of these supposed sea otters. He must have been 30 or 40 feet beyond when a loud, clear scream rose above the crashing waves and pierced the dusky mist. Dennis turned.

Kathy wasn't on the path. He pounded the cliffside, doubling back along the route to find his wife. The mist made the rocks exceptionally slippery. Nothing separated the path from the dangerous drop-off of the cliff. There was no fence and no barrier. He inched cautiously to the edge, his eyes scanning the ground below. There, 80 feet down, there, 80 feet down, was Kathy, face up. And Kathy wasn't moving. Dennis couldn't reach Kathy himself, so he ran to the road and managed to flag down a car to ask for help. Then he got in his own car and drove to Jordan Pond House, where he used the phone to call Park Rangers. Ranger Boyd McFarland was first to respond to the scene. What he encountered was

an utterly calm Dennis Larson who explained, without emotion, how his wife ended up at the bottom of an 80-foot cliff. Another search and rescue official, Jennifer Applegate, raced to the scene after hearing the report come over her radio. She arrived with East District Ranger Roger Blaine. Jennifer stood back with Dennis as Roger and Boyd located Kathy over the cliff's edge and radioed for additional search and rescue personnel. As the treacherous mission to recover Kathy played out at the cliff's edge,

Dennis paced. He asked Jennifer for coffee. Then he asked if his wife was alive. Jennifer didn't know for sure, so she assured Dennis that his wife would be treated by the capable and skilled medical team once they reached her. Dennis replied flatly, quote, either she's breathing or she's not, end quote. Climbing ranger Tom Salaka scaled the cliffs to reach Kathy. She was just a few feet from the water, laying on the rocks as the water crashed and retreated. Kathy had to be transported from the cliffs by boat to a waiting ambulance, and she showed no signs of life. The search and rescue personnel

waiting with Dennis followed him to his car as his wife's lifeless body was transported to Mount Desert Island Regional Hospital. They asked Dennis if he was okay to drive, thinking that a man who had just experienced such trauma might not be steady behind the wheel. As he jammed his keys into the car door lock, Dennis was gruff in his response, quote, I got it here, didn't I? End quote. Kathy Frost Larson was pronounced dead at 9 p.m. on October 11, 1987. Kathy's mother, Audrey, was at home in Bangor when her phone rang around 10 p.m. On the other end was her son-in-law of just three weeks, Dennis Larson. He spoke slowly, telling Audrey,

My lady's gone. She fell over a cliff and she's in a Bangor hospital. Before he hung up, Dennis told Kathy's mother he'd call back with more information. But he never did. And with that phone call began a spiral of peculiar events that would wind closer to the truth of what really happened to Kathy Frost Larson on Otter Cliff. The night of his wife's tragic death, Dennis Larson stayed at the Ellsworth Eagle's Lodge. Anne Hyde-Deegan reported for the Bangor Daily News, quote, Larson, 36, was picked up by Ellsworth police at the city pier at about 9.45

a.m. the next day after a report that he had been seen walking in the woods in the water with no shoes on. At the station, Larson was supposed to make a call but didn't. Instead, he left again on foot, only to be reported wandering the road barefoot again, this time in Sullivan around 11.48 a.m. According to the report, Deputy Stephen McFarland later found Dennis walking in the center of the westbound lane near Cards Tideway. The delirious dentist told McFarland that his wife was the woman who died at Otter Creek. He was unsteady on his feet as he mumbled to the officer he'd been taking a lot of sleeping pills and he drank a few beers to help him sleep. He was taken to Main Coast Memorial Hospital for evaluation, but was later released. Meanwhile, back at Acadia National Park, the story of Kathy Frost Larson's accidental fall wasn't adding up. As police and park rangers partnered for a routine unattended death investigation, one detail from Dennis' story raised enormous suspicion. The sea otters.

In Dennis' statement to police responding to the scene, he said they were searching for sea otters and that Kathy was taking their picture. But sea otters weren't native to the Downeast region. At the time, rangers had never spotted a sea otter in that area, or any area of the park, despite what the name of the cliffs might indicate. According to Ultimate Acadia, 50 Reasons to Visit Maine's National Park by Virginia M. Wright, quote, The cliff and nearby Otter Point and Otter Cove are named, or rather misnamed, for the sea mink that once swam and hunted in these cold waters, according to park ranger Carmody West. Prized for their fur, the animals were hunted to extinction in the 19th century, end quote. And then the autopsy report raised even

greater, darker suspicion. Kathy's cause of death was multiple internal injuries as a result of the fall. But there in the report, a clue that perhaps the fall wasn't an accident. Kathy's shoulder was bruised. The medical examiner suggested the bruise could have been sustained before the fall, perhaps from a forceful hand pushing her backwards towards the cliff's sheer drop. With that, the investigation into the unattended death of Kathy Frost Larson ballooned into a possible homicide case, with her husband, Dennis L Larson as the key suspect. On October 22nd, Timothy Callahan at Allstate Insurance was on the phone with Dennis Larson. He told Dennis that with Kathy's accidental death, he was due to a claim of a $400,000

payout based on the terms of the life insurance policies they'd purchased the day after they got married. Dennis told the agent, quote, It doesn't look good. The investigators are all over me because of Kathy's death. That's great. $400,000 worth of blood money. End quote. Then, Dennis told him, he was heading back to Montana. He wanted to leave with a clear mind. On November 5th, 1987, Dennis stood at Bangor International Airport, awaiting his flight back to Montana. According to reporting by the Bangor Daily News, police descended on Dennis at the airport. But not to arrest him, rather,

to seize three packages that authorities believed may contain explosives. Back at the property where Dennis had rented a room in East Millinocket, police had uncovered several sticks of dynamite. They feared that their suspect could be carrying more of those explosives with him as he prepared to fly back to his home state. However, after the bomb squad exploded the packages, they found only clothing and tools. On November 10th, back in Montana, Dennis called Timothy at Allstate in Bangor again, stating his intentions to file a death claim and collect on the policy he held on his late wife. But Dennis would never see that money. The next time he stepped foot in Maine, he was wearing handcuffs. Maine State Police Detective Jeffrey Harmon led the investigation into Kathy Frost

Larson's death, zeroing in on the husband who'd made a dramatic departure from Maine within a month of the supposed accident. Detective Harmon booked a flight to Montana. He needed to speak with Dennis, and he planned to wear a wire. Detective Harmon found Dennis at his motel room, where he was invited in for a chat. That chat turned into an intense, six-hour-long taped interview about the day his wife died. This conversation, interview interrogation, it's described differently from source to source. The tactics employed by Detective Harmon to keep Dennis talking were aggressive. He told Dennis again and again, just tell the truth. But Dennis was firm in his first version of events. The sea otters, the competition, the scream, it was all an accident.

As the hours ticked on, Detective Harmon sat on the most powerful detail in his arsenal. As I'm learning in so many of these cases, detectives don't tip their hand. They don't reveal all of what they know until the timing is pristine. Disclosing key information too early could foil the investigation and send the suspect off with exactly what they need to maintain their lie. But as Dennis recounted the events of October 11, 1987 once again, Detective Harmon showed his cards. According to reporting of the taped confession by A.J. Higgins for the Bangor Daily News, Harmon told Dennis that medical evidence revealed bruising on Kathy's shoulder, bruising that indicated she was grabbed or shoved shortly before her death. At once, Dennis recanted his former story. It wasn't an accident. In the tape,

Dennis confessed to pushing Kathy off Otter Cliff. There was an argument. She wanted out of their 21 day marriage, and Dennis lost his temper. He said to Detective Harmon in the tape, quote, So we had an argument. I didn't want to remember it. I wanted to hide the fact that I lost control like that because I'm not proud of it because it caused the death of my lady, end quote. Dennis was arrested and held in a Montana jail until he was extradited to Maine to stand trial for the murder of Kathy Frost Larson. Back in Maine, Dennis waived his right to a jury, telling the judge in his hearing, I feel this case is going to be based on emotion. What is required is the impartiality of a

professional. End quote. The trial of Dennis R. Larson began May 4th, 1989. Dozens of witnesses revealed damning details about Dennis and his life. Among them, the two women who first responded to his personal ad, Randy and Sheila. There was his ex-wife, Janine, the woman that he had wanted to win back, Kathy's mother, Audrey, and the insurance agent who sold Dennis and Kathy those hefty life insurance policies. According to a sworn affidavit on file at the main district court in Bar Harbor, Dennis had actually inquired about life insurance with Timothy Callahan in mid-August, before he even met Kathy. He asked Timothy how much life insurance he could get for $200 a month. It seemed Dennis was planning ahead. But the most damning evidence came from Dennis' own mouth.

The prosecution played the entire six-hour long confession tape recorded in that Montana motel room by Maine State Police Detective Jeffrey Harmon. The defense raised many concerns over that tape. They argued Dennis didn't realize the conversation was an interrogation that could be used against him, and they pointed to another portion of the six-hour tape, during which Detective Harmon seemed to bait Dennis with harsh characterizations of Kathy. He told Dennis that Kathy constantly complained to her friends about their relationship and their sex problems. Dennis told the detective, quote, I wish I had known she was that sensitive. She never told me there were any problems.

She never told me she wanted out, end quote. As Harmon revealed the details of the bruise on Kathy's shoulder, Dennis raised his voice and emotionally defended his original story. He accused Harmon of leading him into digging himself a pit. Finally, as Harmon said Kathy's death could not have been ruled an accident, Dennis asked if he should concoct a story, one that would fit into the state's investigation. It was then that Dennis offered his new story, the one Detective Harmon took as the truth. The Bangor Daily News reported their first-hand listen of the confession tape there in the courtroom. A.J. Higgins wrote,

quote, Larson teetered back and forth between this new story and his original version, while whimpering about the consequences of telling Harmon all the facts. The truth is going to send me to jail, Larson said, his voice choked with emotion. I can't put myself in jail. In a barely audible whisper, Larson finally admitted to Harmon that he gave Frost a push in retaliation after she shoved him and said she was leaving him. I pushed her too hard, I guess. End quote. Justice Jack O. Smith deliberated three hours before returning with his verdict. Dennis Larson, guilty.

Later, at his sentencing, Assistant Main Attorney General Jeffrey Helm sought the maximum penalty for Dennis Larson, life in prison. But Justice Jack O. Smith told Dennis Larson, quote, Even though the aggravated factors are present, I don't think a life sentence is warranted. I think that it's important that you retain some hope that one day you'll leave prison. End quote. Dennis received a 50-year sentence with potential for release after serving 30 to 34 years, given good behavior. Dennis decided to address the court at his sentencing, saying to the judge, quote,

Detective Harmon made me give him a story that fits his facts. My confession is no longer relevant. I'll go to prison and await my appeal, end quote. His 1990 appeal was denied. But that's not where the story of Dennis Larson ends. You see, Kathy's death wasn't the first time a Mrs. Dennis Larson had died in a tragic, sudden accident while on an adventure with her active outdoorsman husband. Remember the issue at City Hall when Kathy and Dennis first applied for their marriage license?

The inaccurate declaration of his previous marriages? He'd claimed he'd only been married and divorced once before, but the truth was that Dennis had been married twice before. Dennis had failed to mention his first wife. It was June 19, 1975, when Dennis and his first wife, Leslie, were on a long hike along Little Prickly Pear Creek near Wolf Creek in Montana. As his story goes, they were searching for mushrooms, traversing the banks of the fast-moving waterway, spring runoff making the current stronger than usual. As Leslie took her next step, without warning, the soft earth gave way beneath her feet. In an instant, she was pulled into the water, the current dragging her under and downstream. When Dennis called for help, he told the officials

first on the scene that he'd jumped in after her, trying to find her in the treacherous conditions, but he risked getting pulled under himself. Detective Richard Hammerbacher of the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Department led the search for Leslie. They turned over logs and rocks, they surveyed the creek bed. When the water was low, you can walk across it, but initial search conditions battled the elements of a spring snowmelt. Ultimately, search and rescue efforts were in vain. Leslie's body was never recovered. She was only 20 years old when she died,

a new mother to their four-month-old daughter. Leslie's family continued to search for her year after year. Seven years later, the court ruled Leslie Larson was dead. That was when Dennis was finally able to collect the $20,000 life insurance policy he held on his first wife. He married his second wife, Janine, within the same year. She legally adopted Dennis's daughter and welcomed her into her life. As Montana authorities partnered with the Maine State Police to investigate the death of Kathy Frost and the strange circumstances and events that seemed to follow Dennis around, the story of Leslie's tragic death resurfaced. Detective Richard Hammerbacher told the Bangor Daily News in November 1987,

quote, what bothered me was we never found the body. He continued, an investigation was conducted at the time, and there was no reason at the time to suspect anything. But the more I hear, the more it piques my curiosity, end quote. On the date of his arrest for the murder of his third wife, Kathy, Montana State investigators reopened the then 12 and a half year old case of Leslie Larson. As they reviewed the case through the lens of a possible homicide, investigators had no body, no witnesses, and nothing but the story of the husband who claimed it was a terrible accident. But a note in the original case file nagged at investigators. The first responding officer noted that, although Dennis said he had jumped into the water trying to swim after and

rescue Leslie as the current pulled her under, his clothes appeared completely, suspiciously dry. He did not look like a man who had just crawled out of a fast-moving waterway. Leslie's family had always had their suspicions, and they were vocal advocates pressuring investigators to seek the truth about what happened to their loved one as they continued the search for her body. And then on September 14, 2000, their suspicions were proven true. Dennis Larson, serving 50 years for the murder of Kathy Frost, admitted to the Montana State Investigators that he pushed his wife, Leslie Larson, into Little Prickly Pear Stream. Dennis was officially charged with Leslie's murder in October of that year.

Montana officials requested extradition to put Dennis on trial for his crimes in that state. According to Leslie's Charlie Project listing, Dennis was prepared to plead guilty in exchange for a 10-year sentence. But Dennis Larson never made it to trial. Just after 8 p.m. New Year's Eve in 2001, Dennis Larson sat in a workroom at the Maximum Security Main State Prison in Thomaston. As other inmates toiled with craft supplies around him, Dennis held only a roll of duct tape and a marker. He hastily scrolled the word Geronimo across a section of tape and tore it from the roll. Moving toward an open, unbarred window in the third floor workroom. Dennis pressed the tape across his mouth

and pulled from his pocket a clothespin, clipping it to his nose. As he made his way across the room, somehow avoiding the gaze or attention of any correctional officers and the 28 other inmates still working on crafts in the same room, the 50-year-old convicted murderer stepped up into the window casing and leapt into the night, a 35-foot drop to the ground below. As he jumped, something snagged his pants, yanking them down below his knees. Dennis' body struck a wall and fell into a courtyard. He was pronounced dead at the scene. According to reporting by Leanne M. Robichaud from the Bangor Daily News, back in his cell were two notes. Complaining of treatment by prison staff, his fear of extradition to Montana, and asking for his belongings to be donated to a

church in Auburn. A third note was discovered in Dennis's pocket. The message was not complete like the others, but rather contained only one name. Authorities never disclosed the name or the significance of that name to the public. His death was officially ruled a suicide. For years after her death, Kathy Frost's family published notes of remembrance in the Bangor Daily News. Alongside the obituaries was a short in-memoriam section, with words written by the family who mourned the tragic loss of their daughter and sister. On June 13th, 1988, what would have been Kathy's 27th birthday, they wrote, we love and miss you so very much. We miss your beautiful smiling face, your many thoughtful ways, and all our wonderful good times we had together and much, much more. Our memories will be treasured. No one can take them away. When you were taken from us in such a tragic way, it left a very empty spot in our

hearts. Part of our life went with you. Our lives will never be the same without you. It left us with such heartache nothing can heal. What it meant to lose you, no one will ever know. All the hearts you touched will always remember you. We miss you. Love you always. Mom, Pops, and Bob. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. All links to my sources for this case and others, including articles and court documents, obituaries, and any other original case files referenced, are listed in the show notes at darkdowneast.com. So, can I ask you a favor? As a dedicated listener to Dark Down East,

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It's replaced Instagram scrolling for me. I just love learning what you love about the show and what you want to hear more of. So thank you for helping me make this podcast an even more powerful platform for the Mainers and New Englanders who deserve to have their stories heard. If you have a story or a case I should cover, I would love to hear from you at hello at darkdowneast.com. Follow along with the show at darkdowneast.com and on Instagram at darkdowneast. Thank you on Instagram at darkdowneast. Thank you for supporting the 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,

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