Dark Downeast - The Suspicious Death of Wanda Mitchell (Maine)

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

UNDETERMINED, 1980: She was one day shy of her 15th birthday when Wanda Mitchell ran away from home. Less than a year later, her remains were recovered from the woods in Poland, Maine. To this day, her death is considered undetermined -- not a homicide, not an accident, not a single clear answer as to what happened to the teenage girl or who, if anyone, is responsible.The search for answers has gone on for over 40 years. Wanda’s mother is keeping her story alive.This is the story of Wanda Jean Mitchell told by her mother Sheila Simoneaux. View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/wandamitchellFollow @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.

You know, I probably will never know. And that's another thing that gets to me, because I'm going to be 77 in December, and my time is running out, and I don't want to go without knowing what happened to my daughter. So, you know, that's starting to really wear on me more than it ever has. But, you know, that's just the way it is. She was only one day shy of her 15th birthday

when Wanda Mitchell ran away from home. Less than a year later, her remains were recovered from the woods in Poland, Maine. To this day, her death is considered undetermined. Not a homicide, not an accident, not a single clear answer as to what happened to the teenage girl, or who, if anyone, is responsible. The search for answers has gone on for over 40 years. Wanda's mother is keeping her story alive. I'm Kylie Lowe and this is the story of Wanda Jean Mitchell, told by her mother Sheila Siminoe on Dark Down East. We sat at Sheila's dining room table in the same house she's been in since 1977,

the same house where her middle daughter, Wanda Mitchell, became a teenager. She was a very good child. No problems. She was mission-minded, liked to have fun. We had a few neighbor children, so she had people to play with. We moved to a farm, and she was outdoors a lot. It was probably tomboyish. I was very, very tomboyish. I could outdo the boys in a lot of things. She, believe it or not, was only happy when she was home.

When she was a baby, I took her out for the day. She would be the fussiest thing until she got home, and I either put her on a dressing table to change her diapers or got her into a crib, and she'd be fine the rest of the day. And I was just looking at pictures this morning of her standing at her dressing table after we'd gotten home from a day with my mother. And she's hanging on to the dressing table and standing up just as probably as she could because she wasn't yet walking alone.

So I have a lot of pictures of her when she was young. A school portrait of Wanda sat on the table behind us as we chatted. Sheila chuckled at times when talking about Wanda. They really were a lot alike. And she didn't seem afraid of anything. But I was also that way, so... I think she took it an awful lot. I think probably because we did kind of clash a lot, but I think that's probably why, because we were both so much alike.

Wanda was close with her siblings, a younger sister and an older brother. Sheila remembered some of her favorite moments were when the kids were playing together, even if it did get a little bit mischievous. I remember one morning when I woke up and they were having a grand old time, the two of them, with the Halloween candy. So, you know, I did have to keep close watch on those two,

but, no, she was a lot of fun. Sheila told me that she did the best she could for her children. But their lives were not easy. Sheila survived domestic violence in her marriage to Wanda's father before escaping the relationship. She remarried twice more, becoming a stepmother to several more children each time. You know, three fathers, one father and two pretend. So, I mean, it was hard on my kids, you know. But on the other hand, there was no way I could have brought him up alone. At least I was here, and they knew I was here, and they didn't go without

what, you know, I could get what they wanted or needed. I mean, I didn't spoil them, but I loved them, and I wanted to make sure, I tried to make sure they were happy, but sometimes you just can't do it. Wanda was generally a happy, friendly, and outgoing girl. She was in her sophomore year at Bonnie Eagle High School in 1979, and navigating teenage life the best she could. School was a challenge for her. She wasn't really good in school, but, I mean, she had to work hard. My son and my youngest daughter, it came very easy to them, but I think Wanda was like me when it came to that. I was more wanting to be outdoors than in school or whatever, you know. And I think she was kind of like that, too.

And they had a hard time in school keeping her in a seat. Wanda and Sheila began to clash more often in Wanda's early teenage years. Wanda could be defiant, strong-headed. Following the rules her mother set was the biggest challenge, especially when it came to boys. Sheila felt that Wanda was a bit too young to be dating. She was 14 years old, but Wanda was insistent that she was ready. Whenever she could be, Wanda was with Terry, a boy the same age who lived in Scarborough. She ran up phone charges and snuck around doing it. It seemed there was no keeping Wanda away from her boyfriend Terry. The night of November 10,

1979, Wanda had once again snuck Terry over to her house while Sheila and her stepdad were out. They came home to find Wanda in apparent distress. My husband and I had gone down the scour down down to my mother's And when we got back, she was pacing the floor Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? He promised me he'd call me right off Where is he? Where is he? So I came in, I was out on the deck We had a deck back then

And I said, who? Who are you talking about? She said, Terry She said, Terry She said, his mother picked him up here I said, he's not even supposed to have been here. I said, you know I do not approve of you having anybody here when I'm not here. And I always told her, I said, at 14 you're not dating. You're not having boyfriends. It's just not going to happen. Sheila's next words were important, a reminder for her teenage daughter. So she got all mad and fiery, and I said, I'm going to tell you, Wanda,

you're the only Wanda Jean Mitchell. And I said, you have got to start loving yourself. I said, you can't go on like this. Wanda didn't like what her mother had to say. She stormed off to bed. She went to bed, downstairs, I thought. And I left in the morning. I was working at the nursing home.

And I left, and I know soon I got there when the phone rang, and it was for me. And so I went, and it was my husband. And he said, Wanda's not here. And I said, what do you rang, and it was for me. And so I went, and it was my husband. And he said, Wanda's not here. And I said, what do you mean Wanda's not here? He said, well, she didn't come up. It was getting late for school. He said, I knew the bus was going to be coming.

He said, so I went down to get her, and she's not here. And I'm like, oh, my God. I mean, my heart just went right down to my throat. Sheila did not report Wanda as a missing person. They soon learned that Wanda had ended up at a friend's house, and when Sheila called to speak with her, Wanda announced she wasn't coming home. Sheila had rules, and Wanda didn't like them. That was that.

Wanda bounced from friend to friend in the weeks following, ultimately landing at a shelter for teenage girls called Fair Harbor in Portland during the early winter of 1979. The shelter had rules too, and Wanda had no interest in following those rules either. The shelter kicked her out for violating certain regulations, but would ultimately let her back in. Sheila visited Wanda there, even helped her get signed up for counseling. But Wanda chose not to go. Four months after she ran away, Wanda turned back up at her home in Buxton, though only for a brief, tumultuous exchange. Sheila's mother, Wanda's grandmother, was there,

while Sheila was with a client in her beauty shop. Sheila could hear the yelling get louder. What Sheila knows now is that Wanda was showing her grandmother a scar across her abdomen. Recollections vary here. The scar was either from an appendix surgery or a surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. Wanda's grandmother scolded her, implying that if Wanda had behaved, maybe the surgery for an ectopic pregnancy wouldn't have been necessary. And all of a sudden I heard my mother screaming, and Wanda was, I could hear Wanda was in the entryway leaving screaming, and I'm like,

you know, here I am, what am I going to do, you know? Wanda, angry and indignant, walked back out the door. It was March of 1980. And I never saw Wanda. I never saw her that day, and I never saw her again. Although that was the last time Wanda came back to the house, Sheila didn't know at the time that Wanda had stayed in touch with her sister Janine. Wanda called every week or showed up where Janine was babysitting. But then one weekend in April of 1980, Wanda didn't show and she didn't call.

According to reporting by Katherine Skelton for The Sun-Journal, Wanda's sister Janine sounded the alarm, first calling her father who lived in Belfast, Maine. Her father said that Wanda had been there, but she got on a bus to the Scarborough area after she left his house. Wanda's boyfriend Terry lived in Scarborough, so they called him. But Terry said Wanda never showed up at the bus stop when she was supposed to. Then Janine called Wanda's best friend. She wasn't at her house either. Wanda was missing. Sheila told me that they did not file a missing persons report for Wanda that spring of 1980. They learned Wanda had moved in and out of the state in the months after she ran away from home, spending time in Boston, and with her history of running away,

Sheila felt that law enforcement wouldn't do anything with a missing persons report anyway. I knew that, you know, the way things were then, there wasn't going to be anything done. Now there's no way to know for sure what police would have done had Sheila marched into the station to file a report for her missing daughter. Not now, not over 40 years later. We just can't know. But we can look at other instances of missing teenage girls in Maine whose parents had reported them missing in the same time period. Kimberly Moreau disappeared in 1985. Her mother and father were forced to wait 48 hours before Jay Police would even take the report. And even then, they dismissed Kim as a runaway, and she wasn't listed

as a missing person for four months. Kim Moreau's case remains unsolved. Kathy Moulton disappeared in 1971. Her parents were first refused at the Portland Police Department when they tried to file a report. It took some stern words by Mr. Moulton to finally get the missing persons report filed. Portland police believed that Kathy Moulton was possibly a runaway for the first few decades of the investigation. Kathy's case also remains unsolved. Both Kathy and Kimberly were assumed runaways, even though their families insisted that they were missing and endangered. Their parents were dismissed, their cases neglected. Now think of Wanda Mitchell, who did run away from home. Based on the evidence, I'd have to

side with Sheila. I don't think much would have been done to Sheila, she did call the police. As far as she knows, the information was broadcast over the police radio just once. No name or description, just girl in Buxton missing. For five months, there was no sign of Wanda Mitchell. Working on these cases, wading through the emotional stories and trauma with families, it's hard. It weighs on me. Pair that with life and work and my everyday challenges with an anxiety disorder and it can all be a lot. When BetterHelp reached out about sponsoring Dark Down East, it felt like perfect timing and a perfect fit. Is something preventing you from achieving your goals or interfering with your

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show, for my husband, for my family, for my friends, and most of all, for myself. I want you to start living a happier life today, too. As a listener, you'll get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com slash downeast. Join over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health. Again, that's BetterHelp.com. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support Dark Down East. I had just gotten home from Warwick. My younger daughter was sitting in there, and somebody was at the door,

and I went, and it happened to be the grandfather to two of the boys that lived down here, the next house down. It was early October of 1980. Sheila stood at her door looking at the stranger. He had a very specific question, but Sheila couldn't answer it. He wanted to know what my daughter had been wearing the last time I saw her. I mean, it had been quite a while since I'd seen her. He was vague and wouldn't tell Sheila why he was asking about Wanda's outfit.

He told Sheila he was going to the police and left abruptly. Sheila closed the door, stunned. Shortly after that, the phone rang, and the detective said, can you tell me if Wanda had money, where would she have it on her, keep it on her body? And I said, I really wouldn't know. So Janine was here, so I asked her, and she said, oh, Mom, if she had it, it would be in the shoe. Sheila asked the detective what this was all about, but he, too, was vague.

He told Sheila he'd call back when he had more information. But information about what, Sheila wondered. I mean, I was a wreck, so I got on the phone and called. And she said, oh no, she said, nobody will get back to you now. She said, this is a Friday. And I said, I'm sorry. I said, but I will call you every 15 minutes until somebody calls me. I said, I'm not living like this till Monday.

Sheila called the police department every 15 minutes. Each time she got the same answer. No one was going to give her more information until Monday, but she persisted. Finally, after several calls, someone called her back. They told her they'd found a body in the woods. Yeah, yeah, it was your daughter. That was it. That's how Sheila got the news that her daughter, 15-year-old Wanda Mitchell, was dead. Her remains were discovered first on September 29th, 1980. A German shepherd puppy picked up and brought home a skull to its owner. For two days after that discovery, state police searched the woods until they found the body of an

unidentified young woman off Route 122 in Poland, near a known lover's lane and gravel pit. According to reporting by Catherine Skelton, the young woman was wearing Levi jeans and a jean jacket, with hiking boots and a $20 bill tucked into her sock. There was a blackened ring in her front pocket and a macrame belt was near her body. When Wanda and Janine had told the detective that Wanda would have carried money in her shoes, it was the first clue that the body was that of Wanda Mitchell. Later, dental records provided by Sheila confirmed the identity. Wanda's autopsy left more questions than answers. Undetermined cause and manner of death, date of death unknown. That was in 1980. Decades later, Sheila still doesn't have answers. Police said in a Lewiston daily sun story in 1981 that it was being investigated as a homicide

as did the assistant attorney general police checked on a few individuals who might have had motive to end wanda's life the sun journal reported that wanda ended up in the hospital in portland that april before she. She told police that she'd been raped by the owner of a local head shop. The man hired a lawyer after Wanda's death, but nothing came of it. No charges. Police also spoke with Wanda's father in Belfast. Wanda's brother intended to drive up there and talk to see him, I'm going with you. And that never transpired. And I guess the police, since we found out that, you know, there wasn't anything there. But, you know, it's just, you know,

you just grab at anything you hear and hope that it's true. Detectives told Sheila something about an abandoned locker at a bus station in Boston where Wanda was known to travel. But there was nothing of note there. They promised to follow up with a friend of Wanda's from the girls' shelter in Portland, but Sheila never heard anything from that either. The case stalled. Sheila never felt like Wanda's death was given the care and respect she deserved. She'll never forget how police spoke to her as leads dried up and questions were left unanswered. And he said, well, we're going to put her on the back burner and let her simmer.

And I want, and today, I tell today, I curse myself for not, I just want to whack him, and I wish they had talked to me like that about my dead daughter. Couldn't believe it. Her case was treated as a homicide at first, but Wanda Mitchell's name is not listed on the Maine State Police unsolved homicide list. It's not actually classified as a homicide. The condition of her remains did not allow a cause or manner of death

to be determined. That's how it stands today, an undetermined death. It's the not knowing that gets to Sheila. I keep hoping that the person, and I don't even know actually if there's anybody responsible. I mean, it could have been a drug overdose. I wouldn't put it past her to have done drugs. She hadn't been gone that long, but today you can learn to do anything in a matter of minutes, and it could have been an accidental. I would still feel that the person was somewhat responsible

for not getting her help, taking her somewhere, but not leave her in the woods to die. And the police told me, you know, it might not even be considered murder. And I said, well, in that aspect, no, he or she might not have personally had anything to do with it, but yet they didn't have anything to do to try to help her. In 2012, a new detective was assigned to Wanda's case,

Detective Michael Chavez with the Maine State Police. It had been 32 years. For the first time, Sheila felt someone actually cared. He knows I have faith in him. I made that perfectly clear because I've never talked to anybody else in there that I had any confidence in. And I told my dad, I said, you know, I said, I want to thank you because you're the first one that I honestly feel I can talk to. And I honestly feel that I can trust what you tell me. Still, there is limited information, few concrete leads, and little known about how Wanda Mitchell died and how she ended up in the woods of Poland, Maine, over 30 miles away from the shelter where she was thought to be

living at the time, and even 30 miles away from the bus station where her boyfriend Terry said she was supposed to show up. Sheila is confident in one thing, though. If Wanda's death wasn't accidental, if someone did have a hand in ending her life. Her daughter would have fought. I know she could be stubborn. I think if she was in a predicament where she could resist a fight, she would have fought for whatever and as hard as she could have until she just couldn't do it anymore.

In 2017, Sheila heard a story from a friend of a friend about a car, bought the same year as Wanda's disappearance and death. As the story goes, according to Sheila's recollection, the guy who bought the 1980 muscle car never drove it after that fall. A brand new car put up and stored for years until someone else bought it. He had plans to bring it back to life, do a little work to get it street ready once again. As he disassembled the car, carefully removing each piece and panel for restoration, he found something. There under the dash was a bag of hair. The age of the car, the location of it, it seemed to line up with Wanda's disappearance and death. There must have been something else compelling, too,

because the bag of hair was enough for Detective Mike Chavez to collect it for evidence. Mike Chavez went, and he came here and took my DNA, but the hair had been under the dash. That's where he found it when he started taking the dash apart to redo the car, in a plastic bag for all those years. By that time, it was like 30-something years, and so the DNA wasn't any good, but they're keeping it. Mike said they're keeping it in case they get more advanced. So who knows?

Maybe the hair holds answers that current DNA testing can't yet provide. It will stay in evidence until maybe, one day, it could prove to be a viable lead in Wanda Mitchell's case. But, you know, I probably will never know. And that's another thing that gets to me, because I'm going to be 77 in December, and my time is running out, and I don't want to go without knowing what happened to my daughter. So, you know, that's starting to really wear on me more than it ever has. But, you know, that's just the way it is. As we talked, Sheila kept coming back to a movie called Heaven is for Real.

Have you seen it? Oh my gosh, you've got to rent the tape or something. Yeah, it is excellent. The film came out in 2014 and is based on a book of the same name by Pastor Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent. In the movie, based on a true story, a four-year-old boy faces an emergency surgery and a near-death experience. His parents call on family and the community to surround their young son in prayer,

and he makes a miraculous recovery. When he's well again, the little boy speaks of what he saw when he was so close to death. He tells his parents he saw heaven, and he met his loved ones who passed long before he was even born, and that they were there waiting. And if there's such a thing as that movie, Heaven is for Real, then I'm going to see it and find out anyhow, hopefully, if that is because that movie was a perfect movie and I really believe in it.

I just hope it's really real. You know, there's nothing I can do even when I know, but I still want to know. Sheila keeps Wanda's memory alive. Photos of Wanda are all over the house. She smiles thinking aboutanda are all over the house.

She smiles, thinking about her headstrong, independent daughter. A daughter who didn't fall far from the tree. It doesn't get easier for Sheila. But these days, she finds happiness in her work, as a home health aide. She may be turning 77 this year, but Sheila Siminoe keeps working because she loves it. I do in-home care, and God love these people. I mean, they, you know, to me, they're almost like my grandparents whenever I'm with them.

You know, whether it's a man or a female, you get attached. When Wanda died, I did go seek counsel and I went into Portland and I had Dr. Tarani and I'd go in there and I was working at the nursing home and I would go in there and the minute I got talking about work and stuff, he said, oh my God, he said, I can see the difference in you right off. And I said, because I love my job and I love the people. And I said, as long as I'm helping others, it's helping me. Because I said, I can't go in there like this. I have to go in there smiling.

They lift my day. I have to go in there smiling. They lift my day. I have to make theirs good for them. And that's what keeps me going. As long as I've got them that need me and they keep me up, I've got to keep them up. And it does. I mean, I wish I'd gone into nursing into nursing but at the time I had the six kids so I went into beautician work that I could do at home but I'm still doing it so I've been with I love it.

Wanda Mitchell's case remains classified as an undetermined death. If you believe you have information about Wanda's disappearance in April of 1980, or any information about why her remains were found in the woods of Poland, Maine in September and October of 1980, please contact the Maine State Police. Contact information is listed in the show description for this episode. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Source material for this case and others is listed at darkdowneast.com. Thank you to Sheila Simono for trusting me with Wanda's story.

Now through the end of 2021, I'll be sharing information about missing and unidentified persons in New England. It is my goal to bring attention to these cases in hopes of bringing these humans home to the people who love and miss them. This week, I want to bring your attention to the disappearance of Tina Stadig. Tina disappeared from Skowhegan, Maine on May 28, 2017. Her family believes she met with foul play. She was last seen wearing a flannel shirt and blue jeans. She has brown hair and hazel eyes. For a photo and more detailed information on Tina Stadig and the disappearance,

please visit darkdowneast.com slash missing. Thank you for supporting this show and allowing me to do what I do. Now more than ever, 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 and undetermined deaths. 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.