Laureen Ann Rahn












Age Progressed photo: Age 37











Missing Since: April 26, 1980 from Manchester, New Hampshire
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: April 3, 1966
Age: 14 years old
Height and Weight: 5'4, 90 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair, blue eyes. Laureen has a prominent scar on her upper leg, resulting from a fall onto broken glass.
Clothing Description: A white v-neck sweater, a blue plaid blouse, jeans, brown shoes, a heart-shaped gold ring and a silver/blue necklace.


Laureen resided with her mother, Judith Rahn, in an apartment on Merrimack Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. She was a student at Parkside Junior High School and made good grades. She was last seen at her home during the evening hours of April 26, 1980. Two of Laureen's friends saw her approximately one hour before her disappearance and reported that nothing was amiss at the time. She has never been heard from again.
Judith discovered that she had been charged for three California phone calls on October 1, 1980, three months after Laureen disappeared. Judith did not have any friends or relatives in California at the time. Two of the calls had been placed from a motel in Santa Monica to another motel in Santa Ana. The third call was placed to a teen sexual assistance hotline. Authorities attempted to question the physician who maintained the hotline, but they were unable to ascertain if he knew any details about Laureen's case.

An investigator followed up on the hotline tip in 1985. A man identifying himself as a plastic surgeon answered the call. He said that numerous runaway girls occasionally visited his wife at their home. He also told the investigator that one of the young women may have been from New Hampshire. The individual claimed that Annie Sprinkle, a woman who allegedly worked with his wife in the fashion industry, may have had information concerning several runaways. Authorities learned that Sprinkle was involved in the pornography industry and scanned several of her films in an attempt to locate Laureen. No evidence linking Sprinkle to Laureen's disappearance was discovered and she has never been implicated in her case.

An investigator visited California on Judith's behalf in 1986 and located the two motels involved in the October 1980 phone calls. Authorities said that one of the establishments may have been used by a child pornographer named "Dr. Z." Investigators were unable to link "Dr. Z" to the teen hotline and it is not known if pornography was involved in Laureen's disappearance.

Roger Maurais, Laureen's childhood friend in Manchester, received a call from a woman identifying herself as "Laurie" or "Laureen" in 1986. Maurais's mother answered the call and said that the person claimed to be her son's former girlfriend. The caller's identity remains unknown.

One of Laureen's family members reported seeing a girl matching her description in a Boston, Massachusetts bus terminal in 1981. Judith received phone calls around the Christmas holidays for several years from an unknown individual. She said that the person listened silently when Laureen's sister answered the phone, then terminated the call shortly afterwards. The calls stopped after Judith changed her phone number several years after Laureen vanished.

A witness reported that a prostitute in Anchorage, Alaska matched Laureen's description. The unconfirmed sighting occurred in 1988 and authorities said that the witness based his recollections on her 1980 photo. The woman was not believed to have been Laureen as a result of the time lapse.

In April 2005, a Nevada investigator contacted Judith and said Laureen bore a resemblance to a murdered young woman whose body was found off a dirt road in Henderson, Nevada in October 1980. Judith goes not believe the Nevada woman is her daughter, but officials are investigating that possibility.

Judith moved to Fort Myers, Florida during the years after Laureen's disappearance. She believes that her daughter placed the three California phone calls in October 1980. Laureen enjoyed singing and dancing at the time of her disappearance and dreamed of becoming an actress. Investigators continue to suspect that foul play was involved in her case, which remains unsolved.

While there is no evidence that the two cases are connected, it is worth noting that Rachael Garden, another petite brunette about the same age as Laureen, disappeared from a nearby town just a month before Laureen did. Garden's case remains unsolved as well and is also classified as a non-family abduction.

Some agencies may list April 27, 1980 as the date of Laureen's disappearance.



Rachael Elizabeth Garden








Age Progressed Photo: Age 42















15-year-old Rachael was last seen at a Rowes Corner Market on Route 108 in Newton, New Hampshire between 9:00 and 9:30pm on March 22, 1980. After she paid $5.00 for a pack of cigarettes she left the store heading north toward North Main Street. Rachael was a regular customer at the store. She was planning to spend the night at a friend's house in the 50th block of north Main Street, but never made it there.
Rachael was a 9th grader at Sanborn Regional High at the time of her disappearance and was the oldest of four children. In her free time, Rachael often walked the quarter-mile down to Rowe's Corner Market, looking for some excitement. Sometimes she went to the hill across from Maple Avenue, a place where local teens often congregated.
Rachael's parents called the police station at about 10.00 the next morning to report their daughter missing. Rachael's mother said that she knew right away something was seriously wrong when Rachael did not return to the family's small cape on Main Street.
Rachael was considered a runaway by police in the first months after her disappearance, but with a population barely over 3,000 people, at the time, Newton, New Hampshire had only one full-time police officer. Rachael was described as a headstrong and rebellious teenager, fun-seeking and outspoken. She often resented watching her siblings and complained to her friends about her parents' rules. Sometimes, Rachael skipped school to drink alcohol and smoke with other teens in the woods near Maple Avenue.
Over the years, police investigators have checked numerous leads including possible sightings, talked with people who knew her, worked with psychics, used dogs and excavated sites looking for remains. Rachael left behind her horse, her dental retainer and other possessions. He parents have consulted psychics and hired private investigators to no avail.
Years later, at least two witnesses reported seeing Rachael talking to three young men in a dark car in the vicinity of Rowe's Market and Maple Avenue. Rachael was known to have associated with the young men before. After Rachael went missing, one of the men confessed to murdering her and police dug up a site off Route 108 to look for her remains, but they weren't there and it's unknown whether any of the men were responsible in Rachael's case.
Rachael was last seen wearing jeans; a two-tone blue ski jacket; plaid shirt with silver threads; and brown lace-up shoes. She was carrying a tote bag with the word "Things" on its side. Rachael had orthodontic work: three fillings and her four "wisdom" teeth removed prior to the orthodontic work.








Are the disappearance of these two young teens just coinidence or are they connected?