Episode 193: The Disappearance of Catherine Malcolmson
Catherine Malcolmson, who went by the nickname Cathy, was described by her mom Mary as “a very vivacious and bubbly person.” Her mom also stated “Her hobbies were her friends.” Mary loved her friends, being active in her local church and anything to do with music. Her cousin Mark said that she grew up on and loved watching MTV, taking in all different kinds of music but especially loving pop music. She also played the piano beautifully.
On August 13th, 1985, 16-year-old Cathy had spent the early afternoon eating lunch in her backyard with her dad John. At around 1:30 p.m., she left the house and was heading to work, excited to get through her shift so she could be home in time for her older brother’s graduation party. Cathy would not miss a party for anything, especially when it involved her family. Even though Cathy was 16, she didn’t have her driver’s license yet. This made things difficult at times, but she had her bike that got her to and from where she needed to be. Her job as a part-time cashier at the local IGA supermarket was an easy three to three and a half mile, 15 minute ride from her home in Stow, Massachusetts to the supermarket in Hudson, Massachusetts down Route 62.
She had started the job that summer, and it had only taken the few weeks since she had started for her coworkers and managers to come to know her as reliable and always on time. When she never arrived for her shift, her manager was surprised and concerned. He called Cathy’s house at around 3:00 p.m. and her parents immediately jumped into action, heading to the local police department to report their concerns and get help finding their daughter. Instead, officers with the Stow Police Department brushed them off, telling them that Cathy must have run away and would come home when she was ready.
Cathy was incredibly reliable and was looking forward to the graduation party with her family after work, so her parents knew she did not leave on her own. Cathy was also excited for her shift that day because she was going to be picking up her very first paycheck. She never picked the check up, which only solidified the fact that she could not have run away. Cathy’s family searched tirelessly for her, only receiving help from police when she had been gone for months and police finally grown concerned that she had been met with foul play. None of her belongings had been touched, except for Cathy’s beloved bike, a white Murray twelve-speed she had been last seen riding.
In 1987, almost two years after Cathy had been last seen, a man walking through a wooded area along Route 62 after pulling over to urinate came across the bike in Hudson, just 500 yards from the Stow town line and a mile from Cathy’s house. Not knowing about Cathy’s disappearance, he brought the bike to a friend. She luckily recognized the bike from the news and alerted police, who conducted two searches of the area where the bike was found. No new evidence has ever been found.
In April of 1995, almost ten years after Cathy’s disappearance, a bone fragment was found in a wooded area of Wayland, Massachusetts, about 13 miles from where Cathy was last seen. DNA results came back almost three years after the discovery and revealed that the bone fragment belonged to Sarah Pryor.
Just weeks after Cathy’s disappearance, on October 9th, 1985, 9-year-old Sarah Pryor was last seen leaving her home in Wayland, Massachusetts to go on a walk. She left at around 4:00 p.m. to go on a walk after school as she often did, but this time she never came home. When dinner time came around and Sarah still wasn’t home, her mom Barbara reported her missing to police. Since Sarah was only 9, police were immediately concerned and put together a massive search for the fourth grader. Police were also concerned because Sarah and her family had just moved to the area from Pennsylvania several months ago and she didn’t know the area well. A woman who knew Sarah had told detectives that she saw her walking about a mile away from home on Concord Road at around 4:15 p.m., but a group of people who were walking the same road a half hour later didn’t see Sarah. Police determined that she disappeared some time shortly after 4:15 p.m. The only things she had taken with her when she went on her walk were a portable cassette player and some cassette tapes. She didn’t grab a jacket or any warmer layers of clothing because she had been planning on being back for dinner. Massive searches, hundreds of tips and leads revealed no other evidence, but the bone fragment indicated that Sarah had been murdered.
Due to the similarities and the proximity to one another, detectives feel that Cathy and Sarah’s cases are related. Both girls had blonde hair and blue eyes, and while Sarah was a little girl and Cathy was a teenager, Sarah was very tall and may have been mistaken as having been older. Middlesex District Attorney Tom Reilly had stated “Within a short period, two young girls missing in broad daylight in relative proximity … same type of abduction, and I believe there is a very definite connection.”
Mary Malcolmson attended Sarah Pryor’s funeral that was held in 1998. Mary, knowing all too well what Sarah’s parents were experiencing, felt relieved that Sarah’s family was able to have at least some closure. She spoke to reporters outside the funeral and told them that while of course she missed her daughter, she did not want to dwell on the past and felt some comfort that she would see her and be reunited with her again one day. Mary also said that she is choosing to remember Cathy as how she had been in her 16 years of life rather than speculate about the way that she died. Seven years after her disappearance, Cathy’s family held a memorial service for her and had a tombstone put up for her at their family plot in Dover, New Hampshire.
Police feel that the same man is responsible for both Sarah Pryor’s and Cathy Malcolmson’s abductions, and that a likely suspect is a man named John Whirty. He had moved to Massachusetts in 1984 while being out on parole for the strangulation murder of a 15-year-old girl in Texas in 1967. John moved specifically to Sherborn, which was a town less than 20 miles away from Stow. He was not able to provide an alibi for the dates of both Cathy and Sarah’s disappearances. In November of 1985, John was arrested for the attempted abduction at knifepoint of a young woman in her early 20’s from Newton, Massachusetts. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for the attack, but because this was a parole violation, John was brought back to Texas after serving his sentence and sent back to prison. He denied any involvement in both Cathy and Sarah’s cases until he passed while still in prison in 2022.
In February of 2024, Stow Police Chief Michael Sallese announced that the department had created a new task force to reexamine the disappearance of Cathy Malcolmson. He stated, “Cathy’s disappearance has always remained on the minds of our department members and this town. There have been both technological and investigative advancements since her disappearance and we are looking forward to utilizing those tools. Our hope is that given the time that has passed, people who may not have come forward then will come forward with information now and we can finally get some answers as to what may have happened to Cathy.”
At the time of her disappearance, Catherine Malcolmson was 16-years-old, 5’5” and weighed 110lbs. She had blue eyes and light brown hair that was bleached blonde shortly before her disappearance. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, a short-sleeved striped shirt, and sneakers. She was carrying a gray purse and was also wearing two bracelets and a silver ring. She has a chicken pox scar on her forehead and a mole on her right cheek and her ears are pierced.
Anyone with any information on the disappearance of Catherine Malcolmson is asked to please call the task force tip line at 978–897–4545 ext. 1985, or send an email to: tipsforcathy@stow-ma.gov.
Anyone with any information on the murder of Sarah Pryor is asked to please call the Wayland Police at 508–358–4721.
Image sources:
boston.com - “What happened to Cathy Malcolmson?”