Episode 131: The Disappearance of the Reapps
19-year-old Grace Marie Canto and 20-year-old Michael E. Reapp had married in Connecticut in August of 1965, and two years later in March their first son Brian was born. Three years later in August of 1970, their son Patrick was born, followed by their daughter Grace Noel “Gracie” in February of 1973. After Gracie was born, they moved up to Jericho, Vermont and Michael got a job as an air traffic controller at the Burlington Airport.
On November 15th, 1977, Michael had suddenly left home and disappeared. He left a note where he told his family that he was leaving them and instead going to work undercover for the CIA. He appointed Grace as his power of attorney. He came back a week later, crying and begging Grace for her forgiveness. He was also required by his job to complete a thorough course of counseling.
On June 6th, 1978, the boys were at school on the last day before summer vacation when Grace left a note saying that she was taking Gracie and leaving and wasn’t planning on coming back. Only Michael saw the note. 11-year-old Brian Reapp, the oldest son, said that Grace made breakfast for him and 8-year-old Patrick before sending them both off to school. When they came home from school, no one was home, but they weren’t worried until after Michael got home at about 4:00pm and told them that Grace and Gracie had gone on a vacation. They immediately knew that something was amiss.
The disappearances were not reported to police until June 11th, after Grace’s sister Juliana kept calling and asking to speak with her. Just ten days after Grace and Gracie disappeared, on June 16th, Michael filed for divorce. His reasoning was “desertion and intolerable severity”, even though he himself had been unfaithful to Grace and their marriage on numerous occasions.
Grace’s sister and family members insisted to police that Grace would have never abandoned her sons and left them behind, and they also said that Grace was abused by Michael. Despite this, police never classified the disappearances as suspicious. This led to media outlets never reporting on the disappearances. Instead, Juliana took it upon herself to take out paid personal ads in local newspapers, as well as hand out flyers and reach out to multiple different agencies for help. In August, Juliana took out an ad in the classified section of the Burlington Free Press that said “Grace, call your sister Julie.” A month later, Juliana was distributing missing persons flyers in Vermont, surrounding states and even along the Canadian border. Juliana was notifed by the Social Security Administration that they had no record of Grace being employed anywhere after her disappearance.
In October of 1979, just several months after the divorce was finalized, Michael got a permit to close in the garage under their home and build a new, separate garage. The enclosed garage was converted into a living space. A month later, Michael married 26-year-old Donna Roussin, who he had been having an affair with during his marriage with Grace. Donna was also the family babysitter.
In 1980, Juliana and her family headed up to Vermont from Connecticut to interview anyone they could find. They talked to the mailman, neighbors, friends, anyone that knew Grace and Gracie. Juliana eventually began working as a dispatcher with the Groton Town, Connecticut police and used her access and spare time to find any information about the whereabouts of her sister and niece, as well as look at bulletins of unidentified bodies.
In May of 1983, Michael and Donna sold the Jericho, Vermont home and moved the boys and another child they had together down to Florida. They divorced two years later.
In the summer of 1987, Vermont State Police asked for Juliana’s permission to reopen the missing persons case, and the old Reapps home and the surrounding rural property was searched. The searches continued a year later but slowed down when nothing was found.
In September of 1996, Vermont State Police detectives visited Florida to re-interview Michael Reapp. They did not inform him that police were going to dig up the old attached garage that had been closed in and turned into a living space. The case had also been reclassified as a homicide. The home and surrounding 10-acres were searched by Vermont State Police, the FBI Evidence Response Team, four cadaver dogs and other investigators on October 21st, 1996. A day later, Michael Reapp was contacted in Florida by WPTZ-TV, and he told them that he was surprised that police were digging up the property. He also said that his wife and daughter left voluntarily and that he always expected his daughter would make contact again.
Three days later on October 26th, Michael left his Jupiter, Florida home with just a toothbrush and his cigarettes in his 1994 gray Isuzu pickup truck with Florida license plate JJZ55G. His now third wife, coincidentally also named Donna, didn’t file a police report. He wasn’t reported missing until November 13th, when Brian notified the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department. Investigators then traced Michael to New Orleans just a couple of days after he left his Jupiter home. His pickup truck was found abandoned at the New Orleans Airport on December 4th but there was no other trace of him. He had made a transaction at an ATM in New Orleans on the day of his disappearance.
On November 19th, 1996, Juliana forwarded a petition to the court to issue death certificates for Grace and Gracie. She was also hoping that Dr. Miller would release any information that he had in his possession, which would result in a warrant for Michael’s arrest.
The State of Vermont, along with the Vermont Police, went back for the third time to the old Reapp property and excavated the entire back yard (including the area of the former chicken coop), on October 5th through the 8th of 1998. They found nothing.
In June of 2006, Michael was charged with the first-degree murder of Grace and the second-degree murder of Gracie. Police feel that Michael killed Grace because she knew about his affair with the babysitter and then killed Gracie because she witnessed the murder of her mother.
In June of 2010, four years later, there was finally a lead on where Michael was. Michael's fingerprints matched the fingerprints of a John Doe from Yuma, Arizona, who was found almost thirteen and a half years earlier. On January 10th, 1997, Michael had abducted a man at gunpoint and then stolen his car. The theft quickly escalated and became a massive high speed police chase. Michael was forced to pull over and the victim was able to escape, but Michael turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head as police began to surround and approach him.
There have been 25 digs done on the property since 1996, and while none have yet found anything, Juliana and Brian feel as though Grace and Gracie’s bodies are buried somewhere on the 10-acre property. Anyone with any information on the murders of Grace and Gracie Reapp is asked to please call the Vermont State Police at (802) 244-8781.
Image sources:
charleyproject.com - “Grace Noel Reapp”