Laureen Rahn, 14, disappeared on April 27, 1980 after a night out with friends at her home in Manchester, New Hampshire. Closer returns to this mysterious case.
She was a teenager like the others. Laureen Rahn, 14, saw her life change on the night of April 26 to 27, 1980, when an event tore her from her apartment in Manchester, New Hampshire. But what really happened after half past midnight, when the teenager found herself alone in the cocoon she shared with her mother? It all started on April 26, 1980. Taking advantage that her mother, Judith, was out, Laureen Rahn, 14, invited two of her friends to her home. Alcohol flows freely for the three teenagers, but the party quickly ends. Around half past midnight, Laureen hears voices in the hallway of her apartment building. Panicked that her mother would catch her drinking with her friends, she discreetly drags the boy out and sends the girl to hide in her bedroom. This is the last time she will be seen alive.
Around 1:15 a.m., Judith Rahn discovers that all the light bulbs in the hallway leading to her apartment have been unscrewed. Intrigued, the single mother opens the door to Laureen’s room. Under her covers, her daughter is sleeping peacefully. Or that’s what she thinks. The next morning, Judith discovers someone other than Laureen in her daughter’s bed. The teenager’s friend slept there, and certifies having seen Laureen go to bed on the sofa in the living room. Still, the couch cushions are spotless. Nobody slept there. But where is Lauren?
A breath on the other end of the line
Upset, Judith Rahn reports the disappearance of her daughter to the authorities. But there, the distressed mother comes up against a wall of indifference. LThe police are convinced that the teenager has run away, especially since a bus driver certifies having dropped her off in the south of Boston. However, the certainties of the latter eventually fade, and soon, the police must face the facts: Laureen Rahn did not leave of her own free will. Unfortunately, no element allows the authorities to find the trace of the teenager.
But hope is reborn. 1er October 1980, Judith notices that she has been charged for three strange calls. Two of them were issued in a motel in Santa Monica, the third was in a motel in Santa Ana to a hotline for teenage victims of sexual assault. Convinced that Laureen has something to do with it, Judith implores the police to dig into this lead. But again, the authorities find nothing. One night, around 3:45 am, Judith receives a mysterious call. At the end of the line, no one answers him, but a breath is heard. The call will be repeated many times over the years, more frequently around the Christmas period, without the sender ever making itself known.
Forty years of mystery
Judith Rahn died with the certainty that the breathing on the other end of the line was that of her daughter. The police are not sure of anything. For Tony Fowler, a former police inspector who worked on the case 20 years ago, Laureen left the apartment voluntarily. However, having taken no business with her, the teenager probably intended to return. We will surely never know what, perhaps, kept her outside her home.
Forty years later, Laureen Rahn’s family still harbors the hope of finding her alive. “In my heart, I want to believe that she’s alive, but I don’t know, confided JoBeth Swanson, sister of Judith and aunt of the missing teenager, to the site in 2020. There’s an aunt who doesn’t believe her dead, and another who doesn’t want to believe she’s dead.” Without certainty, JoBeth, who was close to Judith and Laureen, has kept the same phone number for four decades. In case Laureen Laureen’s voice eventually resonates.