The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages and is intended for a mature
audience.
Listener discretion is advised.
Welcome back everyone.
Welcome back.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski .
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases.
And missing person cases.
So just at the top here, I wanted to give a little thank you to one of our listeners,
Sherri.
She donated to buy us a coffee this week.
And I just wanted to say thank you and how much we appreciate it.
And I hope you're still listening.
Yeah, thank you so much.
Those are such a great surprise when they come through.
And really, they do help us sustain the podcast and continue to be able to do this to afford
the platform that we put this on.
And it means a lot.
Oh, yeah.
It means the world.
And it's such an honor to be a part of your week.
Thank you so much for joining us.
And I think with that, we should just get right into it, huh?
Yeah.
We are on a cold case this week.
Cold case, yeah.
All righty.
Let's get started.
So today, I have for you a cold case.
And just as a content warning at the top, this case does involve some animals, but there's
no harm that comes to the animals.
I won't be talking about anything like that.
So I just want to give our listeners a warning at the top.
Today we are going to be covering the cold case of Shirley McAvoy.
And this takes place in August of 1990 in Pittsfield, Maine.
But first, a little bit about Shirley.
Shirley was 32 years old in 1990.
She was born January 4th, 1958.
And she would be 65 years old today.
She was recently separated from her husband, Brian McAvoy, and the two were going through
an official divorce hearing.
Those close to her say Shirley was going through a season of depression, not only from her
upcoming divorce, but her soon to be ex-husband had also maintained custody of their two daughters.
Her neighbor, Dennis York, says, quote, her children were all she would talk about.
That was her whole life, end quote.
Family and friends say that Shirley was outgoing and friendly.
She volunteered at one of her daughter's schools, and on hot summer days, she would
take neighborhood kids to a swimming pool.
Dennis York says, quote, she was very good to all of the children on the street, end
quote.
Shirley had recently begun dating a new guy in August of 1990.
And now a timeline of events.
So on Thursday, August 9th, 1990, Shirley was last seen alive at her mobile home located
on Berry Road in Pittsfield, Maine.
Her friend invites Shirley to a wedding later that month before leaving.
The next day, Friday, August 10th, Shirley is supposed to appear in court as part of
the custody hearing in her and her husband's upcoming divorce, but she fails to show up.
Later that day, she was expected at her daughter's birthday party, but she also doesn't show
up, which everyone notes as very odd and out of character for her.
That same day, Shirley's vehicle is involved in a car accident on the Southeast Expressway
in Boston, Massachusetts.
The driver of the vehicle is not Shirley, but a tall, slender, white guy with light-colored
hair.
He's the only person inside the car.
He gets out and hands the other driver an insurance card with Brian McAvoy's name on
it.
The driver of Shirley's vehicle says, quote, I'm never going to drive in Boston again,
end quote.
The two agreed to pull off of the road up ahead to get out of the flow of traffic, but
the man driving Shirley's red two-door 1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme keeps driving.
Brian is ultimately notified of the accident, and he's unable to get in contact with Shirley.
On August 28th, 1990, so this has been a few weeks since Shirley was last seen, Brian McAvoy
reports Shirley missing.
Her friends thought she had just taken space to work through her recent separation.
Throughout the month of September, police issue a statewide missing person bulletin
for Shirley and reach out to family and friends to see if she's been in contact with anybody,
but nobody has heard from her since August 9th.
Police also are able to access Shirley's home as Brian gave them a key.
Police do a quick glance around the home, but don't notice anything.
On October 1st of 1990, this is almost two months now that Shirley has been missing,
Brian McAvoy wanted to winterize her mobile home and clean out the fridge in case that
she came back so that way her home was ready for her.
Police Chief Spencer Harvey lets Brian, Brian's girlfriend, and Shirley's friend into the
home and leaves.
Shirley's friend, who asked to remain anonymous throughout this, noticed that a sofa was out
of place and thought that there were bird marks under the sofa on the carpet.
Once the sofa was moved, she knew that it was blood.
She says, quote, I felt completely sick.
I said, I know what that is.
I know it's blood.
End quote.
They call police chief Harvey back, who sees the three foot by two foot blood stain and
he calls the state police to help search the rest of the home.
Police will spend three days searching the home and they'll also find that none of
Shirley's clothing was missing.
Curtains from the back of her home were moved to the front living room and a new bedspread
that Shirley had bought to match her curtains was missing.
Also missing were her two dogs, Nikki and Max.
Police did find evidence of a dog being locked in a room at the home, which friends say Shirley
never did.
Her friend says, quote, she worried about her dogs as much as her kids.
Her dogs are just like her kids to her.
They were her babies.
End quote.
On October 4th, 1990, police announced that Shirley's car is missing.
They also say Brian McEvoy is cooperating with police and police are focused on creating
a composite sketch of a man that had recently moved in with Shirley five days before she
disappeared.
Shirley had told a friend that he was a relative, but police are able to determine he was not
a relative of Shirley's.
On October 5th, 1990, police formally interview Brian McEvoy and police learn of the car accident
in Boston.
Police also confirm that the blood found in Shirley's home is human blood and it will
take months, but it is ultimately determined that it is Shirley's blood.
On Tuesday, October 9th, police go to Boston to investigate the car accident.
Police make a sketch of the man that was driving the car based off of the other driver's description
and his passenger's description.
Police say the sketch of the driver and the sketch of the man living with Shirley are
similar.
On November 9th, 1990, so this is just over three months that Shirley has been missing,
police release a sketch of the suspect, the man living with Shirley and they believe he
was also driving her car in Boston.
Maine State Police spokesperson Stephen McCausland says, quote, His name may be Jerry.
He may have worked construction in the Millinocket area.
He may have a 12 year old daughter.
He may have divorced a Massachusetts woman who was having twins, end quote.
Police believe in 1990, this suspect who will call Jerry because that's what police believe
his name might have been.
Police believe Jerry was between 33 and 37 years old, had dirty blonde hair, blue eyes,
was around 5'10 and 180 pounds.
He had crooked front teeth and also had pock marks on his cheeks.
And he spoke with a southern accent.
Police also say that at this time they do not consider Brian McAvoy a suspect.
Spokesperson Stephen McCauland says, quote, The bottom line is our leads that detectives
have been pursuing very, very vigorously for the last month are down to a precious few.
And now we need the public's help in putting a name to this face and this man who we think
may be the clue for finding where Shirley McAvoy is, end quote.
On Tuesday, November 20th, 1990, a deer hunter in Spotslavaenia, Virginia was standing on
his truck bed not too far behind Todd's Tavern Market when he spotted what he thought
was a white ball.
After walking closer, he realized it was a human skull and called police.
Police find the skeletal remains of Shirley McAvoy wrapped in a bedspread.
Her feet had been bound with the cord and she was not buried.
Police are able to quickly ID her from a denture with her last name on it.
And she was also wearing her class ring.
But her official ID does come through dental records.
The next day on November 21st, police combed the area where Shirley's body was found,
looking for additional clues and the remains of her two dogs.
But nothing is found.
Dr. Masello Fiera conducts Shirley's autopsy.
He says she was bound with a Venetian blind type cord and Maine police confirmed that
the windows in her home were disturbed.
Dr. Fiera also says that the bedspread she was wrapped in was covered in bodily fluid,
but he wouldn't confirm if it was blood.
Dr. Fiera isn't able to determine a cause of death, but does consult with an anthropologist.
Later reports will say that Shirley was stabbed.
Police believe that she was killed in her home in Maine and put in the trunk of her
car and brought south to Virginia.
They believe her body had been there since August.
The next day, November 22nd, police received a report that Shirley's vehicle was pulled
over in northern Florida on August 14th.
So this would have been five days after Shirley was last seen alive.
But police in Florida didn't write down any details about what was otherwise a routine
traffic stop and months later they couldn't remember any details about the driver.
On Saturday, January 26th, 1991, Shirley's funeral is held and she is laid to rest at
St. Joseph Cemetery.
Her sister, Cecily Delcourt says, quote, we're relieved we can put her to rest, but I'm angry
that most likely he still has her car and is out joyriding, end quote.
In March of 1991, so this is seven months since Shirley disappeared, police in Georgia
arrest a man driving Shirley's car.
The car had been repainted from red to gray and the VIN and license plate number were
changed.
Police don't believe the driver is a suspect, but hope he'll lead police back to Jerry.
This ultimately is a bust though.
The car had been stolen from a Holiday Inn in St. Augustine Beach and then repainted
and it was recovered ultimately in Darien, Georgia.
Police began processing the car and find blood in her vehicle.
On August 26th, 1991, so it's been over a year since Shirley was murdered and almost
a year since her body was found, but police have no new leads in her case.
Even state police spokesperson Stephen McCausland says, quote, we've scoured her car, we've
scoured her mobile home and there was a great deal of evidence from the scene, but we still
haven't been able to identify him, end quote.
And the him he's referring to is the Jerry suspect.
So in November of 1995, this is over five years since Shirley's murder.
Shirley's story appears on the Fox network show, Real Stories of Highway Patrol.
During the episode, it's revealed that as well as the blood stain on the carpet that
was found in her home, police used the luminol in her home and they found blood everywhere
on the walls, ceilings, and they even found it in the shower and sink drains.
After the show airs, police receive around 40 tips, but there's no major break in the
case.
And then in August of 2004, this is 14 years.
Shirley's family offer a $10,000 reward for information leading to the killer.
Shirley's daughter, Christina Lancaster, who's married and has her own kids at this time,
says, quote, we just want this guy behind bars and we want to know why he did it, end
quote.
And that is really the last update that I could find on Shirley McAvoy's case.
If you know anything about what happened to Shirley McAvoy in August of 1990, who possibly
the suspect Jerry is who was driving her car or the whereabouts of her dogs, what happened
to them, please call the Maine State Police Major Crime Unit at 207-624-7143.
And the sources for the timeline come from the Banger Daily News.
The Morning Centennial, Kennebec Journal, the Journal Tribune, the Richmond Times Dispatch
and the Boston Globe.
So that is the case of Shirley McAvoy.
Man, I feel bad using this word, but the first thing I thought was like just gruesome.
You know, like the word that or not the word, but people usually describe like, you know,
vicious attacks like this is like, like an animal had done it.
But I think that an animal would be ashamed of something like that because like, no, animals
don't kill like that.
Right.
Not even like sharks, you know, like, yeah, it's vicious, but there's still a goal, which
is food.
You know, anyway, there's not overkill.
Yeah, like you had a very, you had an intention to what you were doing there, you know.
And I just, you know, I opened up the picture when I was listening to you and she looked
like someone like personal to me anyway.
And I just like, yeah, like she just looks like a sweet lady, you know, like how could
you do that to someone?
You know?
Yeah.
And honestly, one of the more, I know you didn't do it, you know, like intentionally.
It's just like one of the more gruesome ones that we've covered, unfortunately.
So I think that's why it's, I'm focusing on it is you had to tell us.
It's part of the story.
It's fact, it's like part of the facts.
Yeah.
Just so our listeners know, I don't want to tell gruesome facts or anything like that
just for shock value, but I genuinely want to give them and present them just as facts
because you never know what thing might have slipped up, what somebody might have said,
what that clue is that they said on a drunken night in a bar or that they cried out in their
sleep.
Like you just don't know what is going to be the thing that jogs a memory in someone's
mind and says, Oh yes, I know something about this case.
Yeah.
Unfortunately, in engaging with true crime in this way, the facts that are hard to listen
to, hard to read, hard to take in, if they serve what the main goal is, which is finding
the person, if like, you know, exploring those details, unfortunately, if they serve finding
this person, then they need to be spoken about.
But you know, here at cold and missing, what we do is talk about those things with respect
and dignity and boundaries.
Like there's not, it's not necessary to go into detail, but there is, there's an importance
in mentioning it, especially with this case.
So just to echo that and for our listeners and continued listening, we, we do our best
to focus on what's most important.
Yeah.
And you know, this case, there's a couple of questions that come to my mind.
The one weird guy.
Well, yeah, Jerry, Jerry.
Yeah.
Possibly named Jerry.
Yeah.
I instantly, you couldn't hear me out there, but I go off Jerry.
I was like, I don't know why I like latched onto it.
Pretty instantly I was like, it's this guy.
Yeah.
Interactions odd.
Maybe it's because, you know, again, if you're looking for it, it's there, but I don't, I
don't understand what's going on with that relationship.
And that was a new relationship by all accounts.
He had moved in five days a week before she disappeared and ultimately was murdered.
And neighbor said, he just showed up.
He didn't have a car.
He just showed up one day at her house and was there.
And you know, other friends saw him in her house.
So yeah, I'm like, was he someone that was like watching her for a period of time before
he just quote showed up, you know, and had a plan or it was being whatever.
There's a couple of different stories about where they possibly could have met.
But it seems like the main one was kind of this like recreation.
I think it was called like fun center or fun town or something like that.
Was that they like met at this place.
What was your imagination station in celebration?
Celebration station.
Yeah.
Superior, superior tall.
To Chuck, to Chuck E. Cheese.
To Charles E. Cheese.
Charles E. Cheese.
Anyway, but yeah, they're so there's a couple of different mentions, but it seems likely
that that was where they met.
Possibly in July, about a month before she went missing.
But again, it seems like he told different people different things in her life about
where he was from, where his family was from.
Yeah, like a lot of lies that even if they said like, well, he told me this, he told
me this, there's no real origin anyway.
Right.
And really they just bought him time.
Yeah.
Whatever he was doing.
And people said he didn't offer anything.
It's like they really had he wasn't friendly.
You know, he was in talkative to people.
They really kind of had to pry.
It's like, what's what's it called?
Like when someone just like blows into town?
I can't think of it.
I guess it doesn't matter.
A pass or a passerby or a lone like someone who isn't from the town and it's just like
blown blown through.
You know, there's a specific word.
Someone who's listening is like, it's this word.
Oh, I know.
Yeah.
But yeah, just like someone randomly like who is this guy?
Where did he come from?
Like, right.
He spoke with a southern accent.
Yeah, was in Maine.
So yeah, lots of questions around Jerry.
And ultimately, he's never been identified.
I also have questions just in the beginning, because it seems like police went into her
home before she was officially reported missing or shortly thereafter.
The timing seemed to kind of off in the newspaper reports I was reading.
I couldn't really pin that down.
But police do enter it before October 1st when the blood stain is found.
So I'm just wondering, did police just look really quickly, not see anything because the
sofa had been moved over the blood stain?
Did they just not notice it?
They didn't know that they wouldn't know her furniture layout.
So they wouldn't know the sofa had been moved.
Was it just something quick like that?
And that's why it was missed.
But there was a lot of things going on in her home.
You know, there was the police say the windows were disturbed and kind of broken.
The cords were missing.
It appears from her windows because her feet were bound with a window cord.
Her bedspread was missing.
None of her clothes were missing.
And the curtains had been moved.
But again, maybe police wouldn't have known that because they didn't know how her home
was before she had disappeared.
Yeah.
Yeah, I just have questions in there about how the investigation started.
And Brian, you know, her soon to be ex-husband cooperates with police and is ultimately ruled
out as a suspect, according to them.
But there does seem to be like a hitch in getting this figured out because, you know,
why weren't the police alerted quicker that the car had been in an accident?
Because Brian had known that like, it just seems like there was hiccups in getting this
case going.
Yeah, and there had to have been evidence like everywhere initially.
Unless it was cleaned up and the only thing that remained was the-
Yeah, and we know the luminol testing.
But, yeah, in hearing the details, what it indicates to me is that it was frenzied.
Like it wasn't, I don't think it was planned.
And even if it was, it didn't go according to plan.
It was messy.
Yeah.
And, you know, like with down to like what they use to, you know, tie her feet together.
Like it's not like it was rope that was brought in.
Right.
Like that was ripped from the wall or whatever, you know.
It was all stuff there.
Yeah.
But whoever did it obviously had time to clean because police had entered and if there had
been blood everywhere-
And knew the space.
Knew to like turn, grab that, pull it, you know.
Yeah.
But, you know, if police initially had walked in and seen blood everywhere, like from jump,
it would have been a homicide.
But that person, whoever did it, had time to clean because when police initially entered,
just on a cursory glance, there was nothing found, you know, out of the ordinary.
They're, you know, they didn't even see the blood stain on the carpet.
It seems like that was the only evidence left to the eye that you could see.
Yeah, it just really sad that her daughters had to grow up without her.
She was very close with her daughters and that was something that tipped off her family
and friends was that she wasn't in contact with them and that's how they knew something
was wrong.
Yeah.
Pretty quickly.
When you started talking about that, I started thinking about you and your mom and how you,
when you both get to talking together, it's just like you're friends in your mother-daughter
relationship and it sounded like that was very present in their relationship and that
like, I don't know, being a mother and being a parent was a big part of who she was.
Totally.
That she didn't get to have more of that.
Yeah, and her kids didn't get to have more of that.
Exactly.
Yeah.
If you have anything about what happened to Shirley McAvoy in August of 1990, please call
the Maine State Police Major Crime Unit at 207-624-7143.
If you aren't already, you can follow us on Instagram.
We'll be posting pictures of Shirley and the composite sketch of Jerry.
That'll be up there so you can see.
Please share it so that way other people can see it and learn about Shirley's case if they
don't already know about it.
While you're in your podcast app getting ready to go to your next show, if you could just
leave us a review, five stars, thumbs up, whatever the metric is in your favorite podcast
app, we would really appreciate it.
If you're an Apple podcast, if you could write us a review, oh, that would be amazing.
Those reviews help others discover us and ultimately will help others find this case.
If you are passionate about getting these cases out there, about helping cold cases
and missing people, writing a review is a really easy, free way to do that and help
get our podcast out there to more people.
One more update that we have is a few exciting things have been happening for cold and missing
and our presence in the world.
We landed on a top 50 list of, could you remind me of the title of the article again?
Yeah, we were on a top 50 list for the best missing people podcast to listen to in 2023.
We were number 29.
Number 29 and that's because of you all.
It's literally because you guys are listening.
It's amazing.
There were people that we saw a comment from someone the other day that said, this is my
cousin.
This is my cousin.
Thank you.
Thank you for doing this.
That's it, man.
That's why we're doing it.
To see our name on that list, you know that you can multiply that number 29 by 100 or
200 or 300.
That's how many people maybe listen to an episode.
It's amazing.
Yeah, it's such an honor to be a part of your week, to be in your ear at all.
What an honor.
Allie was also interviewed for Canvas Rebel and it was an article titled, meet Allie McLaughlin-Solkowski.
Yeah, I just kind of got to introduce myself and the podcast and kind of what we're all
about here.
If you want to read it, if you're interested in that, the link is in our bio in Instagram.
If you're not following us there, you're missing out on some exciting things.
So follow us there and get all the updates on not only missing people cases, cold cases
as those updates come through, but also just about the podcast in general.
So that's all over there.
But that's all I have.
Thanks for hanging in there if you're still listening.
Appreciate you.
I hope you have a great week and stay safe, y'all.
Stay safe, y'all.