Tammy Belanger, Exeter, NH & New Hampshire's Missing Children

EP 75: The Vanishing of Tammy Belanger: A Dark Anniversary
This month marks the 40th anniversary of the disappearance of 8-year-old Tammy Belanger from Exeter, New Hampshire. Tammy’s story is one that many in Southern New Hampshire know all too well, but the dark truth behind her abduction is still haunting. In this episode, we explore the mystery of what happened to Tammy after she was last seen crossing the street on her usual walk to school on November 13, 1984. 

Tammy’s case is eerily linked to another young girl—Christy Luna, an 8-year-old girl from Greenacres, Florida whose circumstances mirrored Tammy’s in disturbing ways. As we dive into the details, I make the case for the main suspect in these crimes, a deviant predator who is believed to be responsible for both disappearances.

Through Tammy’s story, we learn of the lost hours that passed before anyone realized she was missing, and how this case helped shape new protocols in the way schools respond to student absences. In 1984, when Tammy vanished, there were no calls home for missing children, no immediate alerts or search efforts. It wasn’t until hours later, when her mother Pat noticed Tammy was missing, that anyone realized she wasn’t at school, and by then, critical hours were lost.

This episode uncovers the haunting details of that fateful day and examines how a missing child led to critical changes in child safety protocols.

Listener Warning: This episode contains sensitive content and details about child abduction, abuse, and trauma.

Updating sources at crimeofthetruestkind.com

New Hampshire Missing Children - NaMUS

https://www.namus.gov/missingpersons/search#/results

Back in two weeks. Happy Thanksgiving.
Next live show is Sat, Jan 25 at Koto, Lowell, Mass.

Chapters

• 0:00 Crimes of the Merrimack Valley
• 20:28 Bear Brook State Park Mystery
• 25:55 Serial Predatory Behavior of Victor Winetti
• 44:25 Unsolved Missing Children Cases and Advocacy

Transcript

Anngelle Wood: 0:00

Well, hello, my name is Anngelle Wood and this is Crime of the Truest Kind.

Anngelle Wood: 0:33

Hello friends, welcome back to the show. I am on an every other week schedule and this was a tough couple of weeks for me for a few reasons, but really what I felt the last two weeks was I felt a bit blocked, like I just couldn't get it together to write a cohesive script. I'm just being honest, I don't have a team. It's me like many independent podcasters, but I'm glad you're here. Thank you to our patrons Kate, meryl Lolo, michelle Amy, courtney V brnt, pam K, brandy, mark Devil Dog, rebecca Lisa MC Superstar EP. There's Michelle with one L and Michelle with the traditional amount of L's. I want to announce the first live show of the new year. It's happening on a Saturday. I've heard from some of you that have said I can't make it on a Thursday night. We're going to try Saturday, January 25th. This is going to be in Lowell Koto Asian Fusion. It is a restaurant that hosts live music and events. Those of you who are local to Massachusetts and New England may be familiar with Kodo and Salem Massachusetts, which we may eventually do a show there too.

Anngelle Wood: 1:59

On Saturday, january 25th in Lowell, we are going to talk about crimes of the Merrimack Valley. If there is a case that you'd like me to include, please let me know. Send me an email Crimeofthetruestkind at gmailcom. Tickets on sale on Tuesday, november 26th. They will be linked at crimeofthetruestkindcom. I am selling them directly through the website. So I will link ticket sales at crimeofthetruestkindcom and, if you are not yet on the mailing list, sign up. I will send a message out via email with all the information and the ticket link. That will also put you on the list for the monthly newsletter that I do, which I have not settled on a name yet.

Anngelle Wood: 2:52

For those of you who've been listening to the show for a period of time, you know that I grew up here in New England, largely in Massachusetts, but I did spend a fair amount of time in southern New Hampshire. The stories are close to me, but I did spend a fair amount of time in southern New Hampshire. The stories are close to me. November 13th marked 40 years that a little girl from Exeter, new Hampshire, disappeared without a trace and her case is unsolved. How can that be? And as I dug into this case, I had no idea what I was in for In the other 13 active New Hampshire missing children cases that are in the NamUs database.

Anngelle Wood: 3:41

This is episode 75. Tammy Belanger, exeter, new Hampshire and New Hampshire's Missing Children. There are currently 13 active New Hampshire missing children's cases in the NamUs database. Namis database NAMIS, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, the National Clearinghouse and Resource Center for Missing, Unidentified and Unclaimed Person Cases throughout the US Is that all the children currently missing from New Hampshire Can't be. Namis lists 57 missing persons cases in the state. I checked that against the New Hampshire Missing Persons Report at nhgov. That lists the total current missing persons cases in the state at 75. I looked up what was current for the New Hampshire Missing Persons Report. It lists unclassified across the top and the one dated October 17th 2024 had seven children that I couldn't find on any other list Children that came up in zero searches. So I hope they're safe.

Anngelle Wood: 4:59

We know it to be true that not all missing people are entered into NamUs. I see it as an official documentation of that person to be missing. There are a number of reasons why they may not be entered. Law enforcement must enter the information Family members are not able to. If you listen to the recent episode I did with Nina Innsted, advocate and host of Already Gone podcast. We talk about a number of things that happen when someone goes missing and why someone may not be in a database.

Anngelle Wood: 5:33

Episode 73, released on October 23rd. New Hampshire Information and Analysis Center that's NHIAC. I know there are a lot of initialisms. It's hard to keep up the NHIAC Missing Persons Report. It is a comprehensive monthly designed to provide those agencies with open missing persons cases, greater exposure of those cases. Data is taken from the National Crime Information Center, that's the NCIC, the New Hampshire State Police Cold Case Unit, and all case files from the investigating agencies. Now there are bound to be discrepancies in reporting and that is why we need to be diligent for these kids who have still not been located, no matter the reason given. Kids who have still not been located, no matter the reason given. And of course, I share these source links at crimeofthetruestkindcom.

Anngelle Wood: 6:31

On each episode's page I will list these cases to the best of my ability and there is often not a lot of information available, especially for the most recent cases. When I prepare for each show, I usually have a direction. With that I mean I have a selected case and have begun the research already, and there are a lot of cases I'm working on all at the same time. That list continues to grow through my research. Often researching one case leads to another and another, like what happened for this episode. I was very aware of this case, having lived in New Hampshire when this disappearance took place, and I do recall seeing it on the news and in newspapers over the years. And this month marked 40 years since this little girl disappeared while walking to school, the same familiar walk she took almost every day.

Anngelle Wood: 7:33

Tammy Belanger disappeared from Exeter, new Hampshire. Let's talk about Exeter, new Hampshire, for a minute. With a population around about 16,000 now, it's a beautiful small town. Shops, a bandstand in the center, almost every New Hampshire kid's Las Vegas strip is Hampton Beach. 10 miles away, exeter borders Epping to the north, where the New England Dragway is. It smells like burnt rubber in season, doesn't it? Fremont to the west, west and Kingston to the south All small, quaint New Hampshire village towns.

Anngelle Wood: 8:14

Kingston was home to Nancy Champion. She grew up and worked on her family's farm there. I don't know that her name would be familiar in this context. She was better known as Nancy Lanza, mother of Adam Lanza, who was born in Exeter Hospital in 1992. The Lanza family moved to Newtown, connecticut, in 1998, when he was six. I can do math. I went to school in New Hampshire. Adam Lanza is the Sandy Hook mass shooter and I imagine some of you listening to me now know the Lanzas from their time in New Hampshire and I am very sorry about all of it. What happened in Newtown has nothing to do with New Hampshire. What happened in Newtown has nothing to do with New Hampshire. No-transcript. That's more than some people make in a year.

Anngelle Wood: 9:41

A co-educational college prep school with approximately 1,100 boarding and day students, grades 9 through 12. They've seen much success with an endowment of $1.5 billion, with a B as of last year, and have the world's largest high school library 160,000 volumes over nine levels with a shelf capacity of 250,000 volumes. That's a lot of books. The world needs a lot of books. The academy admits students on a need-blind basis and offers free tuition to students with family incomes under $125,000 a year. Its list of notables includes US President Franklin Pierce he's got a college. Us Senator Daniel Webster he's got a highway. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg we know what he's got. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg we know what he's got.

Anngelle Wood: 10:45

Ben ontench musician, producer and keyboardist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers you got it. Boston locals will recognize this name Billy Ruane. He didn't graduate but he went there and he made huge contributions to the Boston music scene. Historian Heather Cox Richardson went to Exeter Also Will and Wynne Butler of the band Arcade Fire. Look, I learn incredible things every episode that I do of this. I hope you learn something too. Dan Zanes and Warren Zanes are Exeter raised. The Zanes brothers were in one of Boston's most beloved rock and roll bands in the 80s called the Del Fuegos. Youngest brother, arren, wrote the 2015 New York Times bestselling biography, tom Petty the Biography I know, astounding name. And in 2023, he released the book Deliver Me From Nowhere the Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. It was announced earlier this year that a film adaptation of his book is in the works, starring Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen. Yes, chef.

Anngelle Wood: 12:12

This month marked 40 years since a little girl vanished off the streets of Exeter while she was walking to school, the same familiar route she took almost every day. Tammy Belanger was eight. She was shy, she was quiet. One reporter wrote likable, they're all likable, they're kids. I can hear all the mothers saying are you sure? I know you love your kids. You don't always like them, always like them.

Anngelle Wood: 12:50

Tammy Libalanger was born on February 24th 1976. The youngest of three was described as four feet six inches, that's 54 inches, tall and weighed about 70 pounds, and because I'm me and I can't seem to help myself, I wanted to know if that was within the normal growth average for a child at that age. First, at Boston Children's Hospital, I rabbit-holed into endocrinology and adrenal glands to find out, and yes, she was within the normal range, on the taller side for her age. Why, though, a smaller-than-average child would indicate to me, ruling out genetics and hormones? Underdevelopment is also caused by malnutrition. That could indicate neglect and abuse, but that is not the case here. I want to stress that is not the case with Tammy or the Belanger family. None of the research suggested anything out of the ordinary. They were a very normal family. And boom, I'm an endo and a detective now, yay me.

Anngelle Wood: 13:54

I think about her photo, one I've seen hundreds of times on New Hampshire television. Those bangs carved and curved blunt across her forehead. Her brown eyes left one wandered out to the side. I also rabbit-holed some research about lazy eyes, but I'm going to spare you that. When you see her face, you'll never forget it. That is actually what her father told news reporters in the week following her disappearance, when speaking to the Boston Globe for a story printed on November 24, 1984, she was missing for 11 days.

Anngelle Wood: 14:34

Her parents were drained. Their home was a revolving door of detectives and media. There was no peace. Their two older children, 17 and 14, handled it the best they could. Tammy's parents hadn't worked in nearly two weeks that she was missing and they were faced with attempting to get back to normal life when their lives were anything but normal. It would be a very steep learning curve. Her mom, patricia, worked in administration at Exeter Hospital's emergency room. Nelson Belanger worked as a production supervisor at their waterworks in the nearby town of Hampton. Remember New Hampshire kids, our Vegas trip, hampton Beach. They had the support of their neighbors and so many of them turned out to help in the search. Exeter was smaller in 1984. A close-knit community was the phrase that was echoed by many of the people interviewed about Tammy's disappearance in the years that followed.

Anngelle Wood: 15:38

On. That chilly Tuesday morning she got dressed in an aqua shirt with black and white stripes, a purple sweater, a tan jacket with blue sleeves, tan corduroy pants, tan suede boots and green and blue socks. She was silent that day she carried a red backpack that had her name and address on it. She didn't get a school bus. She lived too close, under two miles from the school. That was the rule at the time.

Anngelle Wood: 16:10

Tammy set out 8 am for the .8-mile walk from her River Street house to the Lincoln Street School. Google Maps says it is 20 minutes. She wasn't the kind of kid to talk to strangers. She was shy, no-transcript. The last known sighting of her was by a friend and neighbor of the Belangers. Betty Blanchett was the last person to see Tammy. No one else has said otherwise. She glanced out the window, saw Tammy skipping across the

Anngelle Wood: 16:52

street. What came next is a mystery, and critical hours passed. No one knew. An eight-year-old was snatched from the street. At least no one came forward and schools didn't call home to check on kids in 1984. Student absence calls started as a result of Tammy's abduction. I'd like to put this on record and apologize to Linda, the secretary at my school, for all of the days that I didn't go and she called me and I answered the phone and said yeah, linda, I'm home. There was no way to know if calling home would have made a difference to what happened to Tammy that day. If it would have changed the outcome, at least her family would have had the opportunity to act sooner. In cases like this, time is of the essence. It can save other

Anngelle Wood: 17:47

children. Tammy was due home shortly after 3 pm. When she had not arrived by 3.30, her mom, pat, called the school. That's when her family found out that Tammy didn't make it to school that day. Seven and a half hours had

Anngelle Wood: 18:04

passed. Tammy was a good girl. She did her work, she liked school, she got good grades. Her dad spoke about that in interviews, one with the Boston Globe. He talked about her punctuality. She got up early, she ate breakfast, she left for school right on time. There was no dilly-dallying. Her dad didn't believe that she would accept a ride from anyone, not even a neighbor. Anxiety, panic, confusion, dread welling up inside her mom. She called the police and they began a search, pursuing every scenario. Had Tammy been convinced to skip out? Unlikely? They hoped so. They were afraid of the other possibilities and since Tammy was discovered missing so late in the day, they were racing against time and the sun was setting. They were losing valuable

Anngelle Wood: 19:05

light. Searchers mobilized about 75 firefighters, police officers and volunteers and with the help of a Coast Guard helicopter. They searched by air by boat copter. They searched by air by boat and by land With boat access. They searched along the banks of the Exeter River, which ran right behind the Belangers' home. They searched the woods looking for disturbed earth. They scoured the woods. They searched backyards and buildings. They knocked on doors. Volunteers searched her school, leaving no stone unturned. They used every ounce of light they could as the sun set. There was no sign of Tammy. They recovered nothing that belonged to her. Their daughter was gone. As the hours passed, they tried not to let their fears take over, fear that Tammy was taken, that someone would deliberately want to harm their child. Days passed, weeks, thanksgiving came with an empty seat at the table, christmas gifts waiting for Tammy to open when she returned Her ninth birthday that February, to open when she returned Her ninth birthday that February. And many holidays and special occasions blurred through the years and still no trace of

Anngelle Wood: 20:28

Tammy. November 10th 1985, nearly one year after Tammy went missing, a hunter trudging through Bear Brook State Park in Allentown, new Hampshire, came across a 55-gallon industrial steel drum. Inside were the remains of two bodies. They were past decomposition. They were skeletonized, wrapped in plastic bags. That set off a course of hope and fear for loved ones of missing people. Could it be Tammy? The remains were examined and it was determined that they had died between 1977 and 1985. Autopsies confirmed both had died of blunt trauma. They were buried in Allentown Cemetery with a headstone that read here lies the mortal remains, known only to God, of a woman aged 23 to 33 and a girl aged 8 to 10. Their slain bodies were found on November 10, 1985, in Bearbrook State Park. May their souls find peace in God's loving

Anngelle Wood: 21:39

care. The story of Bearro Brook has fascinated us, and 15 years later, on May 9th 2000, a second 55-gallon drum was discovered in the same area. How did investigators miss it? Was it there when the first one was found? Miss it? Was it there when the first one was found, or did the person or persons responsible dump them at different times? The second drum, like the first, contained the mutilated bodies of two young girls. Neither of them was Tammy. The story of Bear Brook State Park continued to develop over the years. Thank you to science, the identities of three of those four victims have been made, the fourth, a child, still unknown. I often get asked to share the story of the Bear Brook Four. It should be told, and it should be told with the proper reverence and preparation. The investigation into Tammy's disappearance continued. There was the time in 1994 where police opened the grave of a woman who had died in November 1984. It came on a tip but no evidence and no connection to Tammy was made. Otis is here Sometimes. He just wakes up and barks at stuff. At the time of her disappearance Tammy had brown hair, brown eyes. Her left eye turns outward from an injury. She had what is described as a slender build, a fair complexion. She would be 48 years old now and is still considered a missing person. Investigators kept at it. And then there was a suspect, thanks to the Palm Beach Post. In its very detailed reporting, investigators made connections to a New Hampshire man who had relocated to Florida they were looking at him in Tammy's disappearance and another eight-year-old girl who disappeared just months before Tammy from her neighborhood in Green cres, florida, located in Palm Beach County. That little girl is Marjorie Christina Luna. Her friends and family call her Christy. She was last seen on the afternoon of Sunday, may 27th 1984. Her family had spent part of that Memorial Day weekend on a road trip. Her mom, jenny, was tired from the drive. Everyone in the house was Her oldest sister, her mom's companion at the time, a man who had been in Christy's life nearly all of it. So her mom put on a movie for Christy Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. Everybody was cooked from the trip so they took a nap About 2.30 that afternoon. Christy concerned about her mama cat who had some kittens Boo, boo and Skeeter. She took some bottles for recycling and walked the 400 feet from her house to Belk's Corner Store A two-minute walk. I mapped it. What I also learned when I was looking at Google Maps is that the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is now directly across the street from Belk's. Was it there in 1984? A clerk at the store told investigators that Christy bought a bag of cat food and went outside as other children played with fireworks that they had

Anngelle Wood: 25:15

bought. The Palm Beach Post reported that several witnesses told police they saw someone described as a Hispanic man, 5'6 to 5'8, medium build, talking with her outside the store and that the man offered her money to go inside and buy fireworks. It might have been sparklers or something. According to police detective Dennis Conno, that man was driving a faded blue car. Media reports through the years said it was a blue sedan with a broken taillight with Florida tags. It was observed by witnesses in the same

Anngelle Wood: 25:54

vicinity. Both girls were last seen the day they disappeared. Both girls were last seen the day they disappeared. The description of him is vague and police got no make or model for the car, no license plate number and no one saw Christy leave with him or anyone else. The description of Christy from that day four feet tall, 60 pounds, blue eyes, brown hair and a patch of freckles on her nose and cheeks In last seen wearing a turquoise bodysuit and no shoes. A number of reports have also said that she was hearing impaired. Her mom described her as a shy child. Her parents had divorced when she was a baby and her father was living in Atlanta. That's all they had to go on in the days and weeks after Christy vanished and her mom, jenny she, has not stopped looking for her little girl. As the investigation into Christy's disappearance wore on, many in the area were looked at closely Store clerks, people Christy had spent time with neighbors, two brothers with problematic pasts. Florida detectives would learn about Tammy's disappearance in New

Anngelle Wood: 27:11

Hampshire. In December 1984, police named a suspect in Tammy's disappearance. A New Hampshire deviant sex offender with a lengthy record had been arrested on a parole violation. Victor Winetti, age 41, was in the custody of New Hampshire police after he was picked up on November 29th in Rye, new Hampshire, and they started to put the pieces together. May of 1984, the suspect was arrested in the town of Lake Worth, florida, on a prowling charge. More on that in a moment. That's where his parents had moved from Dover, new Hampshire. This, I presume, would raise the flag that their sex offender parolee was no longer in the Granite State. The suspect's parole was revoked and he was sent back to the Concord State Prison and Spa for all the good guys where he had served only four years of a maximum 15-year term for felonious sexual assault against his wife's 13-year-old daughter, abuse that began when the child was eight years old. Wait until I tell you what he said about that. Investigators from Greenacres were on the first plane to New Hampshire to talk to Wyanetti about Christy Luna's disappearance because we would learn he was in the area where she disappeared that May

Anngelle Wood: 28:42

afternoon. I'm going to try to condense this information the best I can. It may be difficult. This man had decades of crimes and I'll make their case as to why he is the prime suspect in the disappearance of both Tammy Belanger and Christy Luna Some background. The suspect had established a relationship with law enforcement and by that I mean he was a criminal 1943,. He was born in Pennsylvania. He has at least 30 burglary convictions from around New

Anngelle Wood: 29:19

England. July 27, 1973, the 8-year-old daughter of a friend first told police that the suspect was touching and then molesting her. He was charged with child sexual abuse, csa, csa. His attorney managed to talk their way around the charges, saying that this child couldn't distinguish fantasy from reality. That's a page out of the defense attorney playbook. Also, the child's mother didn't believe her or protect her. So this is one of those earmuffet for me moments. That's the scene in old school where Vince Vaughn tells his little kid to cover his ears because he's about to say something horrible. In 1974, his defense did their job and the state had to drop the case against him, and then he married that child's mother. A few months later the man marries the mother, they live together, the child is now a stepdaughter, he has full access and the abuse progresses. It is so vile that this child, at 11 years old, has to go to the hospital for treatment because she is physically injured, she physically recovers and the CSA continues all over again. He is routinely raping this child and this child is deeply affected by this abuse. The police chief of Rollinsford, new Hampshire, where they were living at the time, spoke of the child always at the police station crying, but he was not able to ever get any information from her as to what was bothering her and the mother of the child. She said she never knew anything was going on. Um how? And the abuse continues. In 1977, his parents retire and move from Dover, new Hampshire, to a home in Lake Worth, florida, where, incidentally, guy Fieri and Ghost Man are from. Wouldn't put those two together. June 1979, the wife catches him in the act of abusing her now 13 year old daughter, the girl she did not believe before, and the suspect's response to all of it is sickening, saying she'd found them many times before and he stayed with her in the home. So she did nothing about it. The wife reported him to police. Thank you, big baby

Anngelle Wood: 32:05

Jesus. Suspect takes off to Florida where his parents are now living. The police arrest him and he is sent back to New Hampshire for trial. He is so depraved. The child told investigators that he would photograph her before, during and after the abuse. He tried to revenge porn air quotes with these photos to get them to drop prosecution of the case by threatening to release those photos of a 13-year-old girl. It goes to trial, during which time he is mouthing things at this child I love you and sending her love letters, and I know what you're thinking. How is this happening? How was this child even in this room, near this man? When asked by the judge whether he had anything to say, he wanted to know why he was being crucified for something that wasn't even a crime. The judge sent him for a psych evaluation. One month later, a doctor from the New Hampshire State Hospital wrote the judge Winetti is not a dangerous to the judge, saying that he had been railroaded, blaming the child who used him to get anything she wanted in that it was all her. He was just a man and she was the evil

Anngelle Wood: 33:39

seductress. Sex offenders have a higher prevalence of personality disorders compared to non-sex offenders and spending time in prison does not rehabilitate them. In July 1983, he is paroled, serving just four years for CSA. You know what I call that? That's fucking bananas. The terms of his parole included the provision that he remain in the state of New Hampshire. He left New Hampshire for Florida without knowledge or permission. He is hired to work at a golf course as a

Anngelle Wood: 34:19

groundskeeper. May 7, 1984. He is arrested by Palm Beach County Sheriff's officers after an off-duty Lake Worth police sergeant discovered a man looking in the windows of a home. Sergeant Pat Ryan chased him through the neighborhood where he was found crouched in the bushes behind one of the houses. He said he was looking for a lost cat and gave a Dover, new Hampshire address. This is not the last time that he will be caught being a deviant sex degenerate. He was arrested for night prowling. He posted $250 bail and was released on May

Anngelle Wood: 35:00

8th. May 27th Christy Luna goes missing from her Green Acres neighborhood. It is less than 15 miles away from Lake Worth. August 23rd the suspect is sentenced to 30 days in jail for the prowling charge. November 2nd he returns to New Hampshire. 2nd he returns to New Hampshire, lives in a motel in Rye. His parole officer gets him a job at an Exeter body shop. November 13th, tammy Belanger disappears on her way to school in

Anngelle Wood: 35:31

Exeter. November 19th the FBI questions the suspect in Tammy's case. His car is searched. And remember, he's a convicted sex offender Prior to 1994, a federal sex offender registry didn't exist as we know it today, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act is born. Jacob Wetterling is an 11-year-old boy from Minnesota who was kidnapped, abused and murdered by a man nearby. His case went unsolved for almost 30 years. November 29th the suspect is arrested for the parole

Anngelle Wood: 36:14

violation. December 27th 1984, victor Wonetti is named as the main suspect in Tammy's disappearance. His parole is revoked and he is sent back to prison. He spends 1985, 86, 87, 88, 89, and 90 in the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord, new Hampshire Six years. In January 1991, he is released from the State of New Hampshire School for Trained Deviants and Criminals and goes back to Florida. I kid, I kid, this is dark stuff. You got to take it when you can get

Anngelle Wood: 36:53

it. June 1991, suspect is arrested after an intense police sting that followed and videotaped him prowling around homes and looking in the windows at children. All right, earmuff it for me again. It's about to get darker. They had their eyes on this guy. They knew he was connected to two missing child cases. So detectives, many of them, including some from New Hampshire, put him under surveillance. Investigators watch the now 48-year-old sex offender take opportunities to watch young girls at playgrounds. He would slide down low in his car and watch at bus stops, mini golf courses, community swimming pools that one hurts. That's how Andy Puglisi went

Anngelle Wood: 37:49

missing. The suspect was leaving the house in Lake Worth that he lived in with his parents before 5 am to drive to Woodhaven Plaza, park his car and walk to a housing complex To the same bedroom window. He was a lurker, a voyeur, a deviant. The window looked into the bedroom where three sisters slept, a nine-year-old and ten-year-old twins. For weeks investigators videotaped his movements with the hope that he could provide them with more about his crimes and proclivities. He returned to that suburban West Palm Beach duplex 14 times in less than three weeks, masturbating as he looked through the three-inch gaps in the window blinds inch gaps in the window blinds. We would later learn at trial that he would often press his face against the glass, so much so that his breath would be seen on the

Anngelle Wood: 38:50

window. Police were running the long game. They had some decent technology, a van, the whole movie stakeout situation and videotaped him doing his deviant shit. A tracking device was put on his car, which led them to a Memorial Day episode in North Florida where he was following children. Officers posed as joggers and watched him creep through neighborhoods. Detectives felt he was looking for an opportunity for a young child in a vulnerable state, like walking alone. A detective wrote after following the suspect's car through the town of Wellington on May 23, 1991, that it was evidence that he was keeping watch on these two developments. They sensed he might act and they wanted to be right there when he did. Weeks of surveillance with 40 officers came to an end on the morning of June 4th 1991, when Eddie was arrested walking back to his car at the Woodhaven Plaza after his morning deviance. He had no idea they were watching

Anngelle Wood: 40:05

him. The state's attorney's office filed seven counts of burglary in possession of burglary tools, and prosecutors intended to try him as a habitual offender, which meant that if convicted he could be sentenced to 30 years for each burglary. The chief assistant prosecutor at the time, ken Selvig, rarely tried cases but intended on handling this one when Eddie, in his disordered thinking, wrote the judge a letter, like he did in New Hampshire, railing about law enforcement's blind obsession with him. Oh, that's rich. They found trophies he had collected, including girls' underwear class photos stolen from homes. He had a collection of children's underwear advertisements cut out from sale flyers. He had scrapbooks with images of girls like Soleil Moon Frye, who was Punky Brewster at the time, brooke Shields, and there were Polaroids taken outside of bedroom

Anngelle Wood: 41:13

windows. An inmate from New Hampshire State Prison told Exeter police the suspect would gratify himself in jail while watching Sesame Street. His former friends had a nickname for him Chester the Molester. We know investigators had put a tracking device on his car, a blue Oldsmobile. They looked through his trash, they tapped his phone, they monitored his mail. They even set up in an apartment in a complex that he frequented. They knew him, but did they know him enough to say unequivocally that he would steal a child off the

Anngelle Wood: 41:53

street? Tammy Belanger and Christy Luna both eight disappeared within six months of each other. He denied any involvement. Evidence leaking him to each abduction is circumstantial, but Buonetti showed signs. His parole officer found him a job in Exeter stripping paint from cars at Brad's Auto Body. Brad is Brad Bissell, the owner who said Buonetti hadn't missed a day of work until November 13th 1984. The day Tammy Belanger walked from her River Street home, around the corner from the body shop at 69 Main Street. She never made it to school and he never made it to work. He was supposed to be at work at 7 am to work. He was supposed to be at work at 7 am that day. He called in sick but the call came in around noon. His boss thought he had a late night out and was sleeping it

Anngelle Wood: 42:51

off. Two days after Tammy vanished, Winnetti's parole officer notified the local police that the convicted sex offender was working in Exeter. The police didn't know. They had no idea. Detectives called Brad Bissell and told him to report to them on a daily basis how Winnetti was behaving. Bissell told the Palm Beach Herald that the day after Tammy's disappearance he was in a world of his own. During lunch he just stood by himself rubbing his key against the hood of his car. The manager of the Rye Motor Inn where he was living remembers watching a news report on TV about Tammy and asked him do you think they'll ever find that girl? Not now, they won't, was his reply. An FBI agent showed up at the body shop, searched his car. In the trunk they found a sex toy, a patch of carpet, a chainsaw, stolen stereo equipment and other items. That's when he went back to the motor room and told the manager to say that she saw his blue 1975 Oldsmobile in the motel lot. All morning on November 13th Police searched his room at the inn, the grounds around the building, the dumpster, the trash. He was that big talking kind of guy who would say he knew how to dispose of a body where no one would ever find

Anngelle Wood: 44:23

it. After all of this, and a blue car being seen in the vicinity of Christy Luna and Tammy, this CSA conviction, the absolute brutality of all of it, the piles of materials of children. This guy was never charged in either disappearance. I find many similarities in this case to Andy Puglisi's Because there are so many players, reprehensible, horrible human beings. He would face two trials, the first for the West Palm Beach family, the second for the Wellington incidents. When he was charged with nine counts of burglary, ten counts of trespass, seven counts of indecent exposure and one count of possession of burglary tools, a bond was set at $750,000. His freedom was short-lived. He was facing decades in prison on those

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charges. But the jury would not hear the full story, nothing about the unrelented abuses he forced upon that little girl, not the revolting fixation on children, the deviance, the voyeurism. They didn't hear his nickname. The guys had for him Chester the Molester. They didn't find out about his jailhouse confession to raping and killing two eight-year-old girls in 1984. He was convicted of burglary and indecent exposure in two trials. Family members of the two victimized families were there the West Palm Beach mom of the three little girls targeted, who stayed at a hotel to allow police to move into their house. They hugged after sentencing and said it was worth it. And you bet Jenny Luna, christy's mom, was there for it. She believes he is the one responsible for her daughter's disappearance. It all adds up to

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her. The suspect was unrepentant, as one headline read. He wasn't sorry, blaming all of it on an obsession by the police, a setup. He cried interruption. The judge handed down a 75-year sentence. It was the lack of remorse and there were 23 prior convictions. That included aggravated felonious sexual assault of a child. The judge said it he was a danger to society and gave him a harsher sentence under the habitual offender provision. From the courtroom Christy's mother yelled I know you killed her. What did you do with my daughter? Victor Winnetti was the main suspect in Tammy Belander's disappearance. Jenny Luna knew he took her little girl. That surveillance footage showed his deviance. Searches uncovered his diabolical mind. But somehow he was released from prison in April 2012 and died eight months

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later. Tammy's disappearance remains open, as does Christy Luna's. They would be 48 years old now. Tammy's parents eventually divorced. It's unclear where Mom Pat is today. Tammy's father, nelson, passed away in 2017. He was 74. He was remarried at the time of his passing. He is survived by his wife, mercedes Belanger, and his children from his former marriage Tammy's sister Anne, brother Brian, four grandchildren, kayla, aiden, caitlin and Owen, pre-deceased by his daughter, tammy Lynn. I get a little choked up at this last line. The last line of his obituary reads donations may be made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in memory of Tammy Lynn Belanger. Nelson Belanger died never knowing what happened to his little girl. Christy's mom, jenny, remarried. She is Jenny Johnson now and she has never stopped looking for her daughter. Her older daughter, allie, who was 11 when Christy disappeared, is now the mom of five of her own children. Jenny still lives in their Greenerker's home, two minutes from Belk's

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door. According to NamUs, there are 13 open missing child cases in New Hampshire. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploded Children, nemic, there are 11 open cases of missing children from New Hampshire Janice Taylor, 15, missing from Concord on January 9, 1968. Patricia Wood, age 4, missing from Swansea October 12, 1976. Rachel Garden, 15. Missing from Newton March 22, 1980. Lorene Rahn, 14. Missing from Manchester April 27, 1980. Shirley Tippie McBride, 15. Missing from Concord July 13, 1984. Tammy Belanger, age 8, missing from Exeter November 13, 1984. William Vosler, age 2, missing from Rochester October 9, 1986. Brother Charles, age 3, missing from Rochester October 9th

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1986. Julian Bulleris, 18, missing from Swansea July 30th 1994. Nicholas Foster, 18, missing from Winchester. Missing from Winchester March 10, 1998. Bethany Sinclair, 15, missing from West Chesterfield February 3, 2001. Harmony Montgomery, age 5, missing from Manchester October 1, 2019. Thaddeus Sear, 17, missing from Bedford February 15, 2023. Amira Witherspoon, age 17, missing from Salem, new Hampshire, october 13, 2024. Joseph Jones, 17,ing from Nashua October 13,

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2024. There are a number of reasons why people go missing. There are a number of reasons why children go missing. They're abducted, custody disputes, one parent takes the children away from another parent. Some children run away. For some children it's an outside influence, oftentimes a dangerous one. For some children it's identity a biological family and an adoptive one. For some children, being away from their home is safer than being in their home. Some children are harmed by the people who are supposed to love them. Whatever these circumstances are surrounding the disappearance of any of these children and any of the children on any of the missing lists. It doesn't matter. If they are missing, they could be unsafe and in need of our help. I don't accept they're a runaway. Why bother? Because they're children and we should always bother Information, links, sources and more detail about these missing children cases at

Anngelle Wood: 52:58

CrimeOfTheTruestKind. com. Thank you for listening. My name is Angelle Wood. This is Crime of the Truest Kind Massachusetts and New England crime stories, regional history, advocacy and, yeah, a little snark too. Please support the show, like it, follow it, subscribe to it, tell your friends about it. Leave a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. I hope you can come out to the next live show Saturday, a Saturday this time, january 25th, at Kodo in Lowell. Happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful for all of you who have stuck with me. I'll talk to you again in two weeks. Lock your goddamn doors, we'll be right back. We'll see you next time.