Corrected and updated Aug. 19, 2022, 4:10 p.m.
When Sheila Anderson of Still River called 911 on July 17 to report her daughter Mary was missing, Harvard police went into action immediately. Even though 23-year-old Mary Anderson was an adult and had been out of touch for less than a day, Chief Jim Babu said the mother’s account made it clear the situation was serious.
“The totality of the circumstances,” Babu said, led him to start a search at once. Among those circumstances were that Mary Anderson’s former boyfriend, 34-year-old Matthew Davis of Fitchburg, had made threats against her and had a violent criminal record.
The outcome of the search was not to be what everyone hoped for. “You never think that somebody’s not going to come home,” Babu said. “It was devastating.”
A multistate effort
Although it was a Sunday evening when the 911 call first came and three people in the Police Department were out sick with COVID-19, the Harvard Public Safety Building quickly became a command center both for local officers and for Massachusetts State Police, who searched the fields around Anderson’s home.
The whole police team worked around the clock. Harvard Detective Daniele Fortunato came in from home and worked all night, obtaining subpoenas and getting IP addresses that allowed police to track the missing woman’s cellphone. Sgt. Matthew Callahan found Davis’ car on Middle Street, off Still River Road not far from Anderson’s home. Babu said finding the car indicated Davis had waited for Anderson to come home and then gone away with her in her own pickup truck.
After police put out word about the missing woman, tips poured in from across New England and beyond. Administrative assistant Pat Natoli fielded those phone tips for hours, as well as making sure all the officers had food to keep them going. The Ayer Police Department sent Sgt. Kellie Barhight to help out for two days.
The search soon expanded to involve state police from New Hampshire, where Mary Anderson had last been seen by friends. Vermont State Police joined the case when the metadata from Anderson’s cellphone led to Brattleboro.
Anderson’s body was found in Brattleboro inside her pickup Tuesday morning, July 19. She had been killed with a gun still in the truck; police later determined the gun had been stolen in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Just before 8 p.m. that evening, Davis was shot and killed in Brattleboro after lunging with a knife at three Vermont police officers.
Massachusetts State Police complimented the Harvard Police Department for acting quickly in calling in the state’s forces. Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early also praised the department’s fast response. Two homicide prosecutors from Early’s office had joined the team at the Harvard police station, working in shifts to ensure all legal steps were taken to allow for prosecution if a trial had been required.
Select Board Chair Rich Maiore noted those compliments at Tuesday’s Select Board meeting this week. He said Babu, Fortunato, Natoli, and the whole police team all put in 20-hour days and played a critical role in the investigation. The board voted unanimously to send a letter thanking the Harvard police for their extraordinary efforts.
Expanded policy on missing persons; help for victims of domestic violence
Just days after Anderson was first reported missing, Harvard police faced a very different missing-person call. A Facebook post from the police asked the public to be on the lookout for a missing 78-year-old Harvard woman with memory problems who might be driving toward Concord. In that case, the woman was found safe within a few hours.
Babu said in an interview with the Press that police must respond differently depending on whether the missing person is a child, an elderly person, or—like Anderson—someone who might be the victim of violence. “We didn’t miss any steps in this case,” he said of the search for Anderson. He wants to revise the Harvard Police Department’s guidelines on missing persons so that officers know exactly the best steps to take in each kind of case.
Babu also said the Anderson case had other implications. He described Mary Anderson as a victim of domestic violence. The Harvard Police Department has many resources, he said, to help people in abusive situations, including a round-the-clock connection to a mental health clinician. People can reach those resources with just a local phone call to the Harvard police. His message to residents who face domestic abuse was simple: “Know that you’re not alone.”
Editor's note: A previous version of this story reported that Davis had been shot and killed by Vermont State Police shortly before 8 a.m. The incident occurred that evening, shortly before 8 p.m., July 19.
