On July 16, 1952, at Camp Sloane near Lakeville, Connecticut, 10-year-old Constance Christine “Connie” Smith ran away after getting into an altercation with fellow campers. She was last seen trying to hitchhike at the intersection of Route 44 and Belgo Road.
In July 1952, she was enrolled for a month at Camo Sloane by her mother, who was visiting her parents in Greenwich, CT. Around 2 weeks into her stay at the camp, she was visited by her mother (Connie had celebrated her 10th birthday on July 11th) who said Connie seemed happy at the camp. So happy, she even asked if she could stay longer than she was supposed to, but her mother said no. Connie reportedly told her mother that she was excited for a dressage event and square dancing. Connie accepted the fact that her mother was not letting her stay longer.
However, Connie may have also had bad times at the camp too. She did not smile in a group photo taken a week before she disappeared, whereas earlier pictures normally showed her smiling. Connie was reportedly homesick after talking to her mother. On the evening of July 15th, she also slipped and fell down steps that led to her tent platform and bruised her hip. A nurse at the camp gave her an icepack. The following morning, Connie got a bloody nose when a fellow tentmate accidentally kicked her in the face. She told tentmates she was skipping breakfast to return her icepack.
However, she left the icepack in the tent and walked half a mile to the camp entrance. The camps gatekeeper saw her leave the camp around 8:15 am and saw her pick daisies on the side of the road. The gatekeeper said he thought she was a camp counsellor (due to Connie appearing older than she really was) and did not stop the car he was driving.
Connie was 5 feet tall and weighed 85 lbs. She had long arms and flat feet. The morning she disappeared, she was wearing a red windbreaker, a brown bandana halter top, navy blue shorts with plaid cuffs, and tan leather shoes. Her clothing had nametags. She had shoulder length, light brown hair that was tied back with a red ribbon. She had blue eyes and was extremely suntanned. Her canine teeth were erupting. Others who saw Connie also said she looked older than she was.
Connie reportedly stopped at two homes to ask for directions to Lakeville. One witness said Connie looked like she had been crying, but did not offer help to her. Connie was last seen around 8:45 am, hitchhiking at the intersection of U.S. Route 44 and Belgo Road. It’s been speculated that she was trying to place a phone call to her mother and didn’t want camp staff to hear. Connie never got to Lakeville. She was reported missing by camp staff around 11:30 am.
Despite extensive search efforts, and numerous tips over the years, Connie has never been found. Her father, mother, and brother all have since passed away without ever knowing what happened to Connie.
Theories
- It’s been speculated that Connie suffered a concussion after the fall, as she was not examined by a doctor, and she may have amnesia. No clothing belonging to her nor a body was found in the area despite extensive search efforts.
- It’s been theorized that she may have been hit by a car on the road and the driver quickly hid her body. This theory was dismissed as no blood, nor a sign of a hit and run was found on the route.
- A Connecticut State Police investigator said Connie was likely picked up by an unknown serial killer and disposed of in an iron quarry. Other female hitchhikers had disappeared under similar circumstances in the New England area. Since Connie appeared older than she was, it’s been speculated she and two young women may have been victims of an unknown serial killer.
- Katherine Hull, a 22-year-old New Yorker disappeared from Lebanon Springs in 1936 after she was seen hitchhiking. Her remains were found in 1943, 7 years later by a hunting party.
- Paula Jean Welden, a 18-year-old college student vanished in December 1946 from North Bennington, Vermont. She has never been found.
- Another theory is that Connie fell victim to suspected serial killer William Redmond, who is also a suspect in the 1951 disappearance of 10-year-old Beverly Potts. However, it has not been proven if he was in the area when Connie went missing, and he passed a polygraph test when he denied he killed Connie (though the authenticity of this has been disputed and debated).
- Another theory is that Connie is Little Miss X, an unidentified preteen or teenaged girl discovered in Arizona in 1958. She had naturally reddish-blonde hair that was dyed light brown, and had a nail file with the initials “PR”, and some cream and powder with her. She is believed to have been dead for 9 to 18 months prior to her discovery. The unidentified decedent reportedly had many similarities between her teeth and Connie’s teeth. The decedents body however has been lost so DNA testing cannot take place. Little Miss X has also been speculated to be Pinky Redman, a 14-year-old who went missing in 1958.
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