The Disappearance of Patrick Merrill (New Hampshire)

Summary

Dark Downeast Episode Summary
Episode: The Disappearance of Patrick Merrill (New Hampshire)
Host: Kylie Low
Release Date: May 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Dark Downeast explores the unsolved disappearance of 21-year-old Patrick Merrill from Plymouth, New Hampshire in 1987. Host Kylie Low meticulously traces Patrick’s final days, his family’s relentless hope and heartbreak, and the shadowy figure of George Pregent—the prime suspect who would evade lasting justice for decades. Through interviews with Patrick’s sister, Laurie Merrill, and a deep examination of the criminal underworld intersecting with Patrick’s fate, the episode exposes not only the complexity of one young man’s vanishing but also the enduring pain and resilience of those left behind.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Patrick Merrill’s Last Known Hours

• On April 6, 1987, Patrick planned to meet his friend Nancy at 8 p.m. but "had some prearranged business" involving a drug transaction on behalf of a group of friends ([00:54], A).
• Last seen nervously getting into a green Mercury Comet or Ford Maverick with Vermont plates in downtown Plymouth around 7:30 p.m.
• The driver was an “average build with dark hair”, and police also sought a man in a tan poncho with a backpack ([02:50], A).

2. Family Reaction and Character Portrait

• Patrick’s family, especially sister Laurie, immediately sensed something was wrong when he failed to check in ([03:05], B).
• Laurie describes Patrick as exceptionally smart, funny, independent, sometimes rebellious, and deeply loved ([04:34], B; [05:21], B).
  • Quote: “He was always exceptionally smart. He was outgoing and he was funny and he was friendly. He loved sports. He loved chess… he always had a strong enough, like self opinion to do his own thing, his own way without worrying about public opinion.” ([05:21], B)

3. The Drug Deal and Disappearance

• Patrick, an inexperienced middleman, agreed to organize a marijuana deal, likely carrying $13,000 when he vanished ([07:45], A).
• Laurie’s reflection: “He was really idealistic...he thought the world was a safe place. He had never dealt drugs before.” ([07:36], B)
• Police found $2,000 cash hidden in his comic book collection—a haunting symbol of his innocence ([08:34], B).

4. Emergence of Main Suspect: George Pregent

• George Pregent, a known criminal with a long rap sheet involving theft, fraud, escape, and drug offenses, was the man believed to be with Patrick that night ([09:18], A–[19:30], A).
• Pregent’s history includes:
  • Auto theft rings spanning Vermont and New England.
  • Multiple prison escapes using smuggled hacksaws and fake identities ([13:22], A).
  • Attempted teaching career under false credentials and further criminal plotting ([15:45], A).
  • Later linked to plans involving armed robbery, extortion, and further drug offenses.
• Laurie’s summary: “People knew that George was in town and Patrick used to call him this cool dude George.” ([20:16], B)
• Patrick reportedly met Pregent hitchhiking; their relationship was casual, not close ([20:22], A; [21:16], B).

5. Investigation Obstacles & Legal Limbo

• Early police efforts hampered by lack of direct evidence tying Pregent to any crime involving Patrick ([21:33], A).
• Pregent and another man (pseudonym “Reggie”) were stopped days later in the suspicious green car but only faced drug charges, not homicide ([21:33], A).
• George continued his criminal exploits—including a remarkable jailbreak with bedsheets ([23:54], A). For nearly 18 months, he remained on the run under multiple aliases.

6. The Family’s Public Campaign and Grief

• Laurie and her mother, Zada, became active in the media to humanize Patrick and keep public attention on his case ([24:37], B).
• Quote: “He was part of this family, you know, he was a smart, likable person who made a bad decision...he wasn’t hurting anybody.” ([25:15], B)
• Patrick’s father, dying of cancer, never saw his son return ([25:35], A; [25:59], B).
• Family held a memorial service two years later, still without answers ([29:10], A).

7. Disturbing Evidence and Unanswered Questions

• In 1987, an informant alleges Pregent possessed human limbs in a plastic bag, and that Patrick’s remains might be in a bog in Proctor, Vermont ([30:24], A).
• Police found a jar containing decomposed human skin matching Patrick’s rare blood type (AB), but DNA evidence was too limited for confirmation ([32:02], A; [32:40], B).
• Extensive searches (with cadaver dogs, draining swampy areas) ultimately revealed only animal bones ([33:52], A).

8. Pregent’s Continued Crimes & Investigation Status

• Pregent continued to commit high-value drug and fraud crimes well into the 2000s ([35:42]–[36:52], A).
• Despite repeated investigation updates, Pregent has never been charged in connection to Patrick’s presumed death; neither has “Reggie”.

9. Lasting Family Memories

• Laurie and brother Ken share heartfelt memories, illustrating Patrick’s intelligence, humor, and loving nature ([38:12], B; [40:16], B).
  • Quote: “He was so loving and so delightful and so cheerful. And he went out of his way to make people laugh...the kind that makes the world better just by smiling at people in it.” ([40:16], B)
• Laurie laments the loss of a sibling’s lifelong companionship ([40:46], B).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On family fear and hope:
  “We both drove up there immediately with the feeling of doom. Our only hope was that he would return quickly.” ([03:05], B)

• On the drug deal:
  “He was a young guy who thought the world was safer than it was...he had never dealt drugs before.” ([07:14], B; [07:36], B)

• Symbolic detail:
  “His cut was 2,000 and he hid it in his comic book collection…that's such a brilliant symbol of where he was at.” ([08:34], B)

• On George Pregent:
  “He was not a criminal mastermind. He was a young guy who thought the world was safer than it was.” ([07:20], A)

• On the investigation’s horrors:
  “There was a one-gallon jar containing decomposed human skin...believed to be from the bottoms of human hands and feet.” ([31:57]–[32:02], A)

• Laurie on loss:
  “There's a piece of our heart that went with [him].” ([41:23], B)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:54–02:50: Patrick’s plans, last sighting, and start of disappearance
• 03:05–06:18: Laurie describes Patrick’s character, childhood, and independence
• 07:14–08:34: The marijuana deal and Patrick’s naïveté
• 09:18–19:30: George Pregent’s extensive criminal background
• 20:16–21:33: How Patrick met George and why he may have trusted him
• 23:54: Pregent’s audacious jail escape
• 24:37–25:35: Family’s public advocacy, dealing with stigma, and hope
• 30:24–33:52: The search for physical evidence (the jar, bog, animal bones)
• 38:12–41:23: Heartfelt family stories and the impact of Patrick’s absence

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Conclusion

The story of Patrick Merrill’s disappearance remains both a heart-rending personal tragedy and a disturbing mystery intertwined with a career criminal who repeatedly escaped justice. Laurie and her family’s stories ground the case in humanity, reminding listeners that behind every unsolved crime is a constellation of dreams lost, lives derailed, and love undiminished by time. The episode serves as a plea for new information—one more chance for answers.

If you have information on Patrick Merrill’s case, contact the New Hampshire State Police Cold Case Unit.

Transcript

[A]

In 2008, six women entered a Lane Bryant store, but only one made it out alive. Now my friend and Counterclock host Delia d' Ambra is taking a new look at the Lane Bryant murders in season eight of Counterclock, chasing answers that have been missing for years. She's reexamining every detail. The killer's voice captured on the 911 call, the lives of the victims, and a fresh new lead never fully examined. Until now. This isn't just a revisit, it's a re investigation. Listen to the full season of Counterclock Season 8 now, wherever you get your podcasts. One spring evening in 1987, a college student got into a green car in Plymouth, New Hampshire and vanished. His friends believed he was coming back. His family knew he would have called if he'd left on his own. But he was gone. And the man believed to be with him on the night he disappeared had a long history of run ins with the law. What started as a missing persons investigation soon stretched across state lines into jailbreaks, forged identities, strange searches in the Vermont woods, and disturbing yet inconclusive physical evidence. Police identified one suspect at the time. The missing man's family believes they know what happened. But nearly four decades later, no one has ever been charged. I'm Kylie Lowe and this is the case of Patrick Merrill on Dark Down East. It was April 6, 1987, and 21 year old Patrick Merrill had quite a few plans for his Monday night. He and his friend Nancy were supposed to meet up around 8pm to hang out. But before that, Patrick had to take care of some prearranged business. A few of his close friends knew exactly what kind of business Patrick was up to. In fact, some had a stake in the transaction, and I can imagine they were waiting for him to come back that night, maybe watching the clock, maybe feeling a little anxious for him to return. Of course, Patrick Nancy was waiting too. According to reporting by Paul R. Lessard for the New Hampshire Union Leader, 8:00pm came and went. Then more time passed. And at some point, what might have started as an annoyance or confusion turned into something sharper. Patrick wasn't just late. No one knew where he was. Nancy started checking in with Patrick's other friends, many of them students at Plymouth State College in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Like Patrick, they all got the unsettling feeling that something was wrong. The last time anyone had seen him, Patrick was getting into a green car and he looked nervous. Word reached Patrick's family out of state that Patrick was unaccounted for including his sister, Lori Merrill.

[B]

His friends from Plymouth State University said that he was missing. And the last time he was seen was in a car with this man. And my mother called to tell me, and we both drove up there immediately with the feeling of doom. You know, our only hope was that he would return quickly.

[A]

That feeling of doom never really left. But in those first hours and days, Patrick's family had to hold it alongside hope. Maybe he was scared, maybe he was hurt. Maybe there was some version of this where he came home and explained what had happened. Police and local media circulated details of Patrick's last known whereabouts. He was last seen around 7:30pm on April 6 in the center of Plymouth, sitting in the front seat of a green Mercury Comet or Ford Maverick with Vermont license plates. The driver of that vehicle was described as average build with dark hair. Police also released a description of another man they wanted to question. Someone wearing a tan poncho with red stripes, a T shirt, blue jeans, sneakers, and carrying a bag, backpack. As police focused on the car, the men, and the last place Patrick had been seen, Laurie and her family were thinking about the person they were waiting for. Not a case, not an investigation, but Patrick. Laurie loved her little brother from the first moment she laid eyes on him.

[B]

Friends and family had gathered for the great homecoming of of Patrick Douglas Merrill. And it was like a party of celebration. And I couldn't believe it when I saw him because he was just this beautiful baby. He had red cheeks and curly hair and blue eyes. And anyway, I loved him so immediately, right away, I think. Sister, protection and love.

[A]

Patrick was the youngest of three children born on March 17, 1966, his birthday, St Patrick's Day, became his namesake, given to him by the nurses who cared for mother and baby after he was born. From the way Laurie describes him, Patrick was one of those kids who came into the world with his own powerful current running through him.

[B]

Well, he was always exceptionally smart. He was outgoing and he was funny and he was friendly. He loved sports. He loved chess. So he started beating me in chess when he was about 5 years old or a little bit older than that. And so I stopped playing with him because I was too competitive.

[A]

Patrick also had a very clear sense of himself. From early on, he didn't seem all that interested in bending himself into whatever shape other people expected.

[B]

He was also a little bit of a radical of maverick because we went to summer camp together and he, like, wouldn't wear his shoes and he didn't want to shower, so he was like. But everyone thought he Was so cool. You know, this kid that walked around like pig pen from Charlie Brown because he was always like dirty and barefooted and didn't want to conform, you know, so he always had a strong enough, like self opinion to do his own thing, his own way without worrying about public opinion.

[A]

As he got older, that independence sometimes collided with structure. School was a place where Patrick's intelligence was obvious, but the rules around it did not always fit him.

[B]

There was a certain period of his time when he was very rebellious against authority and he wound up dropping out of high school along with a couple of his best friends. They all dropped out at the same time and they got their general equivalency degrees. And then Patrick started taking classes at Plymouth State University. And he wanted to be a warrior. He was very, he was always very good at school. He just wasn't good at following the rules.

[A]

Patrick was finding his way back towards structure, towards school, toward a future. By 1987, he was a college kid doing college kid things, Maybe still a bit rebellious, but nothing that crossed into a pattern of serious law breaking.

[B]

The only crime he committed was smoking marijuana, which was irretal in the 80s.

[A]

He was not a criminal mastermind. He was a young guy who thought the world was safer than it was. Maybe that is why in the days leading up to his disappearance, Patrick said yes to something without fully understanding how dangerous it could be.

[B]

He was really idealistic.

[A]

He.

[B]

He thought the world was a safe place. He had never dealt drugs before.

[A]

During the early investigation, police learned from witnesses that Patrick was believed to be the middleman in a drug transaction. He was Planning to buy 10 pounds of pot using money he'd collected from a group of friends. Some sources say he was carrying upwards of $13,000 with him when he got into that green car. In the days following his disappearance, investigators had obtained a search warrant for Patrick's room in his shared apartment, and they collected a few articles of his clothing to use as scent for bloodhounds and ground searches. While police did not find any weapons or contraband that was of any interest, Laurie tells me there was some cash discovered in his room. It was equivalent to the cut Patrick was believed to make from the deal.

[B]

His cut was 2000 and he hid it in his comic book collection, which is one of the. I think that's such a brilliant symbol of where he was at. He was a kid who loved to read comic books and he got murdered.

[A]

From the beginning, police had considered the possibility of foul play in Patrick's disappearance, But the case was not ruled a homicide. Patrick's case was still a missing persons investigation and detectives were still trying to identify and speak with the people connected to that unidentified green car. On Monday, April 13, a week after Patrick was reported missing, Rumney's police chief spotted a green Ford Maverick with Vermont license plates driving in the Quincy Bog Baker State Forest area. It matched the description of the car Patrick was last seen getting into, so the chief turned on his lights to pull the car over, but the driver didn't comply. Instead, the car sped off. According to reporting by Mike Donahue for the Burlington Free Press, the chief pursued the car up over a hill where it came to a stop. The two men inside got out and according to police, one of them handed a bag to the other. Before that man took off running, 40 year old George Pregent was arrested at the scene. Police tracked the second man down about a half mile away. Roughly an hour later, with the help of a bloodhound, police also recovered the bag George had allegedly handed off. Inside was about an ounce of pot. Both men were arraigned on drug charges, including transportation of a controlled drug and possession with intent to sell. George was held on $55,000 cash bail, while bail for the other man, who I'll call by the fake name Reggie, was set at $12,000. The difference in their bail amounts might have had something to do with their backgrounds. Reggie didn't have much of a criminal history to speak of, aside from some motor vehicle violations, but George, on the other hand, he was a well known criminal with charges spanning multiple states. What happens inside a courtroom rarely tells the whole story, and no one knows this more than my friend Brandi Churchwell, host of 13th Juror, the podcast where she pulls back the curtain on real trials. Brandi explores both the prosecution and defense so you'll hear the testimony, the tension, the turning points, and then you decide what it all means. Step into the courtroom every Thursday with Brandi Churchwell and listen to 13th juror, wherever you get your podcasts. By 1987, George Pregent already had convictions under his belt for receiving stolen property and escape, and his history with law enforcement went back more than a decade. In June of 1973, George was considered a missing person out of Norwich, Connecticut after failing to appear for a third time for a pleading related to an April 26 arrest for possession of marijuana with intent to sell. A few months later, on September 13, 1973, he was indicted for obtaining money by false pretenses and attempted conspiracy to violate the Controlled Drug act. Then on April 12, 1974, the George was arrested in Portland, Maine under the alias George Prevost after what began as a minor traffic issue. While he was being questioned, he escaped from the Portland Police Department's Detective bureau. When police searched the rented cottage where he had been staying on Little Sebago Lake in Gray, Maine, they found five stolen Volkswagens and other related evidence. And that was just the beginning. The setup looked similar to a suspected car theft ring in Burlington, Vermont that the National Auto Theft Bureau had been tracking with Burlington police. The scheme was extremely organized. According to Marco Howland's reporting for the Rutland Daily Herald, cars from model years 1968 through 1972 were targeted because at the time no title was required to sell cars from before 1972, the VIN would be removed, replaced with a fake one, and the cars were stored in rented garages under fake names before being listed for sale in newspapers. Some of those cars were even stolen, sold to new owners and then stolen again so they could be sold a second time. In February of 1976, George was arrested for coordinating the theft of 32 Volkswagen cars over an 18 month period period. At the time of his arrest, he was using another alias, George Barclay. George pleaded not guilty in Vermont to charges of grand larceny and possession of stolen property. But In May of 1976 he changed his plea to guilty on two lesser counts of receiving stolen property. The next month he was sentenced in Vermont to five to eight years in prison. But George did not stay put after his plea plea and sentencing. In July of 1976, he escaped from the Chittenden Community Correctional center along with three other inmates. He was not apprehended again until he surfaced in Boston in September of 1978 and once again he was using an alias. George was arrested at the DMV by the FBI on charges of false impersonation. He returned to prison to serve an additional 14 months to four years for a scar escape and then resumed serving his original sentence for the receiving stolen property convictions. George was paroled in August of 1981 and not too long after that he said he'd found a better path after his time in prison. He claimed to be walking the straight and narrow and he wanted to help others, specifically young people, to avoid his criminal missteps. At least that's the story he peddled when applying for a teaching job and got hired. While on parole, George applied for a teaching position at Lamoille Union High School Vocational Center. According to the superintendent, George came highly recommended as a skilled printer and graphic arts teacher. During his interview, he said he had paid his debt to society and wanted to help students avoid the same criminal path he had taken. That was the pitch. George Pregent was not just asking for employment, he was asking for trust. His resume claimed that he had graduated from Keene State College with high honors. That turned out to be a farce. Yet that claim apparently was not caught at the time. George did, however, receive training in graphic arts while in prison, giving him the skill set the school was looking for. In September of 1982, despite everything in his past, George got the job and went to work as the graphic arts teacher at the vocational center. The superintendent and school board had worked with George's parole officer and decided to give him a chance. According to reports, they warned George that he better not betray them. The people who hired him later explained that they believed George would be an asset to students. Superintendent Gail Utley later called George an extremely bright man and one of the best teachers I've ever had the opportunity to work with. But that version of George, the gifted teacher who had turned his life around, did not last long. George was arrested on December 19, 1984, for possession of a firearm and allegedly inciting a felony by planning a break in and theft at the Copley Hospital pharmacy. One report by Maura Weber for the Rutland Herald said the alleged plan included extorting drugs from a pharmacist by kidnapping his wife. Investigators accused George of trying to recruit someone to help him commit the theft, but that person became an informant. That informant wore a wire during a conversation with George during which George allegedly outlined the crimes they planned to commit. George also allegedly told the informant he would be compensated for his role in the heist. George pleaded not guilty and was held on $15,000 bail. He was also suspended from his teaching position the day after his arrest and then formally discharged from his duties at the school on February 2, 1985, due to what the school district said were drug dealing suspicions. Officially, he was discharged for conduct on becoming a teacher. The superintendent later clarified that the suspicions were never proven. They had not proven George sold drugs to students, he said, but there were minimal reasons to believe it happened. While George was being held on bail, he ran an ad in the transcript newspaper. It read, help incarcerated Hyde park schoolteacher who is innocent of inciting to felony charges needs help. Not much money, but will barter when money runs out. Will any retired lawyer, police officer, legal professional, or other concerned citizen please contact George Pregent at the St. Johnsbury Correction Center? I don't know if anyone answered that ad specifically, but George did have a large group of supporters. Some people offered to serve as character witnesses at his trial. Former co workers from a job before his teaching position described him as responsible, a man of impeccable character who knew the Lord. Another person told Joseph Gramer for the News and Citizen that she would trust George with her life and insisted that he's not capable of being violent. In April of 1985, George pleaded no contest to two lesser counts of attempted unlawful trespass rather than the original charge of inciting another person to commit a felony. He received an 8 to 12 month sentence served concurrently with his parole violations. By December of 1986, he was paroled again. So by the time Patrick Merrill disappeared In April of 1987, George had only been out for a few months. But it was enough time for Patrick and George to cross paths. What happens inside a courtroom rarely tells the whole story, and no one knows this more than my friend Brandi Churchwell, host of 13th Juror, the podcast where she pulls back the curtain on real trials. Brandi explores both the prosecution and defense so you'll hear the testimony, the tension, the turning points, and then you decide what it all means. Step into the courtroom every Thursday with Brandy Churchwell and listen to 13th Juror wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

People knew that George was in town and Patrick used to call him this cool dude George.

[A]

According to witnesses, Patrick Merrill met George Pregent about two months earlier while Patrick was hitchhiking back from a trip to University of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Amherst. He had friends there and often traveled between UMass and Plymouth by hitchhiking. Many people described George as smart, clever, and intelligent. Maybe that's why Patrick was drawn to him. They both smoked pot, so maybe that was part of it too. But if he knew the extent of George's criminal past, Patrick probably didn't see it as a warning sign. He probably didn't know enough to read George as a potential threat. George had allegedly tried to recruit someone into a criminal act before. So if George chose Patrick as a target for something, maybe it was because Patrick still believed people were mostly who they said they were.

[B]

Patrick was an innocent kid. An innocent, happy, go lucky, fun loving kid in college. And he didn't know that. He didn't know he wasn't streets run. He didn't deal with low wives. He didn't deal with con artists. He didn't deal with criminals.

[A]

George refused to talk about Patrick after he was arrested in Rumney. He was said to fit the description of the person last seen with Patrick, but investigators could not establish a direct link between George and Patrick's disappearance at the time. So even though the green car was impounded after George's arrest, it could not be searched in connection with Patrick's case. On May 26, 1987, George was sentenced to time served, one year of probation, and a $250 fine for the intent to distribute marijuana charge. That charge had been reduced to a misdemeanor when he pleaded guilty. As for the other guy in the car, who we're calling Reggie, he was eventually fined $330 after he pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and the drug charge was dropped. He also received a suspended 30 day sentence for one year. Side note, Reggie was revealed to be a former student from the same vocational school where George had taught. Reggie reportedly did not have any classes with him, but it was a small school, so it's probable that's how they met. Almost at the same time. George was facing another case. The same month he was sentenced, he was indicted on new charges for theft of services. The indictment said that between April 4 and April 6 of that year, he used a fake name and address at a mechanic's shop, then removed his car from the garage before paying more than a thousand dollars for work already done on the car. April 6th was the night Patrick disappeared. So as of July 1987, George was again in custody at Merrimack County Jail for that theft of services case. But not for long. He was a slippery guy. Around 10:45pm on July 5, a guard making rounds saw a sheet hanging from the roof of the facility. According to Billy Bell's reporting for the Concord Monitor, jail officials discovered that George and another man had used a smuggled in hacksaw blade to cut through the bars in a skylight and escaped through that skylight using bed sheets to lower themselves about 30ft from the roof. Police warned the public that George and the other escapee were dangerous and no strangers to guns. The other inmate was caught a few days later, on July 10th. But George was still on the loose. He knew how to disappear. He'd done it before. The investigation into Patrick Merrill's disappearance was entering a strange and painful kind of limbo. Police had a suspect, they had theories, but they still did not have Patrick. And his family couldn't just sit still and wait. His mother, Zada, did everything she could to keep Patrick's name in the public eye, because she knew Patrick and she wanted everyone else to know him, too.

[B]

She set up a situation in which she and I were getting interviewed by the local press. And so we were sort of the representatives Of Patrick Merrill so the public could realize that he was a precious boy who was very deeply loved and grew up with people that adored him.

[A]

There was this fear that because Patrick was believed to be involved in a drug deal, that it might paint his disappearance in a negative light. Zeta and Laurie's hope was that by talking about him beyond that choice, it could help bring in new information that would lead to Patrick.

[B]

He was part of this family, you know, he was a smart, likable person who made a bad decision. And the decision, not that it's okay to deal drugs, but it wasn't. Even though it was a crime, it wasn't a crime against anybody. He wasn't hurting anybody.

[A]

If Patrick was alive, his family believed he would have contacted them or come home. To make the ordeal even more painful, Patrick's father was battling cancer at the time, and they were all worried about him. Patrick's family believed he would have wanted to be by his father's side. So the idea that Patrick had run off and started over somewhere did not make sense to them at all.

[B]

When Patrick didn't turn up in a few days, you could hold out some hope at the beginning that maybe he's been kidnapped or maybe he's so high or something happened or he's hurt. But when you haven't heard from your brother or your son and he hasn't contacted anybody, and this is a happy kid who loved life, loved school, is going to be a lawyer, had no reason to stop being in touch with anybody. There'd only be one reason.

[A]

Patrick's father died In October of 1987, just months after Patrick disappeared. If Patrick was alive somewhere, he never came home to see his father or mourn with his family. And if he wasn't alive, his father died without knowing where his youngest son was. By the time Patrick's family decided they had to operate from the belief that he was dead, the legal system still had a high bar to clear. A grand jury reportedly heard evidence in the case, but there wasn't enough evidence for an indictment. Meanwhile, the only suspect was still on the lam. George would not be apprehended again until January 22, 1989, about 18 months after he escaped from jail in New Hampshire. Beth Velikat reports for the chapel hill news that police in carrboro, north carolina, had warned businesses in the area to be on the lookout for counterfeit checks after some started popping up around town. In January of 1989, police arrested a man after he was suspected of trying to cash a forged payroll check at a grocery Store using the name Kenneth Wayne Peel. When police picked the guy up, he had three sets of ID on him, including birth certificates, driver's licenses, and Social Security cards. And it turned out those identities had been taken from gravestones in cemeteries in Massachusetts. All of the names belonged to children who had died. When police tried to identify the guy for real, he refused to be fingerprinted or sign anything. So he was held on contempt charges in an Orange county jail as officers tried to determine his true identity. Eventually, officials received information from New Hampshire photos of the man sitting in the North Carolina jail matched photos of George Pregent. It sounds like George may have been making use of the same graphic design skills he had once taught to students, only now they were being used to forge documents. George had created realistic looking birth certificates with stolen names, used those birth certificates to get driver's licenses under the fake names, and then created fake payroll checks for businesses in the area and attempted to cash them. A Carrboro investigator named Tom hall described him this. He would be considered a professional criminal. We found through our investigation that he does not hold a legitimate job for any long period of time. He seeks employment only long enough to get information to commit some sort of fraud. End quote. George was convicted of forgery in that case. But there was still no resolution for Patrick's family. In 1989, after almost two years of waiting, Patrick's family made a decision no family ever wants to make. They held a memorial service on March 18, one day after his birthday. The Merrill family was grieving without answers, and police were still trying to build a case without Patrick's remains. But then, In May of 1990, police announced plans for a search in Procter, Vermont. Investigators believed that a swampy area of the woods there might hold the evidence they had been looking. What happens inside a courtroom rarely tells the whole story, and no one knows this more than my friend Brandi Churchwell, host of 13th Juror, the podcast where she pulls back the curtain on real trials. Brandi explores both the prosecution and defense so you'll hear the testimony, the tension, the turning points, and then you decide what it all means. Step into the courtroom every Thursday with Brandi Churchwell and listen to 13th Juror wherever you get your podcasts. In 1987, the same year Patrick disappeared, an informant told police something disturbing. Maura Weber reports for the Bennington Banner that the informant said he had seen George with body parts, specifically limbs in a plastic bag. According to the informant, these were not minor injuries. They were body parts a person could not survive losing unless they had Been removed in a hospital setting. The informant also said he heard George went to a swampy bog area in Proctor, Vermont, the day after he saw that bag. Investigators had another reason to look there, too. Their investigation suggested that about a week after Patrick disappeared, George's jeep was seen in the area of the bog. And then there was the jar that same informant told police about. A one gallon jar containing decomposed human skin. It is a deeply disturbing detail, and it's one of those parts of the case that's even hard to say out loud. There was speculation that the jar may have been saved as a trophy by the killer, or possibly as some kind of test to see how long it would take the skin to decompose.

[B]

I know just the gruesomeness of just became more and more gruesome.

[A]

Police did follow up on the informant's information. Early on, investigators documented tire tracks and other evidence near the bog that suggested someone had walked in that area. And in 1987, they located the jar in another wooded area in Proctor. The skin inside was believed to be from the bottoms of human hands and feet. Testing suggested the contents of the jar could have come from Patrick because they matched his blood type, type ab, which is rare. They tried DNA analysis, too.

[B]

My brother, my mother and I all provided DNA samples, and they weren't able to. There wasn't enough evidence to make a match.

[A]

So police had the informant's account. They had the jar, they had tracks near the bog, but they still did not have Patrick's remains, and they did not have a specific enough location to search for the body parts. That is part of why it took two years for a larger organized search of the bog area to happen. Investigators were trying to narrow down where the reported body parts might be, and they were also waiting to see if the swampy area would drain naturally. When it didn't, police eventually sought and received permission from the Agency of natural resources and the landowners to drain the area since it was environmentally sensitive. The site was about a mile and a half up a trail off Kane street in Proctor, in an area some locals called High Ledge. The bog itself was about 2 acres in size, and the plan was to drain the water, then search through what was left behind. During the search, cadaver dogs indicated there might be human remains on the west side of the bog. They signaled at that same spot three times, but searchers didn't find anything there. Then, on Wednesday, May 9, 1990, the search took an unexpected turn. A trooper stepped away into the woods to relieve himself and discovered five bones ranging from 4 to 7 inches long. They were located east of the bog on West Mountain near a stone wall. At first, investigators didn't know whether the bones were human or animal. So they were sent to a University of Vermont anthropologist for examination. Because Patrick had a rare blood type, investigators believed that if the bones were human, it might be possible to determine whether they were connected to him. But a few weeks later, the results came back. The bones were animal. Still, Vermont State Police Detective Sergeant Brian Abbey said investigators had a, quote, very, very strong case. A grand jury was exposed to expected to consider the evidence and determine whether the case was strong enough to bring charges. If that presentation ever happened, though it did not result in charges. Even after the bog search failed to produce Patrick's remains, George Preegent's name did not disappear from the public record. In 1994, he was finally convicted for that second escape back in 1987. Then in 2002, 54 year old George was arrested again for what Concord police said was the largest marijuana recovery in the department's history. Stephanie Haynes reports for the Concord Monitor that the total value was estimated somewhere between $135,000 and $195,000 worth of, quote, good quality marijuana. George was ultimately charged with four felony counts of possession with intent to distribute in that case. Then in 2008, George was charged in a case out of Worcester Central District Court in Massachusetts with possessing or receiving a motor vehicle with a defaced vin, attempting to sell a motor vehicle with a defaced vin, possession of Viagra, possessing or using a false or stolen registry of motor vehicle document, selling a vehicle with a defaced vin, larceny over $250 by false pretenses, attempting to commit a crime and receiving a stolen vehicle. In other words, decades after the first Volkswagen theft ring, George was again facing charges tied to vehicle fraud and altered identification. In January of 2009, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four concurrent two year terms for the defaced VIN, false or stolen document, larceny and receiving stolen vehicle charges. The Viagra, possession and attempting to commit a crime charges were dismissed. New Hampshire State Police Officer Wayne Fortier and Lt. Anthony Raymond of Plymouth Police said in 1989 that the only suspect in Patrick's disappearance was George Pregent. However, the case remains unsolved. George Pregent has not been charged with any crimes in connection to Patrick's disappearance or presumed death. I attempted to reach George for this episode. The phone number I located for him was not active, but I did send him a letter to his last known address. I have not heard back as of this episode's original recording. You might be wondering about Reggie, the other man in the car with George when police stopped them a week after Patrick disappeared. I don't know if he has been helpful to the investigation in the past. I also found no source identifying Reggie specifically as the informant who led police to the jar of human skin or to the bog area in Proctor. Reggie has not been charged in Patrick's case either. I was not able to locate him for an interview to learn more. There is a way that grief can freeze someone at the age they were when they disappeared. For everyone who lost Patrick, he is still young, still funny, still the kid who called his big sister when something went wrong.

[B]

I remember one time he was playing with matches and his mattress caught on fire and he just yelled my name, Lori. And I came running in to his room and I took that mattress and I dragged it out the front yard and then I hosed it down. But we still called the police, so he would. I I was always the one that he would call to be taken care of because I was, you know, I was reliable and we were close. He trusted me and I trusted him.

[A]

Patrick's brother Ken, remembers one fishing trip with their dad in Montauk, New York. They stopped for lunch at a local restaurant, and something a group of guys said at a nearby table struck the brothers as funny. They tried to hold it in, but once they started laughing, they could not stop. It turned into one of those sibling moments that is not really about the joke anymore. It's about the two of you trying not to laugh, which only makes it worse until the whole thing becomes part of family history. That is the Patrick his family still carries. Not the Patrick at the center of an investigation, but Patrick in motion, reading science fiction, collecting comics, recognizing great writing and great art before the rest of the world caught up. He loved writers and artists like Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, and he believed the Dark Knight Returns was one of the best Batman stories ever written, long before that version of Batman became so culturally defining. He was also the kind of person who could disappear into games for hours or days. Dungeons and Dragons, Risk campaigns that stretched on and on. Video games, chess. Ken said Patrick was way too smart. He read books about chess, played against the computer and won. Patrick was their little brother. He is still loved in the ordinary, intimate ways families love each other through childhood stories, through inside jokes, through memories that become family lore years later.

[B]

And Patrick just. He was so loving and so delightful and so cheerful. And he went out of his way to make people laugh. Like, he just was sensitive and he was just a really wonderful human being. You know, the kind that makes the world better just by smiling at people in it.

[A]

For his family. Patrick's absence has been part of every year since 1987.

[B]

I guess if I were to be completely in touch with my emotions that I'm really angry that he wasn't here, that he hasn't been here these 39 years, that he hasn't been here as a family member, as a loved one, as a support system, as a confidant, as a comrade, as someone who could have been there for my wedding and the birth of my children and all of life's milestones, the Christmases, the Thanksgivings, you know, all the things that we all thought we'd be doing together. And Patrick was missing from those. There's a piece of our heart that

[A]

went with if you have information about the disappearance of Patrick Merrill, please share it with the New Hampshire State Police Cold Case Unit using the tip form linked in the description of this episode. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this [e-mail] Be sure to follow the show on Instagram arkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kyle and this is Dark Down East. Dark down east is a production of Kylie Media and Audio. Chuck. I think Chuck would approve. Some cases fade from headlines, some never made it there to begin with. I'm Ashley Flowers and on my podcast the Deck, I tell you the stories of cold cases featured on playing cards distributed in prisons designed to spark new leads and bring long overdue justice. Because these stories deserve to be heard and the loved ones of these victims still deserve answers. Are you ready to be dealt in? Listen to the Deck now. Wherever you get your podcasts.