The Story - Have You Seen Andy

On a hot summer day…

…in August of 1976 the temperature soared past 90 degrees. Kids were lined up at the entrance before the lifeguards had a chance to unlock the gate. This day seemed like any other Sunday but on this day every child in this neighborhood – every child in this city- would be forever changed. Somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 pm ten-year-old, Andy Puglisi vanished without a trace. More than 20 years later, Andy’s childhood friend returns to Lawrence seeking answers to the questions that continue to haunt her to this day.

More than seven years in the making, Melanie Perkins’
“Have You Seen Andy?” uncovers new and startling information about the unsolved disappearance of a little boy and the facts surrounding the initial police investigation. The feature-length documentary explores the events of that fateful afternoon and re-examines the national search for Andy.

Some of the facts of this case are shocking — there were at least five “known pedophiles” at the pool that day. Chilling audiotapes – uncovered by the filmmaker – offer a rare glimpse into the mind of the prime suspect as he stalks a school bus full of young children. Despite mounting evidence, the police have yet to charge the main suspect in Andy’s disappearance.

The filmmaker’s persistence in researching the story, uncovering new evidence, urging witnesses to come forward for the first time and following up on old leads forces the police to re-open the investigation after more than 20 years. As a child who grew up with Andy’s family and friends, the filmmaker has privileged access to the people who knew Andy best. “Have You Seen Andy?” brings the viewer inside one unsolved case where they become captivated by the mother who still longs for her son, the detective who feels he could have done a better job and the close friend who is so haunted that she continues to follow up on her friend’s abduction to this day.

58,000 children disappear every year in America.
This is the story of one of those children, Andy Puglisi,
a boy who represents all of the children who have
fallen through the cracks over the years – children who
are gone but are never forgotten.

THE TIMELINE

Below is a timeline documenting the day Andy vanished until the present day.

1976

AUGUST 10-year-old Andy Puglisi vanishes from a public swimming pool in Lawrence, MA. The search for Andy lasts only six days.

SEPTEMBER Wayne W. Chapman is arrested for a firearms violation in Junius, NY (Seneca County) during a routine traffic stop. Police search his van and find a cache of child pornography, rope, tape, handcuffs, a fake police badge, and starter’s pistol. Chapman is detained and interrogated by police from several states.

Chapman is charged with sodomizing several children in a 4-H club in Providence, RI.

Chapman is charged with the murder of 6-year old David Louison missing from Brockton, MA in 1974.

Police search the Brockton area for the body of missing six-year-old, David Louison, based on a confession by Wayne W. Chapman. David’s body is not recovered.

OCTOBER Wayne W. Chapman is publicly named as a suspect in Andy Puglisi case.

NOVEMBER Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis signs a warrant for the extradition of Wayne W. Chapman from RI to MA for the rape of two Lawrence boys.

A Bristol County grand jury indicts Chapman on charges of sexually assaulting three young boys in 1975 in Fall River and Seekonk, MA. He is held without bail in Cranston, RI.

1977

JANUARY Wayne W. Chapman is extradited from Rhode Island to Massachusetts for the rape of a child: 2 counts Lawrence, MA. (0051300) MAY Grand Jury testimony was given by two boys – victims of the Lawrence rapes. State and local police search the wooded area behind the pool for Andy Puglisi’s remains. The search turns up nothing. SEPTEMBER Wayne W. Chapman is found guilty of raping the two Lawrence boys. The crime is a capital offense in MA. Essex County Superior Court sentences Chapman to 2 concurrent 15 to 30 year sentences. Chapman is sentenced to no less than 15 nor more than 30 years at MCI Cedar Junction.

1978

MARCH Wayne W. Chapman is civilly committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous for a term on of “one day to life” JULY A Plymouth County Grand Jury refuses to indict Wayne W. Chapman in the murder of six-year-old David Louison citing ‘no bills’ i.e. not enough evidence. AUGUST Wayne W. Chapman is arraigned in Bristol Superior Court. He receives 6-10 years for Sodomy and indecent Assault and Battery on a child under 14. NOVEMBER Charles E. Pierce, a Haverhill, MA resident is convicted of rape of a child in Hillsborough County, Florida and is sentenced to five years in a Florida State prison.

1979

JANUARY Andy Puglisi’s dental records are sent to Chicago to be cross-checked against the human remains of children found buried under the home of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. No match is made. Connecticut State Police form a special task force to investigate the disappearance of several children including Janice Pockett, Dawn Cave, Mary Mount, Debra Sprickler, Kathleen Terry and Lisa Joy White. MARCH Charles E. Pierce confesses to the murder of 13-year old Michelle Wilson. Pierce is named as a suspect in the disappearance of Janice Pockett from Tolland, CT and is implicated in the murder of several children in the CT area. NOVEMBER Charles E. Pierce is charged with the murder of Michelle Wilson. He pleads innocent and is committed to the Bridgewater State hospital in MA for observation.

1980

JUNE Charles Pierce pleads guilty to second-degree murder of Michelle Wilson. He is sentenced to life at MCI Walpole.

AUGUST State police dig an area in Tolland, CT searching for Janice Pockett based on information Charles Pierce has given them. Janice’s body is not recovered.

1981

FEBRUARY A child’s body discovered in a Brockton basement is positively identified as six-year-old David Louison.

MARCH Charles E. Pierce tells investigators he is responsible for 15-20 child murders since 1954. He names several children including William DeSousa of Chicago (1972) Janice Pockett of CT (1973) and Mary Catherine Olenchuk of Maine.

1982

JULY Lawrence police reopen the investigation into Andy’s disappearance by bringing psychic, Andrew Barnhart, in to help with the investigation.

Lawrence police interrogate a ten-year old boy who claims to have witnessed Andy’s abduction six years earlier when the boy was 4.

1988

OCTOBER Lawrence police Captain Fitzpatrick receives a letter from a State Trooper involved with Charles E. Pierce. The letter says Pierce has confessed to the murder of a Lawrence, MA boy and that Lawrence police should investigate. Lawrence police do not question Charles Pierce.

1989

DECEMBER Wayne Chapman is approved to participate in Community Furlough Program allowing him to be released from the Massachusetts Treatment Center into the community on weekends.

1991

JULY Serial child rapist Nathaniel Bar-Jonah aka David Brown is found "no longer sexually dangerous" after Dr. Richard Ober and Dr. Eric Sweitzer testify on his behalf. He is released into the community.

DECEMBER Wayne W. Chapman petitions the court to be released from his civil commitment as a sexually dangerous person. Psychologists Richard Ober and Eric Sweitzer testify that Chapman is "no longer sexually dangerous".

Chapman is determined "no longer sexually dangerous" by Judge John A. Tierney. He is released from his civil commitment at the Bridgewater Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous and is transferred to Walpole State prison to serve the remainder of his criminal sentence for the rape of the two Lawrence boys.

Wayne W. Chapman and Nathaniel Bar-Jonah (aka David Brown) both dressed as police officers when abducting their victims. Both had victims in Webster, MA. Chapman and Bar-Jonah spent over a decade together in the Treatment Center. They continue corresponding with each other after Bar-Jonah's release.

1994

JANUARY Chapman refuses sex offender treatment based on religious affiliation.

Wayne W. Chapman suffers a heart-attack and survives.

1996

FEBRUARY 10 year-old Zachary Ramsay disappears from Great Falls, Montana.

1998

FEBRUARY Melanie Perkins contacts Andy’s mother and begins filming family members, police officers and friends. AUGUST The Lawrence Eagle Tribune prints feature article on Perkins’ search for answers in the disappearance of Andy Puglisi. The Lawrence Police Department announce they are “officially reopening” the investigation into Andy’s disappearance and have assigned local and state police detectives to work on the case. Melanie Perkins interviews Lawrence detectives who identify a neighbor, Gary Thibedeau, as another suspect in Andy’s abduction. SEPTEMBER Melanie Perkins contacts Wayne Chapman requesting an interview. Al Mintz, a Providence RI detective who investigated Wayne Chapman is located in Florida. Mintz remembers the Chapman case clearly and has retained files over the past 20 years. DECEMBER Melanie discovers a letter in a Lawrence police file that claims a prison inmate confessed to the murder of a Lawrence boy. No other information about the inmate is available. The inmate’s name is Charles E. Pierce.1996

1999

FEBRUARY Melanie learns for the first time that Charles E. Pierce is a convicted child murderer who has confessed to the murder of a Lawrence boy. The Boston Globe's Judith Gaines sends an overnight letter to Pierce requesting an interview. Charles Pierce dies of prostate cancer on February 18, 1999. Melanie travels to Providence RI with MA state police to review some of Chapman's property from his 1977 arrest. They are specifically looking for what had been identified as a sock with a stain that might be blood. Andy's mother identified the sock as belonging to her family. APRIL Based on a deathbed confession from Charles Pierce, Lawrence police bring cadaver dogs out to a site in North Lawrence where Pierce claims to have buried the two children. Pierce claims he buried a boy and a girl together in a vacant lot in Lawrence. He describes the girl as 7 year-old Janice Pockett who vanished from Tolland, CT in 1973. The dogs don’t react. Later that same day, police bring the cadaver dogs to a wooded area adjacent to the pool. Both dogs react. MAY Melanie learns Charles Pierce was not in prison when Andy disappeared and that he told Lawrence police he was acquainted with Wayne W. Chapman and had seen him from time to time in Lawrence. 23 years after Andy vanished police dig for his body with forensic anthropologist Dr. AnnMarie Mires. JULY The Boston Globe publishes an 8-part series about the filming of the documentary and the search for Andy. The series includes interviews with Andy’s parents, Wayne W. Chapman, psychic, Andrew Barnhart and Perkins. Wayne W Chapman reneges on his agreement to be filmed for the documentary. He subsequently agrees to an off-camera interview with Perkins. Melanie meets face-to-face with Wayne Chapman at the Souza Baranowski Center in Shirley, MA. Chapman denies any involvement in Andy’s disappearance and claims never to have been to Lawrence, MA despite the fact that he was convicted of the rape of two Lawrence boys in 1975. Melanie points this out to Chapman who responds that his lawyer told him not to talk to anyone. National networks and local news shows begin covering Andy’s story.

2000

OCTOBER The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act is created. It is the first comprehensive federal legislation to address human trafficking. NOVEMBER Melanie meets with the Essex County District Attorney's office for the first time to discuss Andy's case. DECEMBER Montana police arrest Nathaniel Bar-Jonah aka David Brown for impersonating a police officer. Bar Jonah is a Massachusetts resident and known sexual predator previously held at the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the rape of several children in the Webster, MA area. 21 bone fragments identified as belonging to children are found in Bar-Jonah’s garage along with a list of several boys from a camp in Webster, MA and a recipe for ‘little boy stew’. It is alleged Bar-Jonah has cannibalized children. Police spray a phosporous chemical in Bar-Jonah's apartment and the word "Tita" appears. Bar-Jonah is considered a suspect in the 1973 murder of 15 year-old James Teta from Revere, MA and Janice Pockett of Tolland, CT. He is subsequently charged with the rape of multiple children and is named a suspect in the disappearance(s) of 10 year-old Zachary Ramsay of Great Falls, Montana. Nathaniel Bar-Jonah aka David Brown is a known associate of Wayne W. Chapman.

2001

JUNE ABC News, PrimeTime Live airs “Predators Among Us”, an investigation into a The Massachusetts Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous based on information shared with them by Melanie and a former Treatment Center employee. The show documents sexual predators who were released from the facility only to rape, molest or murder again. Therapist, Paula Erickson who worked at the Treatment Center in the 1990s, tells Cynthia McFadden that she went to the state capitol to warn people of the danger but no one would listen. A profile of Wayne W. Chapman is included as one of the sexual predators released from the Treatment Center. The news piece also includes a profile of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah

Melanie learns Bar-Jonah and Chapman were colleagues and may have known each other before their civil commitments to the Treatment Center.

2002

Nathaniel Bar-Jonah is convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Great Falls boy, and hanging the boy's 8-year-old cousin from a kitchen ceiling assaults that occurred in Great Falls, Montana in 1998 and 1999. He is sentenced to 130 years.

The FBI Behavioral Science unit deciphers Bar-Jonah's coded written material. The writing includes recipes for "little boy stew" and "boy pot pie". Several neighbors testify that Bar-Jonah, a short order cook, served them meals with a strange tasing meat.

Law enforcement believes Bar-Jonah cannibalized his victims. It is noted among Bar-Jonah's writing there is a reference to a boy, "Alonzo Puggy". Andy's full name is Angelo Puglisi. Andy's mother confirms he also had the nickname "Puggy".

2004

AUGUST The City of Lawrence dedicates the corner adjacent to the Higgins Memorial Pool as “Andy Puglisi Square” a memorial plaque is placed on a boulder outside of the pool where Andy and his friends played before his disappearance. Melanie was asked to write the inscription on the boulder. The State Police crime unit excavate a larger area adjacent to the pool – the same area in which the two cadaver dogs reacted in 1998 and where the ‘smaller’ 1999 excavation occurred. Andy’s body is not recovered. OCTOBER Wayne W. Chapman’s criminal sentence ends. The Essex County District Attorney’s office files a petition to find Chapman sexually dangerous and once again civilly commit him to the the Massachusetts Treatment Center. The Oprah Winfrey Show airs a segment of an audiotape where Wayne W. Chapman talks about following a school bus full of children fantasizing about what he wants to do to them. DECEMBER Melanie writes to the Essex County District Attorney's office regarding the amount of circumstantial evidence regarding Wayne W. Chapman. She asks that several items are followed up. And she asks that mitochondrial DNA is collected from Andy's mom and entered into the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database.

2006

JUNE Crime scene investigators search the area behind the pool for Andy based on information from a potential eye-witness. Andy’s body is not found.

JULY Andy's mother, brother and father provide DNA to be uploaded to CODIS in the event unidentified remains are found that may be Andy.

AUGUST Andy’s family holds a candlelight vigil honoring his memory at St. Patrick’s Church in Lawrence, MA. It is the only church service ever held in Andy’s honor.

2007

JUNE "Have you Seen Andy?", the feature length documentary, is released on HBO Cinemax. The film is screened at the Showcase Cinema in Lawrence, MA to hundreds of Andy's friends and family.

2008

APRIL Nathaniel Bar-Jonah (aka David Brown) dies in prison.

AUGUST Melanie receives correspondence from the man regarding the alleged murder of a boy in Georgetown, MA. He writes "she is the only one that will listen" and shares graphic details of where he says multiple children are buried. She gives him contact information for the FBI, MA State Police and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

SEPTEMBER "Have You Seen Andy?" wins a national Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.

2010

JULY The author of three books on Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, John Espy contacts Melanie to corroborate evidence. Espy believes Bar-Jonah is referring to Andy in his cryptic writing. The book also includes detailed correspondence between Wayne W. Chapman and Bar-Jonah.

2011

APRIL Former MA Department of Corrections Deputy Chief Jim Bender contacts Melanie to share that as a child he and Wayne W. Chapman were next door neighbors in Jamestown, NY. Bender is considering writing a book about Chapman.

2012

JUNE Peter Haskell consents to a search of his home by MA State police trooper Robert Labarge and Georgetown PD .

2013

Police interview neighbors of Peter Haskell Georgetown, MA. They claim Haskell is an "odd man" who "liked little boys". Haskell becomes the suspect in an attempted abduction of two 13 year-olds in Georgetown in 1999.

2014

SEPTEMBER The search for Andy is renewed after 38 years.

2015

JANUARY The Congressional Research Service publishes "Sex Trafficking of Children in the United States: Overview and Issues for Congress"

OCTOBER Melanie is contacted on social media by a woman who shares the story of a child who was abused by a convicted pedophile at the pool the same time Andy disappeared yet his name has never been mentioned in Andy's file. She researches the case and finds evidence that the then 18 year-old man was arrested just two weeks after Andy disappeared. He was convicted of raping two children who he often abused in several pool locker room(s) while another man watched.

2016

JANUARY Wayne W. Chapman has a trial by jury to determine whether he remains a "sexually dangerous person". A jury rules Chapman is still sexually dangerous and he is returned to prison.

JUNE Andy's case is featured on The Vanished Podcast.

SEPTEMBER The remains of 11 year-old Jacob Wetterling of Minnesota are found 27 years after his disappearance. Jacob's case helped create The Jacob Wetterling Act requiring a sex offender registry across the country.

Andy's family along with MA state police, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Lawrence police and childhood friends gather to honor Andy's memory on the 40th anniversary of his disappearance.

MA State Police, City of Lawrence, the Lawrence police and Clear Channel establish a bilboard campaign, tip line and text option for information regarding the disappearance of Andy Puglisi.

Clear Channel hosts Andy's information on billboards throughout the community in hope that new tips might come in.

NOVEMBER Police receive a call that Peter Haskell is found deceased in his home.

DECEMBER MA State police and the FBI search for a boy's remains based on information sent to Melanie Perkins in 2007 by an alleged victim of Peter Haskell. The alleged victim claims to have witnessed Haskell murder a boy.

The Boston FBI assist MA State police and Georgetown police digging up the backyard and basement of the home of the now deceased Georgetown man, Peter Haskell.

Incriminating material found in Haskell's home at the time of his death include boy mannequins (bound and gagged), a human tooth, multiple videotapes, sex toys and hundreds of identification cards of children.

2017

JANUARY Triggered by the Peter Haskell dig Melanie begins production on what will become a 10-part investigative podcast series, Open Investigation a true-crime podcast revealing dozens of additional unsolved cases of missing and murdered children in MA.

JULY Pedophile priest. Paul Shanley, a member of the North American Man Boy Love Association with connections to Lawrence and Revere is found "no longer sexually dangerous" and is released from his civil commitment. He moves to Ware, MA and lives among a community of registered sex offenders.

Melanie reaches out to HBO requesting to add "Have You Seen Andy?" to their streaming service.

2018

MAY Two psychologists known as "qualified examiners" hired by Wayne W. Chapman's defense team and determine he is no longer "sexually dangerous". Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker calls for the full release of reports on Wayne Chapman. JUNE Wayne Chapman allegedly exposes himself to prison staff while making obscene gestures. He is held with no bail on a lewdness charge, MA Governor Charlie Baker files "An Act Relative To Child Predators" also known as the Wayne Chapman bill. It requires mandatory minimum sentences for the rape of a child. Melanie testifies at the MA State House on behalf of the bill. The bill never leaves committee. JULY Wayne Chapman pleads not guilty in his lewdness trial. AUGUST "Have You Seen Andy?" begins streaming on HBOMax and other platforms.

2019

MAY The MA Superior Court rules that Wayne W. Chapman is to be released from his civil commitment based on precedent set by the 2017 Commonwealth v. Johnstone where a sex offender needs only the testimony of two psychologists to determine they are no longer sexually dangerous and can then bypass a hearing by judge or jury.

Attorney Wendy Murphy files a petition to stop Chapman from being released, but it is denied.

Several child victims of Wayne W. Chapman advocating against his release and reveal themselves to the public for the first time.

Notorious clergy-abuse attorney Mitchell Garabedian names Fr. John Gallagher as a pedophile priest who served at St. Mary's in Lawrence from 1971-1979. Melanie is subsequently contacted by multiple child victims of Fr. Gallagher.

Melanie begins researching priests in the area who abused children in Lawrence / the Merrimack Valley in the 1970s. The current count is 15.

JUNE Melanie and Dr. Ann Marie Mires host Missing Children's Day at the MA State House. The event was originally created by the family of Molly Bish, a teenage girl who was missing for several years and whose skeletal remains were ultimately identified by Dr. Mires. Molly's case remains unsolved.

AUGUST Wayne Chapman's trial begins. 3 days later, he is found not guilty in his lewdness trial. He is released into the community.

SEPTEMBER Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins launches Project for Unsolved Suffolk Homicides PUSH.

OCTOBER MA State Police launch a dedicated unsolved case unit under Colonel Kerry Gilpin.

2020

FEBRUARY News outlets report Wayne Chapman is living in a Boston homeless shelter.

AUGUST Massachusetts State Police renew their call for help with Andy's case 44 years after his disappearence.

NOVEMBER Wayne W. Chapman moves to the Medford Rehabilitation and Nursing Center less than a mile from Melanie's home.

DECEMBER Wayne W. Chapman is moved to a nursing home in Connecticut that overlooks an elementary school playground.

2021

JANUARY Andys' case including an interview with director Melanie Perkins is featured on Reality Life with Kate Casey.

APRIL Families in CT advocate against Wayne W. Chapman being placed at a nursing facility a few hundred feet from an elementary school.

OCTOBER Wayne W. Chapman dies at the age of 73.