The Murder of Holly Piirainen
August 21, 2024
Holly Kristen Piirainen was born on January 19, 1983, in Grafton, Massachusetts. On August 5, 1993, 10 year old Holly and her brother had been visiting their grandparents in Sturbridge, MA.
Before Holly disappeared, her family had been staying at a family-owned lakefront cottage in the area. Holly and her brother had gone to a neighbour's house to see puppies, with her brother returning their grandparents cottage without Holly.
Holly's father had last seen her at 11:45 am prior to her and her brother leaving to go see the puppies. He reported Holly missing when she did not return. While waiting for the police, Holly's family searched for her and were aided by local and state police, sheriffs and units from both Connecticut and Rhode Island. One of Holly's shoes had been found by the side of a road.
On October 23, 1993, over two months since Holly disappeared, her remains were found by hunters in Brimfield, MA. Her case remains unsolved.
Investigators believed that Holly's abduction was random, as few people would have known the family was in that area, and not many would know that Holly and her brother were going to look at puppies that day.
Molly Bish, as discussed previously, disappeared on June 27, 2000 while working as a lifeguard on Comins Pond in Warren, MA. Her body was also found in a wooded area in Hampden County on June 9, 2003. Police have considered the two cases could be connected.
Molly had actually written a letter to Holly's family following Holly's disappearance.
A man named David Pouliot is considered a person of interest in both Holly and Molly's cases. On January 3, 2012, it was announced that forensic evidence found near Holly's body had been linked to David, who had died in 2003. It was not disclosed the nature of the forensic evidence, nor the type of testing conducted.
Though David was a person of interest, he was not named as an official suspect. David had hunted and fished around the area where Holly's body had been found quite frequently.
In October 2020, it was reported by a Boston news station, that they had sources that claimed the body of a 22 year old man was exhumed at a cemetery in Hampden County, which may be connected to the investigation and case of Holly.
The man exhumed was reportedly not David Pouliot. Holly's cousin, Leah Jolin said that investigators were searching for a letter placed in the subject's coffin that could advance the case. Jolin also said that the item that was retrieved had suffered water damage after being buried for over two decades.
Now retired police who worked on the case claimed that an unidentified man in a brown pickup truck was likely the murderer. Supposedly, this man was driving down a neighbouring street about 200 yards from where Holly was standing. The car slowed down to look at two teenage girl cousins who were checking their mailbox.
The girls told police later that they feared the man would jump out of the truck and grab one of them. When they went back to the mailbox a second time they saw the man again, he had turned around.
It was suspected that the man likely turned around at the end of South Shore Drive, where Holly was standing. After this second time seeing the man, one of the teen girls returned to their house and noticed the truck a third time. The truck was accelerating past and not looking for the teens girls.
It was discovered by a reporter named Richard Price that this man had a lengthy criminal record, though no crimes that involved children. Price claimed to have interviewed the man's ex-wife, who said he had a sex addiction and often behaved compulsively. The ex-wife did not believe however, that he would chase a 10 year old girl.
This information was also reportedly stated on a podcast. The podcast reporter claimed that a police report and interviewed sources show that the brown pick up truck man had pulled over hours after Holly's abduction by a police officer near the scene of the disappearance. The man's driver's license was suspended, but the police thought it was current and let him go.
Reportedly, a family member of Holly's said on the podcast that this subject had identified a detail about the t-shirt Holly was wearing that day, a detail that was different from what the public knew.
The Holly Piirainen Scholarship Fund was established by Holly's family in her memory. Holly is also included in a group memorial called the Garden of Peace in Boston, which memorializes Massachusetts victims of homicide.
In March 2021, Holly's family issues a statement urging any information about Holly's disappearance and death and the helpfulness of DNA testing after it has helped solve the murder of Virginia Hannon, a 59 year old woman murdered in Plymouth County in 1984.
DNA has lately been solving many cases that would've otherwise been deemed unsolvable now that we have the technology to do so. Many are encouraging others to upload their DNA to help solve cases. The more DNA in the database, the more chance forensic investigators have at comparing data and tracing family trees.
Both Holly and Molly Bish's cases remain unsolved.
