Dawn Mendes was 25 when she was last seen leaving her South End New Bedford apartment on September 4, 1988, reportedly on her way to a family christening. She was reported missing on September 10. On November 29, 1988, skeletal remains identified as hers were located by a Connecticut State Police K-9 unit along the westbound ramp of Interstate 195 to the Reed Road exit in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Dawn was the fourth woman found in a series of killings in the greater New Bedford area between 1988 and 1989 that investigators later linked as the New Bedford Highway Murders. Many victims in the series, including Dawn, had histories of substance abuse and involvement in prostitution. No one has been charged or convicted in her killing; several men have been named as persons of interest, including Kenneth C. Ponte and Daniel Tavares Jr., but no definitive link to Dawn’s death has been established and the case remains cold.

Did anyone in the New Bedford area have contact with Dawn in early September 1988 or recall seeing her that week?