Mary Rose Santos was 26 when she vanished from downtown New Bedford in the early morning hours of July 16, 1988. She was last seen dancing at the Old Quarterdeck Lounge; earlier that evening her husband had dropped her off near the downtown bus station and she planned to walk to a friend’s apartment. She struggled with substance abuse and was not seen alive again.

On March 31, 1989, two boys found skeletal remains in woods about 25 feet off the southbound side of Route 88 in Westport. An anonymous letter sent to the District Attorney on March 16, 1989, had suggested a body might be found along that route; the writer reportedly contacted authorities again after the discovery. Santos’s remains were linked to a series of bodies found along regional highways between July 1988 and April 1989; some personal items of another victim, Nancy Paiva, were found with Santos’s remains.

Several persons of interest have been named in the broader New Bedford Highway Murders investigation, including Anthony DeGrazia, Kenneth C. Ponte, and Daniel Tavares Jr., but no one has been charged in Santos’s death. Does anyone have information about Mary Rose’s movements in New Bedford on July 16, 1988, or about the route along Route 88 in March 1989?