Joan Risch was 30 and a mother of two when she disappeared from her Lincoln, Massachusetts, home on October 24, 1961. That morning she went about routine tasks, including a dentist visit with her daughter, then returned home for lunch. She left her two-year-old son asleep in his crib and her four-year-old daughter playing outside; by the afternoon Joan was gone.

When her daughter came in around 4:00 p.m. the kitchen was in disarray. What the child thought was red paint proved to be blood. Neighbors and police found smears of blood, an overturned table, a phone ripped from the wall, and a trail of blood leading toward Joan’s car, but no clear explanation for her disappearance. Witnesses later reported seeing a woman matching Joan’s description, possibly injured and dazed, walking on nearby roads.

Speculation has ranged from staging her own disappearance to accident or foul play. It is noted that Joan had checked out several books about disappearances and crimes in the months before she vanished. No trace of Joan Risch has ever been found.

If anyone knew Joan, her routines, or saw someone matching her description in Lincoln on October 24, 1961, can you share what you remember?