James P. O’Brien, 57, was reported missing from Needham, Massachusetts on February 22, 1975. A rented car he had been using was found abandoned and burned in Methuen, Massachusetts a few days later. On April 12, 1975 skeletal remains identified as O’Brien were recovered near Bedford Road in New Boston, New Hampshire, and his death was investigated as a homicide.

The burned rental car and the condition of the remains suggested evidence had been deliberately destroyed, but despite an investigation the case went cold. No suspects have been publicly named and no arrests have been announced; the New Hampshire Department of Justice lists the death as an unsolved homicide. Few details are available about O’Brien’s last movements or who he was meeting in the weeks before he disappeared.

If anyone knew James O’Brien, saw that rental car in Methuen in late February 1975, or has information about his movements between Needham and New Boston, please come forward.