The Babysitter Who Never Came Home

On a warm July afternoon in 1973, Juliana Pockett, who was then seven years old, got on her green bicycle and cycled down the quiet road close to her house in Tolland, Connecticut. She told her mother that she was going to get a butterfly which she had left under a piece of cardboard that same day. It was the simple and innocent errand that any child might carry out on a long summer day. She never came back.

Today, Janice's disappearance is among the most alarming of the unresolved cases in New England and is still a source of concern for investigators more than fifty years afterward. The circumstances surrounding what took place to her over the short stretch of road between her house and the end of the road are still a mystery. Still, the facts concerning her disappearance show how swiftly an ordinary moment can become a nightmare.

A Vanishing That Made No Sense

Janice's mother believed that her daughter would be back in a minute. Once Janice had not returned, her family started to look around the neighborhood. The bicycle was discovered by the side of the road, standing neatly on its kickstand as though Janice had just got off. There were no signs of a struggle, no skid marks and no torn clothes—nothing to indicate that she had been taken forcibly.

The road was quiet since there were woods on one side and houses scattered along it, and the neighbors said that they had seen nothing out of the ordinary; it was extremely difficult for a child to go missing in broad daylight without at least one person witnessing it.

The police, together with the firefighters and the volunteers, began searching the area within a short time. They searched the woods, the ponds and the deserted buildings. The bloodhounds were employed, but they could not detect a reliable scent. It was as if Janice had vanished.

A Community in Fear

Tolland was a small town in the country, and it was usual for the people living there to leave their doors unlocked; children would ride their bicycles, play in the woods, and visit from one neighbor's house to another. Until Janice went missing, at which point the sense of security that had previously existed in the town disappeared.

The parents kept their children inside, locked the doors, and as a result rumors started to spread—about strangers walking around the town, suspicious vehicles, and unfamiliar faces being spotted near the woods. Yet none of the clues turned out to be useful.

The police looked at every possible explanation—such as the child having run away, an accident having taken place, an attack by an animal, or a quarrel between family members. However, none of these explanations matched the evidence. Janice had been a shy and quiet child who never went far from home. There was no reason for her to have run away, and the fact that her bicycle had been left standing indicated that she had come to a stop of her own free will.

The most likely explanation was also the most alarming: Robert "Bob" LaRosa, a man who had been found guilty of predatory crimes against children and who lived in the area at that time, was suspected. He had a notorious history of committing violent crimes against children and was known to drive through the rural neighborhoods looking for victims. He had been questioned on more than one occasion over the years but was never prosecuted; he always denied involvement in the incident, and no physical evidence connected him to it. Nevertheless, many investigators believed he was the one who had done it.

There was also a theory that identified the serial killer as Michael Ross, who had killed eight young women in Connecticut and the neighboring states during the 1980s. Even though Ross denied any connection with Janice, several detectives believed he might have been operating before he had been officially recorded.

Despite the many decades that have passed since the investigation began, no suspect has yet been definitely linked to Janice's disappearance.

A Family Still Waiting

Janice's parents never moved away; for many years they left her room just as it was, believing that she might some day go back through the door. As their sister grew up, her siblings always remained uncertain as to what had become of her.

In 2001, upon receiving a tip, the police carried out a major excavation in a wooded area close to the family's home and spent several days digging at the site looking for any remains, but found none.

The case has not yet been closed, and Janice is still considered to be missing. Her family continues to hope for some answers, even if those answers consist of closure rather than a reunion.

A Mystery That Still Haunts Connecticut

The disappearance of Janice Pockett is one of the oldest unsolved cases of a missing child in the state, and it acts as a reminder of how easily safety can be lost, of the way a routine day can suddenly become a tragedy, and of the truth that some crimes leave nothing but questions.

The bicycle has been found, but the butterfly was never returned, and the truth about what happened on that quiet summer afternoon is still concealed somewhere in the shadows of Tolland's woods.