April 25, 2025 • 61 mins
What do Auntie Em, Dropkick Murphys, Mr. Ballen, and HoJos have in common? We roll into Quincy for a look and a story.
A Missing Mom Mystery. Sandra Crispo vanished from her Hanson, Massachusetts home on August 7, 2019. She left her beloved dog, Clarance, behind without food or water and her home unlocked with lights and air conditioning running. She was living her best life in her new home and spending quality hours with her young grandsons.
Six years later, her case remains unsolved despite evidence suggesting foul play, including blood found throughout her house and witness reports of an argument the night she disappeared.
• Sandra had recently moved to Hanson from Quincy, downsizing to a small house after her father passed away
• Her father left behind a substantial estate including reported gold bars, creating significant family tension
• Sandra was last seen on surveillance at Cumberland Farms buying cigarettes after her son-in-law helped her drop her car at a mechanic
• Neighbors reported hearing an argument involving two men at Sandra's home the night she disappeared
• Blood from Sandra and an unidentified male family associate was found in the home six weeks after her disappearance
• Sandra was 54 years old when she vanished and had found new purpose in being a grandmother to her daughter's children
• Despite grand jury testimony and ongoing investigation, no arrests have been made in the case
Information is needed in Sandra Crispo's disappearance, contact Hanson Police Department at 781-293-4625 or Massachusetts State Police Detectives at 508-894-2600.
More at CrimeoftheTruestKind.com
Follow Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky | TikTok | Threads | YouTube
For show notes & source information at CrimeoftheTruestKind.com
Give the dogs a bone tip jar: buymeacoffee.com/truestkind
Become a patron: Patreon.com/crimeofthetruestkind
This podcast has minimal profanity but from time to time you get one or some curse words. This isn't for kids.
Music included in episodes from Joe "onlyone" Kowalski, Dug McCormack's Math Ghosts and Shredding by Andrew King
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Anngelle Wood (00:00):
Well, hello, my name is Anngelle Wood and this
is Crime of the Truest Kind.
It's nice again, feels good,doesn't it?
(00:26):
For those of us who are in theMassachusetts to England
vicinity, it's very nice becausethe warm weather is upon us.
This is a Massachusetts and NewEngland-based true crime,
regional history andadvocacy-focused podcast.
I created it, I research it, Iwrite it, I record it, I edit it
(00:47):
, I release it, I promote it.
It's all me.
Thanks so much to the showsupporters who help keep this
going.
I sent a message out viaPatreon about new merch with the
logo refresh.
I will have more on how you cansupport the show later.
There is a lot of noise going onaround here.
(01:07):
The Karen Reid trial gotunderway the second one.
I don't have a hard stance onit.
I don't follow it religiously,like a lot of other people do.
I said what I said and areminder to that dip who left a
review a while back about how Itore her down.
Karen Reed, you were wrong.
You didn't listen to the show.
(01:28):
In related news, the internetis in a twist about a serial
killer in New England.
Rather Facebook or a Facebookgroup.
Of this theory I say no, thereare no solid connections.
Not yet.
I remain a skeptic, and thanksto Bob Ward of Boston 25 News
(01:49):
for helping out on that one.
In this episode, I talk about acase that remains unsolved six
years on, a case based in theSouth Shore, of a missing woman,
a mom, a grandmother, a sister,a friend.
There is a lot of noise aroundthis case and I'd like to put
the focus on her and the factsof her disappearance.
(02:10):
It does need clarity.
This is episode 85, the Case ofMissing Person Sandra Crispo
from Quincy, mass.
Now.
Sandra moved to the small townof Hanson shortly before she
disappeared and her daughter,lena, tells her story.
Sandra Crispo grew up in Quincy.
(02:34):
She was one of five children inthe Dabrowski family, stephen M
Dabrowski Sr.
Their father passed away inJanuary 2018 at the age of 84.
Their father passed away inJanuary 2018 at the age of 84.
He lived in Housenac in Quincyfor more than 50 years and he
raised his family there.
Now, as I do with this show, Ilearned a lot about that area
(02:57):
while researching this story.
Let's talk about Quincy, orQuincy to locals.
According to the site CoastalNeighborhoods Howe's Neck is a
small waterfront neighborhoodthat sits on a peninsula
surrounded by Quincy Bay,hingham Bay and Rock Island Cove
.
The area is rich in history,named for Atherton Howe, the
(03:19):
mayor of Boston, england, whowas granted the land in 1636 as
both a farm and an orchard.
Today, locals refer to thecommunity as the Neck, or God's
country, and are proudlyreferred to as Neckas.
I don't know proudly might be astretch.
It sits on the water with aview of the Boston skyline.
(03:41):
On the tip of the Neck sits NutIsland and yes, I am
suppressing all my inappropriatejokes it is the national park
where residents enjoy views ofSquantum.
One of the most desirableaddresses in Quincy, with its
million-dollar homes.
There's Wollaston Beach, offQuincy Shore Drive, with the
Quincy Shore Reservation and its2.3-mile beach, popular for its
(04:04):
bike trails.
You know I've said this fromtime to time.
This show can't be too bad forNew England tourism.
I talk up our towns and citiesquite a lot.
Quincy is the eighth largestcity in Massachusetts, with
101,163 residents in 2025.
That's according to WorldPopulation Review.
(04:27):
Quincy is part of Norfolk County.
It's called the city ofpresidents and the birthplace of
the American dream.
Quincy is the birthplace of thesecond and sixth US presidents,
john Adams and his son, johnQuincy Adams.
It was also part of thedeveloping granite industry for
(04:48):
more than a century, home toAmerica's commercial railway,
the Granite Railway, built in1826 with the express purpose of
transporting Quincy granite toCharlestown for the construction
of the Bunker Hill Monument.
Quincy Quarry and the GraniteWorkers Museum hosts a walking
(05:08):
tour discussing the history ofthe Quincy Quarries, and I
should add that my friendKristen, who was born and raised
and still lives in Quincy, toldme that the quarries are
mentioned in the Departed, themovie and Buffy the Vampire
Slayer the show.
My father-in-law worked in theships in the Quincy shipyard.
(05:31):
It was rough work Small spacesriddled with asbestos.
He developed COPD as a resultand at almost 89, he's hanging
in there.
He tells us lots of stories.
His family had a bakery in thewest end of Boston before they
leveled that neighborhood tobuild Mass General Hospital and
(05:52):
it displaced thousands offamilies.
There used to be a sign onStarro Drive right near that
site that said this if you livedhere, you'd be home now.
Yeah, no shit, we know they didlive there and you kicked them
out and stole their homes.
I've talked about it in otherepisodes, namely the two
episodes I did about the CoconutGrove Fire.
(06:15):
The Four River Shipyard was inoperation from 1883 until 1980.
The shipyard produced hundredsof ships, including destroyers
and aircraft carriers.
Asbestos was used for severaldecades of the shipyard's
history and as a result manypeople developed
asbestos-related diseases likemesothelioma, copd.
(06:38):
Today the United States NavalShipbuilding Museum and the USS
Salem occupy the former shipyardgrounds and are open to the
public.
The USS Salem serves as home tothe Kilroy was here catchphrase
.
The phrase is believed to haveoriginated with James Kilroy, a
shipyard inspector in Quincy.
(06:59):
During the war.
Kilroy would mark sections hehad inspected with.
Kilroy was here to indicate hiswork.
American soldiers quicklyadopted this practice and it
grew in popularity and the manSticks named a record after it,
that record's biggest hit.
Do you know this is for theolder crowd of listeners.
Mr Roboto, you're right Now.
(07:21):
I worked in radio for a longtime and I know for sure that
the purist of the Styx fansdidn't love that one.
Many found it kind of quirkyand goofy, but it became one of
their biggest hits.
Now it's a Boston thing to makefun of our most successful
exports.
I say that about the DropkickMurphys but despite all my
(07:42):
razzing, the Dropkicks are knownto show up for us.
Formed in Quincy in 1996, theycame together on a dare when Ken
Casey accepted the challenge toform a band in very little time
.
He didn't play anything when hestarted the band.
In their almost meteoric riseto a level of success in such
(08:03):
little time kind of baffledlocals.
In the beginning the band tooktheir name from a local man
named John Dropkick Murphy, aknown wrestler.
He also operated the BellowsFarm Sanatorium in Acton,
something Ken Casey called aprimitive detox center.
In a piece for Boston Magazinehe said I always heard old guys
(08:26):
my grandfather's age say, oh, Iwas in Dropkicks or they took me
to Dropkick Murphys and hethought that would be a cool
name for a band.
And the rest, as they say, isrock and roll history sort of.
They rehearsed in the basementof a barbershop and they got
their big break from anotherwell-known Boston band, mighty
Mighty Bostones, when they wereinvited to open up for their
(08:48):
1997 tour.
And the Dropkicks paid theirrespects to the Beachcomber when
that dive bar on WollastonBeach shut down in 2015.
After 56 years they gave him aproper send-off for its final
show.
They gave him a proper send-offfor its final show.
Quincy.
Massachusetts is the birthplaceof Howard Johnson's Hojo's.
(09:10):
Now I learned a lot about thehistory of Howard Johnson's, let
me tell you.
Founded by Howard DeeringJohnson when, in 1925, he bought
the drugstore he had beenworking at on Beale Street in
Wollaston, he stepped it up inhis homemade ice cream adding
(09:33):
butterfat and higher qualityingredients.
He saw trends in business andhe expanded with an ice cream
stand on Walliston Beach next tothe home he was leasing for the
summer.
Legend has it he sold as manyas 14,000 cones in a single day
at that stand.
That seems humanly impossible.
I mean, how much homemade icecream could he churn out in 1925
?
I don't know.
By 1929, he opened the firsttraditional Howard Johnson's
(09:56):
restaurant in Quincy Square to abooming business.
Then that stock market crash ofOctober 1929 kicked off the
Great Depression and nearlycrushed his business altogether.
Hojo survived and in the comingyears Johnson took a leap.
In 1935, he had the idea for anew restaurant in Orleans, on
(10:19):
the Cape, on the plot of landowned by Eugene Sprigg.
It was located where Route 28met Route 6A.
It was a prime location for thehordes of motorists who drove
by or sat in Cape traffic.
He struck a deal with Spragueand a franchise was born.
Orleanshistorycom has a photocalled the birthplace of
(10:43):
franchising.
In 1939, there were 107 HowardJohnson's locations.
By 1954, the company opened itsfirst motel in Savannah, georgia
.
It grew to include more than1,000 franchise restaurants and
500 motor lodges.
The Verb Hotel in the Fenway, aformer Hojo's.
(11:05):
Anyone remember the huge Hojo'son Route 3 in Nashua, new
Hampshire, with the pool?
I remember the fogged upwindows.
It was one of two Hojo's inNashua.
The other was Stanu-UpsterHighway area.
I don't quite remember.
I found the site hojolandcom.
Let me tell you I could go onand on about the history of
(11:28):
Howard Johnson's but I won't.
Quincy, massachusetts, is thebirthplace of Dunkin' Donuts.
The first Dunkin's is still inoperation.
The first of its kind coffeeand donut shop opened in Quincy
in 1948.
Originally named Open Kettle,it served coffee, pastries and
sandwiches.
Two years later it was renamedDunkin' Donuts.
(11:50):
As folklore has it, anarchitect was inspired by the
idea of dunking donuts intocoffee.
Four years later, founderWilliam Rosenberg had five
locations in operation.
That original Dunkin' Donuts isstill standing and was restored
to its 1950s glory, completewith a retro sign.
Love them or hate them.
(12:10):
Dunk's is huge, sellingbillions of cups of coffee each
year.
Dunkin' sells at least 60 cupsof coffee every second.
That equates to approximately 2billion cups of coffee sold
worldwide in 2017.
Boop Ben Affleck loves Dunkin'Donuts.
I mean, the guy is a supermillionaire and he still goes
(12:33):
and gets his Lodge regular.
And, yes, having a Dunk's acrossthe street from a Dunk's is a
very Boston kind of thing.
And when I say Boston, it's alocal thing.
Outside of here I don't thinkanybody gives a care.
Here's a quick story about noone really giving a care outside
of Boston.
I was in California and thereare a couple that I go to.
(12:54):
There's one in Encino that I goto when I'm there and there was
one in the one in WoodlandHills I was staying close to.
So I walk into this new DunkinDonuts because they're pretty
much all new out there, and Iwalk in.
I went oh my God, I said it outloud and the woman behind the
counter was like what is thiswoman's problem?
And I'm like it's just like theolden days of Dunkin' Donuts,
with all the donuts in thedisplay.
(13:16):
It looked beautiful.
I'm being nostalgic with I'mfrom Boston and this is like the
old school when they used tomake the donuts and put them in
the display case and it was socool and I could see in the
woman's eyes.
She's like whatever, freak.
I got my coffee with 10 skimmilk.
I turned around to leave and Iyelled Yankee, suck.
Let's talk about some of thenotable people from Quincy lots
(13:38):
of Adams's and Quincy Adams'sand actress Lee Remick, the
legendary Dick Dale, surf rockpioneer, grammy-nominated
producer, engineer andsongwriter Louis Bell.
You may not know his name, butyou do know Post Malone's and
Justin Bieber's and TaylorSwift's and Cardi B's.
Something I did not know untilthis very day Jonathan Bartlett
(14:04):
Allen, known professionally asMr Ballin, the true crime
podcast host, grew up in Quincy.
I did hear that he had arelative who wrote for the
Boston Globe and I figured outhe's the guy with the backwards
baseball hat, so that all tracks.
The actress named Clara Blandick.
She rose to stardom for herportrayal as Auntie M in the
(14:28):
Wizard of Oz.
You may remember her from theearliest scenes with Dorothy
played by Judy Garland, and thenmuch later.
I'm trying to remember Wizardof Oz.
It's been quite a while since Iwatched it.
Clara grew up in Quincy.
Her story takes a very sad turn, though, when, on April 15,
(14:49):
1962, the pain of arthritis andfailing vision became too much.
She returned home from PalmSunday, church services set out
her acting credentials and pressclippings, placed a plastic bag
over her head and took a fataldose of sleeping pills.
She died at peace on her sofaat the age of 85.
(15:16):
The note she left spoke of heragonizing pain and her impending
blindness.
I also learned that many of theWizard of Oz cast have
Massachusetts connections.
I won't laundry list that herefor you now, but I do share the
link among my sources atcrimeofthetruestkindcom.
You can go there and learnabout the history of Howard
Johnson's at Hojo Land.
That's just some of what Ilearned about Quincy that I
(15:39):
shared with you today.
And Sandra Crispo lived much ofher life there, only moving to
Hanson a few months before shewent missing.
I have talked about the town ofHanson, where Mara and Julie
Murray grew up.
It is a small town of about10,000 people I did visit most
recently was for the funeralservice for Julie's brother,
(16:02):
fred Murray Jr, who passed awayvery recently.
Oh and, by the way, there areno new discoveries, no breaking
headlines in Mara's case.
That is absolute clickbaitbullshit.
And when there is, the Murrayswill tell you.
(16:24):
On Wednesday, august 7th 2019,54-year-old Sandra Crispo was
seen for the last time onsurveillance at Cumberland Farms
near her home.
She stopped to get cigaretteson her way back from leaving her
car at the garage for repairs.
Sandra, who was taking care ofher grandsons while her daughter
worked in the city, was homewhen her son-in-law came to pick
(16:44):
up their kids after his workday.
He helped Sandra drop her caroff at a mechanic and gave her a
ride back to her place.
Her tiny house at 47 SpoffordAve in Hanson was what we would
call quaint in what realtorscall a condo alternative Two
bedrooms, one bath, 612 squarefeet, a postage stamp yard,
(17:08):
great spot close to her daughterand a spot she got to enjoy for
all of three months.
A series of unanswered callsbegan when Lena, her daughter,
tried her mom on Thursday.
Those calls went unanswered.
By Friday morning, august 9th,when Lena arrived to drop off
her children before work, hermom was not around, something
(17:31):
that concerned her immediately.
Sandra watched hergrandchildren three days a week
and had planned to keep themovernight.
That Friday, when Lena arrived,she found the lights were on,
the air conditioning was stillrunning and the back door was
unlocked.
But Sandra's dog, clarence, hewas there.
He was scared In her first lookaround, she noticed that his
(17:54):
bowls were empty.
Now Lena knew her mother wouldnever have left her dog behind
without telling anyone and shewouldn't have left her house
unlocked and the last itemstossed in the trash were diapers
from Wednesday when Sandra lasthad her grandchildren.
Weeks would pass with no signof Sandra.
Searches turned up nothing.
Weeks after Sandra'sdisappearance, lena and her
(18:19):
husband, tim testified before agrand jury.
Her understanding was that theywere pretty close to making an
arrest, but no one has beenarrested yet.
I mentioned Sandra's father atthe beginning, stephen Dabrowski
Sr.
Who died in 2018, almost twoyears before Sandra went missing
(18:41):
.
He left behind a substantialestate which included up to a
million dollars in gold bars.
It has been a long-standingproblem within the family.
When you hear something likegold bars, you think, well,
that's weird.
What's the value in that?
When I thought about how olderpeople looked at banks and
(19:02):
investing, it does make sense tome.
During the Great Depression,people lost everything.
Banks lost everything.
This estate and these gold barshave been a long-standing
problem within the family andsomething many close to Sandra
believe made her a target, andsomething many close to Sandra
(19:28):
believe made her a target.
I first met Lena at theMassachusetts State Police
Unresolved Case Unit's MissingPersons Day in East Boston
earlier this year.
We spoke about her mom's case,this underlying story that there
are some unsavory players thatcontinue to drive a narrative.
This is about a missing woman,sandra Crispo, a woman whose
entire second act was aboutbeing a grandmother to her
(19:50):
grandsons.
Sandra lived in that smallcottage in Hanson.
A neighbor shared that they hadheard a loud argument the night
Sandra disappeared In thatsmall but tidy house.
Lena would eventually finddroplets of blood On the bed on
the walls Up.
(20:10):
Next, my conversation with Lena, sandra Crispo's daughter, who
tells us about her mom, hermom's life, what was most
important to her and the partsof her story that no one ever
talks about.
Please support Crime of theTruest Kinds, and there are a
number of ways that you can dothat.
(20:31):
You can share the show, tell afriend about it, share it in the
groups or the threads that youpost in, share it on social
media, become a patron.
Four tiers starting at just onedollar at patreoncom.
Drop a tip in the jar, you willbe giving the dogs a bone.
I tiers starting at just $1 atpatreoncom.
Drop a tip in the jar, you willbe giving the dogs a bone.
I have a lot of dogs and theyneed a lot of bones.
(20:51):
Leave a five-star rating andreview on Apple Podcasts.
Buy some merch, hit up themerch store.
Everything is linked atcrimeofthetruestkindcom.
Your support helps drive thisshow.
It supports the work that I dodo, the conferences and events I
attend in the victim advocacytraining that I am taking right
(21:12):
now.
Laina McMahon (21:12):
Thank you, getting justice for my mom,
which has been my only missionthroughout all of this, is
finding out what happened,keeping it in the media, as hard
as it may be, it's not easyputting yourself up there and
you know and try to keep itrelevant.
(21:33):
You know the best I can.
I'm just doing the best I canfor what I got and it's it's
been a lot.
Anngelle Wood (21:41):
I know, and that's why I say to you you know
what, if any point you want topull the plug on this and wait
till later, I am at the mercy ofwhatever you do and don't want
to do.
People in your situation getre-victimized again and again
and again.
Not only were you victimized bythe fact that your mother's
missing, you feel like you havea lot of the answers Right and
(22:03):
you're like screaming into thevoid, right, and I see that a
lot.
First of all, I wish we didn'thave to do this.
I wish I haven't been learningthis and finding out that
families like yours have thiscommon thread of what the fuck
right?
quite literally what the fuck.
What else do I have to do toget you people to listen to me?
Laina McMahon (22:24):
And I actually appreciate you for acknowledging
that because it in a sensemakes me feel a little better,
because it feels so isolating togo through this and you feel
like you don't really haveresources and people to reach
out to.
Anngelle Wood (22:37):
But I struggle with as somebody who tries to
advocate.
I really want the firsthandaccount of a family member.
That's where your mom gets lost.
Laina McMahon (22:48):
Exactly.
She is lost in all of this.
Anngelle Wood (22:52):
So let's start here Tell me about your mom.
Where did she grow up, what washer life like?
What are some of the storiesthat you know about your mom's
earlier life?
Because these are the thingsthat we never hear about.
We never hear about the person.
Laina McMahon (23:08):
Right, absolutely Well, she was one of four.
They grew up in Quincy,massachusetts.
My grandfather was a bricklayer.
Growing up, my grandmother wasa stay-at-home mom but she
suffered from mental illness.
So I know that their upbringingwasn't ideal.
I know that there's, you know,internal family drama which has
(23:31):
been there since day one.
But you know, all in all shegrew up in that environment, met
my dad when she was about 19.
They got married, had mybrother and then two years later
they had me and we grew up inQuincy.
My dad was a commerciallobsterman and my mom would work
on the boat with him and youknow we would be out there in
(23:54):
the sun and, you know, get inour little aquarium he would
throw up baby lobsters and wereally did have, you know, a
good upbringing in the youngeryears.
And then you know she startedthat was the opiate epidemic and
she got addicted to Oxycontinfrom a former fisherman that she
(24:14):
worked with and you know shestruggled for a long time.
She was very depressed and, youknow, had her own troubles.
I actually, you know mygrandmother, got custody of me
when I was 15.
So I moved in with her and Ikind of had this little bit of
resentment towards my mom,because I felt like she wasn't
(24:36):
there for me when I needed herthe most.
And it was really hard but yeah,ultimately we made it through
and you know, I realized as anadult that I have children now
and I figured I would give herthe second chance to be in my
life and be active with my kidsand and she loved it honestly,
(25:00):
like that was her passion.
She really she wasn't careeroriented, she didn't have any
real big goals, she, she wasjust simple.
She really was.
She was simple.
She loved tea, she loved herdog, didn't have a big circle of
friends, like mainly hang outwith her sisters, mainly just
(25:20):
kept to herself.
But yeah, like I said, we didreconnect, you know, when I
became a mom and realized thatlife is short and everybody
deserves second chances and sheloved being a grandmother, she
really really did Like thoseboys are her life.
So yeah, it's been, it's been alot.
Anngelle Wood (25:42):
She was living in Quincy for a while and then she
did.
She sell her house in Quincyand then buy the house in Hanson
yeah.
Laina McMahon (25:50):
So my grandfather passed away in 2017 and then
she had this big, you knowfour-bedroom house in Quincy and
you know he was pretty muchsupporting her like paying the
bills, so she was left his house.
So we decided to downsize andmove her closer to Hanson.
So we got her a cute little youknow 700 square foot house.
(26:14):
It was all recently renovatedlike she was happy it was.
It wasn't anything crazy, butit was enough to it's all she
needed and for the first time, Ifelt like she felt like she had
something that was hers and itwas almost like a new outlook on
life.
And, you know, despite herhaving her issues in the past, I
(26:35):
feel like this, you know, was areally good time for her right
prior to her disappearance.
Anngelle Wood (26:43):
Tell me about the dynamic among her siblings.
She's one of four siblings, soone brother, three sisters.
Laina McMahon (26:54):
She had a brother who passed away in the 90s.
He had AIDS and he was gay.
He was never accepted by hisfather so he took his own life
One of four now.
Anngelle Wood (27:07):
Of the five siblings.
Where does your mom fall?
Uh second to youngest she wasraised in a big family where, I
mean, I, I came from a family offive, so I know that it can be
chaotic.
Yeah, she had you and yourbrother pretty young.
Laina McMahon (27:24):
Yeah.
Anngelle Wood (27:25):
What were the early years like for all of you?
Laina McMahon (27:28):
Honestly, she was very hands-on, she was very
crafty, Like she was neverafraid to do fun projects.
Again, she really didn't haveany extra passions, like she was
a homebody and she liked itthat way and you know she
enjoyed being a mother and shewas present growing up and at
(27:50):
what point in your childhood wasshe working on the on the
lobster boats?
the majority of it she used tobeat like long line hooks, like
she was.
She was a worker, she was rightin the seafood industry and you
know, she I watched her foryears and my dad and her both
were, you know, extremely hardworkers and they did everything
(28:12):
they could and provided for usfor what we needed.
And is your dad still around?
Yeah, he's a bricklayer now.
He's out of that industry, buthe's around.
Yeah, he lives in Quincy.
Anngelle Wood (28:24):
Has he been supportive of you and your
family throughout this.
Laina McMahon (28:29):
See, I don't really think you know he
struggles with alcoholism and Idon't think he really knows how
to.
You know, not that emotional,it's a lot for him.
I don't think he ever stoppedloving her.
He since remarried, but youknow they had a very amicable
split.
There was no animosity,anything like that did they
(28:49):
separate because of the drugs?
yeah, I think that definitelyput a strain on their
relationship and you know my dadultimately moved out, so it was
just my brother and I and thenyou know I think moving in with
my grandmother was.
You know she regrets not takingmy brother also, but he was a
little bit older and you knowit's kind of hard to restart a
life that.
You know she regrets not takingmy brother also, but he was a
little bit older and you knowit's kind of hard to restart a
(29:11):
life.
That you know when you'readolescent ages, when it's
already fragile and you know alot going on.
How was your brother doing?
My brother has struggled withsubstance abuse.
I actually adopted his child,so I had three boys under the
age of two.
I check in with them once everyonce in a while but we really
(29:34):
don't have a close relationship.
I think he's more ashamed ofhis decisions and I would never
judge like I get it.
Everybody is affected bysomebody with substance abuse
and mental health.
Anngelle Wood (29:48):
It's very important to say this, that it
affects anyone 100%.
A stay-at-home mom, a teacher,a principal, a CEO, a high
school student.
Drugs affect everyone, and ifanybody looks around and says
well, that doesn't happen to meor that won't happen to me, just
(30:08):
wait.
Laina McMahon (30:08):
It doesn't discriminate.
Yeah, you know, and that's thereality we live in.
Anngelle Wood (30:13):
And that's something that's important for
me to point out is that I don'tcare what somebody's history is.
If they're missing, we need tofind them.
Laina McMahon (30:22):
Right.
If anything, it only makes them, you know, more of a liability
and a concern.
You know.
Anngelle Wood (30:28):
The vulnerability is greater right.
Laina McMahon (30:31):
she had periods of sobriety, like you know,
obviously during the later half,but I think she just always
struggled with, you know,self-doubt and I think she never
really thought she was goodenough and you know that was
kind of hard to see.
But again, like I said, being agrandmother kind of gave her
this new perspective, a purpose,essentially like something to
(30:52):
look forward to, and she wasreally good at it.
Anngelle Wood (30:55):
Sometimes that's what happens in someone's second
act, right?
You know, I can speak fromexperience in my own family.
You know, sometimes our parentsaren't great parents, but their
journey makes them bettergrandparents.
Laina McMahon (31:07):
Sometimes our parents aren't great parents,
but their journey makes thembetter.
Grandparents Right, and we haveto learn to evolve.
We're not here to parent.
Our parents were here to growand hopefully not repeat
mistakes or anything.
You know, nobody's perfect.
Anngelle Wood (31:18):
That's right.
Nobody's perfect.
Talk to me about what you knowabout the last days before she
disappeared.
What was going on, to the bestof your ability, what was going
on in her day to day and leadingup to the last time that she
was seen?
Laina McMahon (31:38):
Well, I think since my grandfather passed in
2017, there was a huge rip inthe family was a huge rip in the
family.
A lot of people seemed verymoney motivated, a lot of greed.
You know, I single-handedlywitnessed this whole thing.
(31:59):
You know, destroy my family inmore ways than one.
But day to day prior to herdisappearance, she was living in
her small home in Hanson.
She seemed happy.
She had her dog.
You know we were talking plansto put a fence in for the boys.
She was honestly the happiestthat she's been that I've
witnessed.
But again, there was thatconstant tension there, that
constant bickering back andforth.
(32:22):
You know, family membersarguing about inheritance and
all over my head.
It's something that I tried tostay away from because again,
they've been perseverating on itsince prior to our
disappearance.
And now, looking back, thingsstart to click and things start
to make sense and you realizeall these people that were
(32:42):
around all the time now nobody'saround, nobody's talking about
it.
Now, nobody's around, nobody'stalking about it.
(33:11):
It's almost like they'resquirreling and it doesn't seem
is to continue to seek justice.
To continue to seek, you know,the truth and find out what
happened to Sandra.
Anngelle Wood (33:18):
And that last day was like most days yes, she was
getting her car worked on.
Laina McMahon (33:27):
It was a typical.
Yeah, it was Wednesday, august7th.
I'll never forget.
I started in a new departmentso I wanted my children at our
house extra early.
I worked in the city like 11 to11.
So I got there like 930.
She came to the front door.
Her dog is very hyper.
He was like a lab mix from thepound that she adopted and she
(33:52):
loved him.
His name was Clarence, but hewas very flighty.
So that morning in particular Ipulled in front of her house,
got the boys out of the car andthey just kind of went in one by
one.
She's holding the dog, typicalmorning, you know, no concerns.
I reported to work that day.
We had prearranged her car toget fixed because the previous
(34:14):
winter it got backed up into asnowbank and when she pulled out
the whole exhaust ripped off.
So her car sounded really loudand I'm like mom, we cannot go
into another season of a loudcar Like, let's fix your car.
So she agreed we went to themechanic down my street.
They took the car in On thatday.
That Wednesday my husband gotout of work around five, picked
(34:38):
her up at her house, drove backto the mechanic shop.
My mom followed him, tim wentin, talked to the mechanic and
then he drove her home andbefore they got home she wanted
to stop at Cumberland Farms inHanson.
She was a smoker.
So he said, yep, no problem,they're seen on surveillance
pulling up.
That's the last known images ofher.
(35:00):
He dropped her off aroundfive-ish.
She got out of the car.
She looked at him and the boysand he said say, say, I love you
, granny.
And they're all like I love you, granny.
She went in the house, calledher cousin.
They had plans to meet up thatnight because she didn't have to
watch my kids Thursday.
She only had to watch themFriday called her cousin but
(35:22):
they never ended up going down.
Next day the mechanic had calledme.
He said you know X, y, z.
I said if you see anything else, can you please fix it, cause
she's probably not going to wantto get it done.
And he goes Lena, I'm notlooking for anything else, we're
going to deal with the exhaust.
I said, no problem, I'll callher.
So I called her around noon.
(35:43):
She didn't answer andoriginally, like I did kind of
get this feeling that like whyisn't she answering?
She doesn't have a car, butalso it was a nice summer day,
like, who knows, she might havebeen outside in the yard walking
the dog.
Like you know when I get somecriticism online, well, she had
concerns.
Why didn't she go over there?
(36:04):
I also had like four kids withme, you know.
So me and the kids were at thebeach.
We came home, I fed them lunch,I proceeded to call her a
couple more times.
She didn't answer, and thenbefore bed, it was like eight 30
.
I called her and again noanswer, and I reached out to
family members.
I'm like have you heard from mymom, and they said, nope, I
(36:28):
have not.
I said okay, well, she'ssupposed to watch my kids
tomorrow and she's not answering.
Let me know if you hear fromher.
So that next day was a Fridayand again I called her before I
left to go to her house.
She didn't answer, so got there, pulled in the driveway.
Normally I'm like to the kidseverybody on Brooklyn Then we go
in and went to the front door.
It was locked and then Iproceeded to like to the kids
everybody on Brooklyn, let me goin.
I went to the front door, itwas locked, and then I proceeded
(36:51):
to go to the back door and thatwas unlocked and opened.
I kind of peered in and you knownormally that dog that's very
flighty was kind of shaking onthe recliner and then, like I
briefly looked, he had no foodor water.
And then I'm looking around,I'm like the lights were on, so
clearly she was there at night,the air conditioner was running,
but I was just kind of in afrazzle, like I have a brand new
(37:14):
job, I can't call in onorientation, like so I arranged
child care, dropped my kids offand then I reported to work and
I just had this sinking feeling.
I don't know how to explain it.
I looked at one of my co and Isaid I feel like something's
wrong with my mom and she saidshe would never forget my
(37:35):
desperation, almost in my face.
So I called my husband.
I'm like you know.
She wasn't there.
So he reported her missingafter work.
Hanson police were veryresponsive initially.
You know they put out all thestops.
They made her a tear too like,which is essentially a child
going missing.
You know they searched prettyextensively the area around her
(37:57):
house.
They had canine, they haddrones, they were out on ATVs.
Since then, that's here we aresix years later and we still
don't have answers and we stilldon't know the truth.
Anngelle Wood (38:12):
When you were inside her house, did you see,
aside from her puppy dog, whosesituation was completely
abnormal from the way your momwould take care of her dog?
What else do you remember fromthat initial?
I guess look around.
You weren't in the in the modeof investigating at that point
(38:32):
because at that point, likewhere's my mom?
What's going on?
Did anything stick out to youat that moment?
Laina McMahon (38:39):
nothing initially other than you know the dog.
But again I really didn't walkaround or anything it wasn't
know.
Later on police didn't processher house for evidence.
Approximately six weeks laterit was after I was on my hands
and knees kind of scouring forclues.
And then that's where I kind ofnoticed there was droplets of
(39:01):
blood in almost every room ofher house, small, you know, and
not enough to be visible likewhoa a crime was committed here.
So then I wrote to the DA'soffice I said I believe there's
a public threat.
It was 54 days in at that pointand I felt like Hanson needed
more resources.
I feel like you know it's asmall town, they're really not
(39:22):
cut out for potential foul playand big cases.
So I reached out to the DA'soffice.
I got like an immediateresponse.
The state police, kind of youknow, came in and helped, led
the investigation.
I felt like there was a lot ofprogress within the case.
You know we were convenedshortly after they took over.
We were convened for a grandjury where I've testified as a
(39:45):
witness a few times, jury whereI've testified as a witness a
few times.
But again it wasn't until afterthe fact that I realized there
were small amounts of bloodthroughout almost her entire
home.
Like I looked under the bed,all the bed slats were off.
There was a straw purse and ithad little drops like somebody
might have been looking forsomething.
Her house, um, initially wasfine, but then when we went back
(40:08):
it appeared tossed.
My husband went there thatSaturday because she had the cat
and the dog to feed them andthen certain family members came
in and they were looking.
They were like where's the gold?
And, you know, veryconfrontational and Tim's like
what do you mean?
Where's the gold?
Where's Sandra?
Wow, that's very telling.
(40:35):
But again, looking back, youknow they've been fighting about
this gold since 2017.
So two years later, all right,now you're going to talk about
literally six days before shewent missing, somebody in my
family texted me.
I know she has the gold bars.
I'm not going to mention whatwas exchanged, but looking back
now, it's completely alarmingand it all makes sense.
(40:57):
Looking back now, I feel likethis is a very solvable case.
After the state police hadprocessed her home, they said it
wasn't enough to indicate thata crime was committed.
But you, there was blood DNA ofanother male individual that's
associated with the family thatwas found in her house, as well
as my mom's blood.
Anngelle Wood (41:18):
Did she have a partner?
Was there a romanticrelationship going on with
anybody at that time?
Laina McMahon (41:25):
Nope, she was very much single and again, her
and my dad had split, probably15 years previous, very amicable
.
She didn't have anyrelationship, red flags,
anything like that.
Anngelle Wood (41:39):
Where is the gold ?
This reported gold, so it is itis somewhere.
You don't have to give me an.
Laina McMahon (41:46):
It exists, it existed and it is somewhere
Right, there are records ofpeople cashing in large amounts
and, yeah, without going intotoo much detail, there's a lot I
know and a lot that I just wantto.
I just want to protect theintegrity of the investigation.
It's still open.
(42:07):
It's still open, it's stillactive.
A lot of behaviors of certainindividuals that were very close
to her were extremely alarming.
Now, looking back, and now, sixyears later, and it all makes
sense looking back, like I said,it's almost like Pirates of the
Caribbean, but junkies andmentally ill.
Let's be transparent.
Anngelle Wood (42:29):
There's a lot of questionable players in this
case.
Laina McMahon (42:33):
A lot of questionable players and a lot
of players that lack integrityand, you know, emotional
regulation and self-control, andI think that plays a big factor
into it.
Anngelle Wood (42:44):
What has your experience been like being a
regular everyday citizen andthrown into this new world that
nobody is prepared for?
There's no playbook for thisyou are now tasked with.
You're a family member ofsomeone who's missing.
You've put on these reluctantlyput on these, you know
(43:07):
investigative hats that you'renow trying to protect the legacy
of your mom.
You're trying to protect theprivacy of your own family 100%
what does that look like?
Laina McMahon (43:19):
Well, kind of, as I mentioned earlier, it's you
know you feel somewhat isolating, being a victim of a family
member that's, you know, missing.
It's this ambiguous loss, it's.
You can't prepare yourself.
You essentially try to make upscenarios in your head of what
(43:40):
you think might have happened,just to try to cope and to try
to grieve.
And you know, I was an ER nursefor so many years, like, I've
seen trauma, I've seen badthings, I've thrived in that
environment.
But when it actually happens toyou, I think you know the only
thing you can really do is learnto grow from it and learn to,
(44:00):
you know, appreciate what youhave and realize that life truly
is disposable and there are alot of humans and hurt people
like to hurt people and it'sbeen really eye-opening but
honestly it's, it's taught me alot about myself.
Um, I've grown a lot.
I feel like it's prepared me tobe a better mother and a better
(44:22):
person.
It's made me realize the closerelationships that I have and
people that care about me are soimportant.
And it humbles you in a sensethat when something tragic
happens to you, you know whoyour circle is and you know who
your players are, and it doeshumble you.
I mean as much as this is adisaster in itself, like it's
(44:45):
taught us a lot.
We're learning to grow.
We're still learning like can'twrap your your brain around the
what-ifs.
Like I have to try to explainto my three children that you
know what happened to granny andI don't even know.
You know it's a hard thing togo through, but ultimately we
just have to keep moving forward.
(45:05):
We have to have this commonmission to seek justice, seek
the truth, and I believe theanswers are there.
I believe that it's a solvablecase.
I think it's just going to takesomebody that you know really
wants to reinvestigate and putpressure on people that need
pressure.
Anngelle Wood (45:23):
What is your relationship with investigators
at this time?
Do you get regular updates?
Do you check in with them?
Do they reach out to you?
What does that look like?
Laina McMahon (45:31):
The state police have had a lot of turnaround on
our case.
I think she's had fivedetectives, so I'm honestly not
even sure which state police isin charge of it.
Now I do occasionally I'm incontact with the assistant
district attorney.
They assure me that it's active.
But again, as far as you know,handsome police.
(45:53):
I think they did what theycould for what they had, but
ultimately I think they were inover their heads.
I think they needed moreresources.
I think it hasn't been easy,but I'm learning to try to
navigate this process withoutblaming anybody or putting
anybody at fault.
But you know, here we are sixyears later and you do start to
(46:17):
lose hope, like will this everbe solved?
Will we ever know where she is?
Will we ever get answers?
I don't know.
I can try to remain hopeful andoptimistic that, yes, we will,
but the reality is I don't knowhas your family?
Anngelle Wood (46:33):
have you or or I guess, you or your brother in
this case have you submittedyour DNA to the database so in
the event that someone islocated, and if it is your mom,
you can be put?
Laina McMahon (46:46):
in touch.
I actually went to that missingperson event in Boston.
Anngelle Wood (46:51):
And they did.
Laina McMahon (46:54):
So yes, yeah.
So they said you know if she'sever found on state, you know
across state lines.
She's in NAMS already, which isthe National Database for
Missing People.
Her DNA is already uploaded inthere, as well as mine and my
brother's.
Anngelle Wood (47:10):
So anything we can do to help, what do you
think in your gut happened?
Laina McMahon (47:19):
I think somebody thought she had money, which I
don't think she had.
I think there was drugsinvolved.
I think there was rage involved.
I've noticed a lot of behaviorsof certain individuals change
drastically and you know, moneybeing a motive for a lot of
(47:40):
things.
I think somebody went in there.
There was no car in thedriveway, mind you.
It was at the shop.
Her lights were on on, soobviously it was late at night.
I think somebody came inunannounced.
Neighbors did overhear anargument of two males fighting
with her.
The night she went missing andsome have reported hearing
(48:01):
fights of gold like where's thegold?
She lives in a very tiny,dead-end street.
The houses are super close, sothere was death.
Something definitely happened,whether it was full rage or
accidental, you know and thenthey panicked, I don't know.
I try to come up with thesescenarios in my head, you know,
(48:22):
just for my own clarity, but thereality is I don't know.
Her fitted sheet was missing.
Her shoes weren't there, soit's almost like she walked off.
We couldn't find her purse.
She had a brown bag that wasnever recovered, with her ID and
everything.
So it's almost like she couldhave walked off.
(48:43):
But then also, seeing the blooddroplets in the house could
make me believe there was moreof a struggle.
I'm not sure.
Anngelle Wood (48:49):
What's most important for you, lena?
That people know about your mom.
What's most important.
What do you feel like it'soverlooked the most about your
mom's story?
Laina McMahon (48:59):
I feel like throughout all of this, you know
, people have been projecting or, you know, spinning their own
theories about what they thinkmay have happened to my mom, and
I think some of the stuff thatthey say is is true and accurate
, but I think a lot of it is,you know, very hurtful and it's
baseless.
It's only disrupting the case.
(49:22):
I feel like there's a lot again.
There's going to be speculationon any case, naturally.
So what I've learned is try tojust to keep her story out there
.
You know, speak my truths andultimately, the goal is to get
justice for my mom and I,honestly, am not going to stop
until we have answers.
Anngelle Wood (49:42):
Amen.
I know that you have aconnection to Shana and light
the way, which is an incredibleorganization that has taught me
a lot about advocacy andsupporting families just like
yours, and I hope you'llcontinue to reach out for help
(50:02):
and support through some placelike light, the.
I am here to support you in anyway I can.
We are, when I say we, theladies that you met at the State
Police Unresolved Case Daymyself, dr Myers, melanie
McLaughlin, who also is a friendof a missing boy from many,
(50:24):
many years ago, and that's howwe sort of came together.
What we want to do with thisorganization, this advocacy
organization we have started inMassachusetts, is because of
families like yours, because ofstories like yours.
You know, I talk to familiesand they say we had no idea what
to do, we didn't know who totalk to, we didn't know where to
go.
I don't want that for you.
(50:46):
I don't want families first ofall.
I don't want families to haveto ever experience this, but, in
the event that this does happen, that you have the access to
information on where to go, whoto contact, what are some of the
things that you're able to do,some of those resources.
(51:07):
So that's one of the thingswe're trying to establish.
Laina McMahon (51:12):
And that's wonderful.
You know again, like you said,people.
What do you do in thissituation?
But knowing that there's otherpeople that you know can relate
to you and you know that livethis every day.
It's you know.
I look at Maramari's sister inawe and you know people like
that who've never given up 20years later, and it's sad that
(51:37):
that has to be her life missionand it seems unfair, but the
reality is that people need tobe held accountable.
Like you, can't make rashdecisions and not expect there
to be consequences and thereactions of people are also
telling right.
Anngelle Wood (51:54):
The reactions that you're seeing from certain
instances are telling if I canbe a part because this isn't
about me, but if I can be a partof something that helps
families like yours feel lessalone.
That's what I want to do.
I appreciate that Going forward.
If there and I know that theanniversary is coming up if
(52:17):
there's something that we coulddo, we could organize something,
whether that's in Hanson, youknow, these are things that we
could talk about.
I would like to help you.
Awesome Something that we cando around the anniversary.
When's her birthday?
Laina McMahon (52:33):
November 27th.
Anngelle Wood (52:35):
Okay, that's another date.
That's another date to target,just to make sure that we keep
her case and her face out there.
Laina McMahon (52:47):
I don't want anybody to forget like she
deserves justice, just more thananybody else.
Anngelle Wood (52:52):
It's right, she's somebody's mom, she's
somebody's grandma, she'ssomebody's sister, she's
somebody's auntie, she's youknow, we don't need to talk
about what those relationshipslook like and that's okay, but
the fact of the matter is is shelived, loved, had you and your
brother and your grant and yourchildren, her grandchildren.
This is all very important thatwe make sure we recognize that
(53:15):
she is missing.
We can speculate and we can sayall the things that we think
happened, but at the end of theday, none of that is truly
helpful without trying to findout, get to the bottom of what
happened.
In doing that, we need to be asfactual as possible.
(53:36):
So that's why it's importantfor me to reach out to you,
because you can tell the storyof what happened in a way that
is certainly respectful of yourmom and what she went through,
and to know that some of thenarratives and the noise
surrounding this are just takingaway from the real stories that
(53:56):
your mom is missing.
Laina McMahon (53:58):
I completely agree.
It's completely distractingfrom the fact that we're dealing
with a missing person, andpeople's need to spread
falsehood says far more abouttheir character than mine.
And I'm trying to remain humble, I'm trying to remain hopeful
and ultimately I'm not going togive up until the answer.
So I don't care what peoplethink I, my whole entire life
(54:22):
has been hard.
I don't expect it to get easierat any point, but that's OK.
I think it builds character.
Get easier at any point, butthat's okay.
I think it builds character andI think having these life
experiences, even though notwarranted or wanted, I think it
it's helped me to become abetter person and to grow, and
it really has it's.
Anngelle Wood (54:41):
It's been a lot, but you know I'm not going away
and you're still smiling andthat's important because when
you talk about your mom, I cansee the love I can see you know
you've shared.
You know there's difficultythere, but despite all that,
she's your mom and you love herand you're not going to give up
(55:01):
on her 100 well, thank you.
Laina McMahon (55:05):
Thank you.
Anngelle Wood (55:06):
I have some other questions that I want to ask
you.
When was she born?
Laina McMahon (55:12):
She was born November 27th 1964.
Anngelle Wood (55:17):
Was she born in Quincy.
Laina McMahon (55:19):
She was born, I think, at St Elizabeth's of
Boston.
Anngelle Wood (55:23):
What were some of the things that your mom loved?
Did she have a favorite color?
Laina McMahon (55:28):
She liked purple.
She really enjoyed drinking tea.
She would have like 20 cups aday.
Like I said, she was reallysimple.
She enjoyed her pup.
She enjoyed her grandchildren.
She enjoyed arts and crafts.
She was very creative.
She, you know, would allow youto get messy and play with the
(55:51):
glitter and everything else thatcomes with that.
Like she, she was a good person.
She was her own worst enemy andI think you know, maybe growing
up in the environment that shedid kind of affected that.
But ultimately she was aharmless person.
She didn't have a mean bone inher body.
Anngelle Wood (56:08):
She never really talked bad about anybody did she
have some favorite music orbands that she enjoyed?
Laina McMahon (56:15):
oh, she liked like the rolling stones, like
classic rock, um metallica, youknow all the hard rock.
Anngelle Wood (56:24):
She enjoyed it all well, I ask a lot of that
stuff because it it helpshumanize them.
Yeah, you know, these arethings that people don't know.
It's like how'd she?
Where'd she grow up?
She grew up in Quincy.
Where was she born?
She was born in Boston, inBrighton, right?
She loved music.
She loved her favorite colorwas purple, and and also what I
do is I make a flyer withphotographs of her and
(56:48):
information and, and oftentimes,if I know someone's favorite
color, I'll add the favoritecolor in there.
It's just one of the manythings that we do, just as
another means to talk about thatperson and another thing that
can be shared, another flyer,another way to be an everyday
advocate that people can shareand learn some of the factual
(57:09):
information about your mom'scase.
I've been doing this long, notmy my background you probably
don't know this my background Iwas on rock radio for more than
20 years.
Laina McMahon (57:20):
Oh, that's awesome.
Anngelle Wood (57:21):
So your mother probably listened to me on the
radio.
Laina McMahon (57:25):
If you like what station was it?
Anngelle Wood (57:27):
I was on.
The last station I was on wasWZLX.
Okay, yes, because I'm fromBoston, I'm from the area too.
I was on WFNX, I was on BCN, Iwas on ZLX.
I did you know a couple ofother things throughout that,
but music is a big part of mybackground and when I started,
when I got into podcasting, Iloved, I love true crime, I love
all of that.
I've learned to.
(57:48):
Really, I always did look at itas humanity.
I never looked at it as anexploitative kind of thing to
just take fake information justto get clicks, which happens way
too much.
Way too much to tell acompassionate story, and I want
(58:08):
to humanize the person we'retalking about and make sure
families like your family, you,the daughter, I want to make
sure that you know that we're onyour side.
Laina McMahon (58:15):
I appreciate it, it really does.
It means a lot.
Anngelle Wood (58:24):
Thank you, lena.
I know these conversations aredifficult for families.
I know families want to havethem because they want nothing
more than to get the informationout about their missing loved
one.
It has been nearly six yearssince Sandra Crispo was last
seen.
At the time of herdisappearance Sandra did not
(58:47):
have a cell phone.
There has been no activity onany of her accounts.
She had no health issues.
She was single.
Information is needed inSandra's case.
You can contact the HansonPolice Department 781-293-4625.
Mass State Police Detectives at508-894-2600.
(59:12):
Sandra's family would like toknow where she is, what happened
to her.
She has grandsons at homewaiting for her.
Thank you for listening.
My name is Angelle Wood.
This is Crime of the TruestKind.
(59:34):
I talk about New England crimestories.
I talk about history andadvocacy.
Advocacy is key in the workthat I do.
I try to be one of the helpers.
It's really difficult forfamilies to navigate these
things and I never want to besomeone that makes it more
(59:59):
painful for families who aregoing through this.
Please follow the show at Crimeof the Truest Kind on.
Well, everything Bye-bye.
Lock your goddamn doors, we'llbe right back you.
Well, hello, my name is Anngelle Wood and this
is Crime of the Truest Kind.
It's nice again, feels good,doesn't it?
(00:26):
For those of us who are in theMassachusetts to England
vicinity, it's very nice becausethe warm weather is upon us.
This is a Massachusetts and NewEngland-based true crime,
regional history andadvocacy-focused podcast.
I created it, I research it, Iwrite it, I record it, I edit it
(00:47):
, I release it, I promote it.
It's all me.
Thanks so much to the showsupporters who help keep this
going.
I sent a message out viaPatreon about new merch with the
logo refresh.
I will have more on how you cansupport the show later.
There is a lot of noise going onaround here.
(01:07):
The Karen Reid trial gotunderway the second one.
I don't have a hard stance onit.
I don't follow it religiously,like a lot of other people do.
I said what I said and areminder to that dip who left a
review a while back about how Itore her down.
Karen Reed, you were wrong.
You didn't listen to the show.
(01:28):
In related news, the internetis in a twist about a serial
killer in New England.
Rather Facebook or a Facebookgroup.
Of this theory I say no, thereare no solid connections.
Not yet.
I remain a skeptic, and thanksto Bob Ward of Boston 25 News
(01:49):
for helping out on that one.
In this episode, I talk about acase that remains unsolved six
years on, a case based in theSouth Shore, of a missing woman,
a mom, a grandmother, a sister,a friend.
There is a lot of noise aroundthis case and I'd like to put
the focus on her and the factsof her disappearance.
(02:10):
It does need clarity.
This is episode 85, the Case ofMissing Person Sandra Crispo
from Quincy, mass.
Now.
Sandra moved to the small townof Hanson shortly before she
disappeared and her daughter,lena, tells her story.
Sandra Crispo grew up in Quincy.
(02:34):
She was one of five children inthe Dabrowski family, stephen M
Dabrowski Sr.
Their father passed away inJanuary 2018 at the age of 84.
Their father passed away inJanuary 2018 at the age of 84.
He lived in Housenac in Quincyfor more than 50 years and he
raised his family there.
Now, as I do with this show, Ilearned a lot about that area
(02:57):
while researching this story.
Let's talk about Quincy, orQuincy to locals.
According to the site CoastalNeighborhoods Howe's Neck is a
small waterfront neighborhoodthat sits on a peninsula
surrounded by Quincy Bay,hingham Bay and Rock Island Cove
.
The area is rich in history,named for Atherton Howe, the
(03:19):
mayor of Boston, england, whowas granted the land in 1636 as
both a farm and an orchard.
Today, locals refer to thecommunity as the Neck, or God's
country, and are proudlyreferred to as Neckas.
I don't know proudly might be astretch.
It sits on the water with aview of the Boston skyline.
(03:41):
On the tip of the Neck sits NutIsland and yes, I am
suppressing all my inappropriatejokes it is the national park
where residents enjoy views ofSquantum.
One of the most desirableaddresses in Quincy, with its
million-dollar homes.
There's Wollaston Beach, offQuincy Shore Drive, with the
Quincy Shore Reservation and its2.3-mile beach, popular for its
(04:04):
bike trails.
You know I've said this fromtime to time.
This show can't be too bad forNew England tourism.
I talk up our towns and citiesquite a lot.
Quincy is the eighth largestcity in Massachusetts, with
101,163 residents in 2025.
That's according to WorldPopulation Review.
(04:27):
Quincy is part of Norfolk County.
It's called the city ofpresidents and the birthplace of
the American dream.
Quincy is the birthplace of thesecond and sixth US presidents,
john Adams and his son, johnQuincy Adams.
It was also part of thedeveloping granite industry for
(04:48):
more than a century, home toAmerica's commercial railway,
the Granite Railway, built in1826 with the express purpose of
transporting Quincy granite toCharlestown for the construction
of the Bunker Hill Monument.
Quincy Quarry and the GraniteWorkers Museum hosts a walking
(05:08):
tour discussing the history ofthe Quincy Quarries, and I
should add that my friendKristen, who was born and raised
and still lives in Quincy, toldme that the quarries are
mentioned in the Departed, themovie and Buffy the Vampire
Slayer the show.
My father-in-law worked in theships in the Quincy shipyard.
(05:31):
It was rough work Small spacesriddled with asbestos.
He developed COPD as a resultand at almost 89, he's hanging
in there.
He tells us lots of stories.
His family had a bakery in thewest end of Boston before they
leveled that neighborhood tobuild Mass General Hospital and
(05:52):
it displaced thousands offamilies.
There used to be a sign onStarro Drive right near that
site that said this if you livedhere, you'd be home now.
Yeah, no shit, we know they didlive there and you kicked them
out and stole their homes.
I've talked about it in otherepisodes, namely the two
episodes I did about the CoconutGrove Fire.
(06:15):
The Four River Shipyard was inoperation from 1883 until 1980.
The shipyard produced hundredsof ships, including destroyers
and aircraft carriers.
Asbestos was used for severaldecades of the shipyard's
history and as a result manypeople developed
asbestos-related diseases likemesothelioma, copd.
(06:38):
Today the United States NavalShipbuilding Museum and the USS
Salem occupy the former shipyardgrounds and are open to the
public.
The USS Salem serves as home tothe Kilroy was here catchphrase
.
The phrase is believed to haveoriginated with James Kilroy, a
shipyard inspector in Quincy.
(06:59):
During the war.
Kilroy would mark sections hehad inspected with.
Kilroy was here to indicate hiswork.
American soldiers quicklyadopted this practice and it
grew in popularity and the manSticks named a record after it,
that record's biggest hit.
Do you know this is for theolder crowd of listeners.
Mr Roboto, you're right Now.
(07:21):
I worked in radio for a longtime and I know for sure that
the purist of the Styx fansdidn't love that one.
Many found it kind of quirkyand goofy, but it became one of
their biggest hits.
Now it's a Boston thing to makefun of our most successful
exports.
I say that about the DropkickMurphys but despite all my
(07:42):
razzing, the Dropkicks are knownto show up for us.
Formed in Quincy in 1996, theycame together on a dare when Ken
Casey accepted the challenge toform a band in very little time
.
He didn't play anything when hestarted the band.
In their almost meteoric riseto a level of success in such
(08:03):
little time kind of baffledlocals.
In the beginning the band tooktheir name from a local man
named John Dropkick Murphy, aknown wrestler.
He also operated the BellowsFarm Sanatorium in Acton,
something Ken Casey called aprimitive detox center.
In a piece for Boston Magazinehe said I always heard old guys
(08:26):
my grandfather's age say, oh, Iwas in Dropkicks or they took me
to Dropkick Murphys and hethought that would be a cool
name for a band.
And the rest, as they say, isrock and roll history sort of.
They rehearsed in the basementof a barbershop and they got
their big break from anotherwell-known Boston band, mighty
Mighty Bostones, when they wereinvited to open up for their
(08:48):
1997 tour.
And the Dropkicks paid theirrespects to the Beachcomber when
that dive bar on WollastonBeach shut down in 2015.
After 56 years they gave him aproper send-off for its final
show.
They gave him a proper send-offfor its final show.
Quincy.
Massachusetts is the birthplaceof Howard Johnson's Hojo's.
(09:10):
Now I learned a lot about thehistory of Howard Johnson's, let
me tell you.
Founded by Howard DeeringJohnson when, in 1925, he bought
the drugstore he had beenworking at on Beale Street in
Wollaston, he stepped it up inhis homemade ice cream adding
(09:33):
butterfat and higher qualityingredients.
He saw trends in business andhe expanded with an ice cream
stand on Walliston Beach next tothe home he was leasing for the
summer.
Legend has it he sold as manyas 14,000 cones in a single day
at that stand.
That seems humanly impossible.
I mean, how much homemade icecream could he churn out in 1925
?
I don't know.
By 1929, he opened the firsttraditional Howard Johnson's
(09:56):
restaurant in Quincy Square to abooming business.
Then that stock market crash ofOctober 1929 kicked off the
Great Depression and nearlycrushed his business altogether.
Hojo survived and in the comingyears Johnson took a leap.
In 1935, he had the idea for anew restaurant in Orleans, on
(10:19):
the Cape, on the plot of landowned by Eugene Sprigg.
It was located where Route 28met Route 6A.
It was a prime location for thehordes of motorists who drove
by or sat in Cape traffic.
He struck a deal with Spragueand a franchise was born.
Orleanshistorycom has a photocalled the birthplace of
(10:43):
franchising.
In 1939, there were 107 HowardJohnson's locations.
By 1954, the company opened itsfirst motel in Savannah, georgia
.
It grew to include more than1,000 franchise restaurants and
500 motor lodges.
The Verb Hotel in the Fenway, aformer Hojo's.
(11:05):
Anyone remember the huge Hojo'son Route 3 in Nashua, new
Hampshire, with the pool?
I remember the fogged upwindows.
It was one of two Hojo's inNashua.
The other was Stanu-UpsterHighway area.
I don't quite remember.
I found the site hojolandcom.
Let me tell you I could go onand on about the history of
(11:28):
Howard Johnson's but I won't.
Quincy, massachusetts, is thebirthplace of Dunkin' Donuts.
The first Dunkin's is still inoperation.
The first of its kind coffeeand donut shop opened in Quincy
in 1948.
Originally named Open Kettle,it served coffee, pastries and
sandwiches.
Two years later it was renamedDunkin' Donuts.
(11:50):
As folklore has it, anarchitect was inspired by the
idea of dunking donuts intocoffee.
Four years later, founderWilliam Rosenberg had five
locations in operation.
That original Dunkin' Donuts isstill standing and was restored
to its 1950s glory, completewith a retro sign.
Love them or hate them.
(12:10):
Dunk's is huge, sellingbillions of cups of coffee each
year.
Dunkin' sells at least 60 cupsof coffee every second.
That equates to approximately 2billion cups of coffee sold
worldwide in 2017.
Boop Ben Affleck loves Dunkin'Donuts.
I mean, the guy is a supermillionaire and he still goes
(12:33):
and gets his Lodge regular.
And, yes, having a Dunk's acrossthe street from a Dunk's is a
very Boston kind of thing.
And when I say Boston, it's alocal thing.
Outside of here I don't thinkanybody gives a care.
Here's a quick story about noone really giving a care outside
of Boston.
I was in California and thereare a couple that I go to.
(12:54):
There's one in Encino that I goto when I'm there and there was
one in the one in WoodlandHills I was staying close to.
So I walk into this new DunkinDonuts because they're pretty
much all new out there, and Iwalk in.
I went oh my God, I said it outloud and the woman behind the
counter was like what is thiswoman's problem?
And I'm like it's just like theolden days of Dunkin' Donuts,
with all the donuts in thedisplay.
(13:16):
It looked beautiful.
I'm being nostalgic with I'mfrom Boston and this is like the
old school when they used tomake the donuts and put them in
the display case and it was socool and I could see in the
woman's eyes.
She's like whatever, freak.
I got my coffee with 10 skimmilk.
I turned around to leave and Iyelled Yankee, suck.
Let's talk about some of thenotable people from Quincy lots
(13:38):
of Adams's and Quincy Adams'sand actress Lee Remick, the
legendary Dick Dale, surf rockpioneer, grammy-nominated
producer, engineer andsongwriter Louis Bell.
You may not know his name, butyou do know Post Malone's and
Justin Bieber's and TaylorSwift's and Cardi B's.
Something I did not know untilthis very day Jonathan Bartlett
(14:04):
Allen, known professionally asMr Ballin, the true crime
podcast host, grew up in Quincy.
I did hear that he had arelative who wrote for the
Boston Globe and I figured outhe's the guy with the backwards
baseball hat, so that all tracks.
The actress named Clara Blandick.
She rose to stardom for herportrayal as Auntie M in the
(14:28):
Wizard of Oz.
You may remember her from theearliest scenes with Dorothy
played by Judy Garland, and thenmuch later.
I'm trying to remember Wizardof Oz.
It's been quite a while since Iwatched it.
Clara grew up in Quincy.
Her story takes a very sad turn, though, when, on April 15,
(14:49):
1962, the pain of arthritis andfailing vision became too much.
She returned home from PalmSunday, church services set out
her acting credentials and pressclippings, placed a plastic bag
over her head and took a fataldose of sleeping pills.
She died at peace on her sofaat the age of 85.
(15:16):
The note she left spoke of heragonizing pain and her impending
blindness.
I also learned that many of theWizard of Oz cast have
Massachusetts connections.
I won't laundry list that herefor you now, but I do share the
link among my sources atcrimeofthetruestkindcom.
You can go there and learnabout the history of Howard
Johnson's at Hojo Land.
That's just some of what Ilearned about Quincy that I
(15:39):
shared with you today.
And Sandra Crispo lived much ofher life there, only moving to
Hanson a few months before shewent missing.
I have talked about the town ofHanson, where Mara and Julie
Murray grew up.
It is a small town of about10,000 people I did visit most
recently was for the funeralservice for Julie's brother,
(16:02):
fred Murray Jr, who passed awayvery recently.
Oh and, by the way, there areno new discoveries, no breaking
headlines in Mara's case.
That is absolute clickbaitbullshit.
And when there is, the Murrayswill tell you.
(16:24):
On Wednesday, august 7th 2019,54-year-old Sandra Crispo was
seen for the last time onsurveillance at Cumberland Farms
near her home.
She stopped to get cigaretteson her way back from leaving her
car at the garage for repairs.
Sandra, who was taking care ofher grandsons while her daughter
worked in the city, was homewhen her son-in-law came to pick
(16:44):
up their kids after his workday.
He helped Sandra drop her caroff at a mechanic and gave her a
ride back to her place.
Her tiny house at 47 SpoffordAve in Hanson was what we would
call quaint in what realtorscall a condo alternative Two
bedrooms, one bath, 612 squarefeet, a postage stamp yard,
(17:08):
great spot close to her daughterand a spot she got to enjoy for
all of three months.
A series of unanswered callsbegan when Lena, her daughter,
tried her mom on Thursday.
Those calls went unanswered.
By Friday morning, august 9th,when Lena arrived to drop off
her children before work, hermom was not around, something
(17:31):
that concerned her immediately.
Sandra watched hergrandchildren three days a week
and had planned to keep themovernight.
That Friday, when Lena arrived,she found the lights were on,
the air conditioning was stillrunning and the back door was
unlocked.
But Sandra's dog, clarence, hewas there.
He was scared In her first lookaround, she noticed that his
(17:54):
bowls were empty.
Now Lena knew her mother wouldnever have left her dog behind
without telling anyone and shewouldn't have left her house
unlocked and the last itemstossed in the trash were diapers
from Wednesday when Sandra lasthad her grandchildren.
Weeks would pass with no signof Sandra.
Searches turned up nothing.
Weeks after Sandra'sdisappearance, lena and her
(18:19):
husband, tim testified before agrand jury.
Her understanding was that theywere pretty close to making an
arrest, but no one has beenarrested yet.
I mentioned Sandra's father atthe beginning, stephen Dabrowski
Sr.
Who died in 2018, almost twoyears before Sandra went missing
(18:41):
.
He left behind a substantialestate which included up to a
million dollars in gold bars.
It has been a long-standingproblem within the family.
When you hear something likegold bars, you think, well,
that's weird.
What's the value in that?
When I thought about how olderpeople looked at banks and
(19:02):
investing, it does make sense tome.
During the Great Depression,people lost everything.
Banks lost everything.
This estate and these gold barshave been a long-standing
problem within the family andsomething many close to Sandra
believe made her a target, andsomething many close to Sandra
(19:28):
believe made her a target.
I first met Lena at theMassachusetts State Police
Unresolved Case Unit's MissingPersons Day in East Boston
earlier this year.
We spoke about her mom's case,this underlying story that there
are some unsavory players thatcontinue to drive a narrative.
This is about a missing woman,sandra Crispo, a woman whose
entire second act was aboutbeing a grandmother to her
(19:50):
grandsons.
Sandra lived in that smallcottage in Hanson.
A neighbor shared that they hadheard a loud argument the night
Sandra disappeared In thatsmall but tidy house.
Lena would eventually finddroplets of blood On the bed on
the walls Up.
(20:10):
Next, my conversation with Lena, sandra Crispo's daughter, who
tells us about her mom, hermom's life, what was most
important to her and the partsof her story that no one ever
talks about.
Please support Crime of theTruest Kinds, and there are a
number of ways that you can dothat.
(20:31):
You can share the show, tell afriend about it, share it in the
groups or the threads that youpost in, share it on social
media, become a patron.
Four tiers starting at just onedollar at patreoncom.
Drop a tip in the jar, you willbe giving the dogs a bone.
I tiers starting at just $1 atpatreoncom.
Drop a tip in the jar, you willbe giving the dogs a bone.
I have a lot of dogs and theyneed a lot of bones.
(20:51):
Leave a five-star rating andreview on Apple Podcasts.
Buy some merch, hit up themerch store.
Everything is linked atcrimeofthetruestkindcom.
Your support helps drive thisshow.
It supports the work that I dodo, the conferences and events I
attend in the victim advocacytraining that I am taking right
(21:12):
now.
Laina McMahon (21:12):
Thank you, getting justice for my mom,
which has been my only missionthroughout all of this, is
finding out what happened,keeping it in the media, as hard
as it may be, it's not easyputting yourself up there and
you know and try to keep itrelevant.
(21:33):
You know the best I can.
I'm just doing the best I canfor what I got and it's it's
been a lot.
Anngelle Wood (21:41):
I know, and that's why I say to you you know
what, if any point you want topull the plug on this and wait
till later, I am at the mercy ofwhatever you do and don't want
to do.
People in your situation getre-victimized again and again
and again.
Not only were you victimized bythe fact that your mother's
missing, you feel like you havea lot of the answers Right and
(22:03):
you're like screaming into thevoid, right, and I see that a
lot.
First of all, I wish we didn'thave to do this.
I wish I haven't been learningthis and finding out that
families like yours have thiscommon thread of what the fuck
right?
quite literally what the fuck.
What else do I have to do toget you people to listen to me?
Laina McMahon (22:24):
And I actually appreciate you for acknowledging
that because it in a sensemakes me feel a little better,
because it feels so isolating togo through this and you feel
like you don't really haveresources and people to reach
out to.
Anngelle Wood (22:37):
But I struggle with as somebody who tries to
advocate.
I really want the firsthandaccount of a family member.
That's where your mom gets lost.
Laina McMahon (22:48):
Exactly.
She is lost in all of this.
Anngelle Wood (22:52):
So let's start here Tell me about your mom.
Where did she grow up, what washer life like?
What are some of the storiesthat you know about your mom's
earlier life?
Because these are the thingsthat we never hear about.
We never hear about the person.
Laina McMahon (23:08):
Right, absolutely Well, she was one of four.
They grew up in Quincy,massachusetts.
My grandfather was a bricklayer.
Growing up, my grandmother wasa stay-at-home mom but she
suffered from mental illness.
So I know that their upbringingwasn't ideal.
I know that there's, you know,internal family drama which has
(23:31):
been there since day one.
But you know, all in all shegrew up in that environment, met
my dad when she was about 19.
They got married, had mybrother and then two years later
they had me and we grew up inQuincy.
My dad was a commerciallobsterman and my mom would work
on the boat with him and youknow we would be out there in
(23:54):
the sun and, you know, get inour little aquarium he would
throw up baby lobsters and wereally did have, you know, a
good upbringing in the youngeryears.
And then you know she startedthat was the opiate epidemic and
she got addicted to Oxycontinfrom a former fisherman that she
(24:14):
worked with and you know shestruggled for a long time.
She was very depressed and, youknow, had her own troubles.
I actually, you know mygrandmother, got custody of me
when I was 15.
So I moved in with her and Ikind of had this little bit of
resentment towards my mom,because I felt like she wasn't
(24:36):
there for me when I needed herthe most.
And it was really hard but yeah,ultimately we made it through
and you know, I realized as anadult that I have children now
and I figured I would give herthe second chance to be in my
life and be active with my kidsand and she loved it honestly,
(25:00):
like that was her passion.
She really she wasn't careeroriented, she didn't have any
real big goals, she, she wasjust simple.
She really was.
She was simple.
She loved tea, she loved herdog, didn't have a big circle of
friends, like mainly hang outwith her sisters, mainly just
(25:20):
kept to herself.
But yeah, like I said, we didreconnect, you know, when I
became a mom and realized thatlife is short and everybody
deserves second chances and sheloved being a grandmother, she
really really did Like thoseboys are her life.
So yeah, it's been, it's been alot.
Anngelle Wood (25:42):
She was living in Quincy for a while and then she
did.
She sell her house in Quincyand then buy the house in Hanson
yeah.
Laina McMahon (25:50):
So my grandfather passed away in 2017 and then
she had this big, you knowfour-bedroom house in Quincy and
you know he was pretty muchsupporting her like paying the
bills, so she was left his house.
So we decided to downsize andmove her closer to Hanson.
So we got her a cute little youknow 700 square foot house.
(26:14):
It was all recently renovatedlike she was happy it was.
It wasn't anything crazy, butit was enough to it's all she
needed and for the first time, Ifelt like she felt like she had
something that was hers and itwas almost like a new outlook on
life.
And, you know, despite herhaving her issues in the past, I
(26:35):
feel like this, you know, was areally good time for her right
prior to her disappearance.
Anngelle Wood (26:43):
Tell me about the dynamic among her siblings.
She's one of four siblings, soone brother, three sisters.
Laina McMahon (26:54):
She had a brother who passed away in the 90s.
He had AIDS and he was gay.
He was never accepted by hisfather so he took his own life
One of four now.
Anngelle Wood (27:07):
Of the five siblings.
Where does your mom fall?
Uh second to youngest she wasraised in a big family where, I
mean, I, I came from a family offive, so I know that it can be
chaotic.
Yeah, she had you and yourbrother pretty young.
Laina McMahon (27:24):
Yeah.
Anngelle Wood (27:25):
What were the early years like for all of you?
Laina McMahon (27:28):
Honestly, she was very hands-on, she was very
crafty, Like she was neverafraid to do fun projects.
Again, she really didn't haveany extra passions, like she was
a homebody and she liked itthat way and you know she
enjoyed being a mother and shewas present growing up and at
(27:50):
what point in your childhood wasshe working on the on the
lobster boats?
the majority of it she used tobeat like long line hooks, like
she was.
She was a worker, she was rightin the seafood industry and you
know, she I watched her foryears and my dad and her both
were, you know, extremely hardworkers and they did everything
(28:12):
they could and provided for usfor what we needed.
And is your dad still around?
Yeah, he's a bricklayer now.
He's out of that industry, buthe's around.
Yeah, he lives in Quincy.
Anngelle Wood (28:24):
Has he been supportive of you and your
family throughout this.
Laina McMahon (28:29):
See, I don't really think you know he
struggles with alcoholism and Idon't think he really knows how
to.
You know, not that emotional,it's a lot for him.
I don't think he ever stoppedloving her.
He since remarried, but youknow they had a very amicable
split.
There was no animosity,anything like that did they
(28:49):
separate because of the drugs?
yeah, I think that definitelyput a strain on their
relationship and you know my dadultimately moved out, so it was
just my brother and I and thenyou know I think moving in with
my grandmother was.
You know she regrets not takingmy brother also, but he was a
little bit older and you knowit's kind of hard to restart a
life that.
You know she regrets not takingmy brother also, but he was a
little bit older and you knowit's kind of hard to restart a
(29:11):
life.
That you know when you'readolescent ages, when it's
already fragile and you know alot going on.
How was your brother doing?
My brother has struggled withsubstance abuse.
I actually adopted his child,so I had three boys under the
age of two.
I check in with them once everyonce in a while but we really
(29:34):
don't have a close relationship.
I think he's more ashamed ofhis decisions and I would never
judge like I get it.
Everybody is affected bysomebody with substance abuse
and mental health.
Anngelle Wood (29:48):
It's very important to say this, that it
affects anyone 100%.
A stay-at-home mom, a teacher,a principal, a CEO, a high
school student.
Drugs affect everyone, and ifanybody looks around and says
well, that doesn't happen to meor that won't happen to me, just
(30:08):
wait.
Laina McMahon (30:08):
It doesn't discriminate.
Yeah, you know, and that's thereality we live in.
Anngelle Wood (30:13):
And that's something that's important for
me to point out is that I don'tcare what somebody's history is.
If they're missing, we need tofind them.
Laina McMahon (30:22):
Right.
If anything, it only makes them, you know, more of a liability
and a concern.
You know.
Anngelle Wood (30:28):
The vulnerability is greater right.
Laina McMahon (30:31):
she had periods of sobriety, like you know,
obviously during the later half,but I think she just always
struggled with, you know,self-doubt and I think she never
really thought she was goodenough and you know that was
kind of hard to see.
But again, like I said, being agrandmother kind of gave her
this new perspective, a purpose,essentially like something to
(30:52):
look forward to, and she wasreally good at it.
Anngelle Wood (30:55):
Sometimes that's what happens in someone's second
act, right?
You know, I can speak fromexperience in my own family.
You know, sometimes our parentsaren't great parents, but their
journey makes them bettergrandparents.
Laina McMahon (31:07):
Sometimes our parents aren't great parents,
but their journey makes thembetter.
Grandparents Right, and we haveto learn to evolve.
We're not here to parent.
Our parents were here to growand hopefully not repeat
mistakes or anything.
You know, nobody's perfect.
Anngelle Wood (31:18):
That's right.
Nobody's perfect.
Talk to me about what you knowabout the last days before she
disappeared.
What was going on, to the bestof your ability, what was going
on in her day to day and leadingup to the last time that she
was seen?
Laina McMahon (31:38):
Well, I think since my grandfather passed in
2017, there was a huge rip inthe family was a huge rip in the
family.
A lot of people seemed verymoney motivated, a lot of greed.
You know, I single-handedlywitnessed this whole thing.
(31:59):
You know, destroy my family inmore ways than one.
But day to day prior to herdisappearance, she was living in
her small home in Hanson.
She seemed happy.
She had her dog.
You know we were talking plansto put a fence in for the boys.
She was honestly the happiestthat she's been that I've
witnessed.
But again, there was thatconstant tension there, that
constant bickering back andforth.
(32:22):
You know, family membersarguing about inheritance and
all over my head.
It's something that I tried tostay away from because again,
they've been perseverating on itsince prior to our
disappearance.
And now, looking back, thingsstart to click and things start
to make sense and you realizeall these people that were
(32:42):
around all the time now nobody'saround, nobody's talking about
it.
Now, nobody's around, nobody'stalking about it.
(33:11):
It's almost like they'resquirreling and it doesn't seem
is to continue to seek justice.
To continue to seek, you know,the truth and find out what
happened to Sandra.
Anngelle Wood (33:18):
And that last day was like most days yes, she was
getting her car worked on.
Laina McMahon (33:27):
It was a typical.
Yeah, it was Wednesday, august7th.
I'll never forget.
I started in a new departmentso I wanted my children at our
house extra early.
I worked in the city like 11 to11.
So I got there like 930.
She came to the front door.
Her dog is very hyper.
He was like a lab mix from thepound that she adopted and she
(33:52):
loved him.
His name was Clarence, but hewas very flighty.
So that morning in particular Ipulled in front of her house,
got the boys out of the car andthey just kind of went in one by
one.
She's holding the dog, typicalmorning, you know, no concerns.
I reported to work that day.
We had prearranged her car toget fixed because the previous
(34:14):
winter it got backed up into asnowbank and when she pulled out
the whole exhaust ripped off.
So her car sounded really loudand I'm like mom, we cannot go
into another season of a loudcar Like, let's fix your car.
So she agreed we went to themechanic down my street.
They took the car in On thatday.
That Wednesday my husband gotout of work around five, picked
(34:38):
her up at her house, drove backto the mechanic shop.
My mom followed him, tim wentin, talked to the mechanic and
then he drove her home andbefore they got home she wanted
to stop at Cumberland Farms inHanson.
She was a smoker.
So he said, yep, no problem,they're seen on surveillance
pulling up.
That's the last known images ofher.
(35:00):
He dropped her off aroundfive-ish.
She got out of the car.
She looked at him and the boysand he said say, say, I love you
, granny.
And they're all like I love you, granny.
She went in the house, calledher cousin.
They had plans to meet up thatnight because she didn't have to
watch my kids Thursday.
She only had to watch themFriday called her cousin but
(35:22):
they never ended up going down.
Next day the mechanic had calledme.
He said you know X, y, z.
I said if you see anything else, can you please fix it, cause
she's probably not going to wantto get it done.
And he goes Lena, I'm notlooking for anything else, we're
going to deal with the exhaust.
I said, no problem, I'll callher.
So I called her around noon.
(35:43):
She didn't answer andoriginally, like I did kind of
get this feeling that like whyisn't she answering?
She doesn't have a car, butalso it was a nice summer day,
like, who knows, she might havebeen outside in the yard walking
the dog.
Like you know when I get somecriticism online, well, she had
concerns.
Why didn't she go over there?
(36:04):
I also had like four kids withme, you know.
So me and the kids were at thebeach.
We came home, I fed them lunch,I proceeded to call her a
couple more times.
She didn't answer, and thenbefore bed, it was like eight 30
.
I called her and again noanswer, and I reached out to
family members.
I'm like have you heard from mymom, and they said, nope, I
(36:28):
have not.
I said okay, well, she'ssupposed to watch my kids
tomorrow and she's not answering.
Let me know if you hear fromher.
So that next day was a Fridayand again I called her before I
left to go to her house.
She didn't answer, so got there, pulled in the driveway.
Normally I'm like to the kidseverybody on Brooklyn Then we go
in and went to the front door.
It was locked and then Iproceeded to like to the kids
everybody on Brooklyn, let me goin.
I went to the front door, itwas locked, and then I proceeded
(36:51):
to go to the back door and thatwas unlocked and opened.
I kind of peered in and you knownormally that dog that's very
flighty was kind of shaking onthe recliner and then, like I
briefly looked, he had no foodor water.
And then I'm looking around,I'm like the lights were on, so
clearly she was there at night,the air conditioner was running,
but I was just kind of in afrazzle, like I have a brand new
(37:14):
job, I can't call in onorientation, like so I arranged
child care, dropped my kids offand then I reported to work and
I just had this sinking feeling.
I don't know how to explain it.
I looked at one of my co and Isaid I feel like something's
wrong with my mom and she saidshe would never forget my
(37:35):
desperation, almost in my face.
So I called my husband.
I'm like you know.
She wasn't there.
So he reported her missingafter work.
Hanson police were veryresponsive initially.
You know they put out all thestops.
They made her a tear too like,which is essentially a child
going missing.
You know they searched prettyextensively the area around her
(37:57):
house.
They had canine, they haddrones, they were out on ATVs.
Since then, that's here we aresix years later and we still
don't have answers and we stilldon't know the truth.
Anngelle Wood (38:12):
When you were inside her house, did you see,
aside from her puppy dog, whosesituation was completely
abnormal from the way your momwould take care of her dog?
What else do you remember fromthat initial?
I guess look around.
You weren't in the in the modeof investigating at that point
(38:32):
because at that point, likewhere's my mom?
What's going on?
Did anything stick out to youat that moment?
Laina McMahon (38:39):
nothing initially other than you know the dog.
But again I really didn't walkaround or anything it wasn't
know.
Later on police didn't processher house for evidence.
Approximately six weeks laterit was after I was on my hands
and knees kind of scouring forclues.
And then that's where I kind ofnoticed there was droplets of
(39:01):
blood in almost every room ofher house, small, you know, and
not enough to be visible likewhoa a crime was committed here.
So then I wrote to the DA'soffice I said I believe there's
a public threat.
It was 54 days in at that pointand I felt like Hanson needed
more resources.
I feel like you know it's asmall town, they're really not
(39:22):
cut out for potential foul playand big cases.
So I reached out to the DA'soffice.
I got like an immediateresponse.
The state police, kind of youknow, came in and helped, led
the investigation.
I felt like there was a lot ofprogress within the case.
You know we were convenedshortly after they took over.
We were convened for a grandjury where I've testified as a
(39:45):
witness a few times, jury whereI've testified as a witness a
few times.
But again it wasn't until afterthe fact that I realized there
were small amounts of bloodthroughout almost her entire
home.
Like I looked under the bed,all the bed slats were off.
There was a straw purse and ithad little drops like somebody
might have been looking forsomething.
Her house, um, initially wasfine, but then when we went back
(40:08):
it appeared tossed.
My husband went there thatSaturday because she had the cat
and the dog to feed them andthen certain family members came
in and they were looking.
They were like where's the gold?
And, you know, veryconfrontational and Tim's like
what do you mean?
Where's the gold?
Where's Sandra?
Wow, that's very telling.
(40:35):
But again, looking back, youknow they've been fighting about
this gold since 2017.
So two years later, all right,now you're going to talk about
literally six days before shewent missing, somebody in my
family texted me.
I know she has the gold bars.
I'm not going to mention whatwas exchanged, but looking back
now, it's completely alarmingand it all makes sense.
(40:57):
Looking back now, I feel likethis is a very solvable case.
After the state police hadprocessed her home, they said it
wasn't enough to indicate thata crime was committed.
But you, there was blood DNA ofanother male individual that's
associated with the family thatwas found in her house, as well
as my mom's blood.
Anngelle Wood (41:18):
Did she have a partner?
Was there a romanticrelationship going on with
anybody at that time?
Laina McMahon (41:25):
Nope, she was very much single and again, her
and my dad had split, probably15 years previous, very amicable
.
She didn't have anyrelationship, red flags,
anything like that.
Anngelle Wood (41:39):
Where is the gold ?
This reported gold, so it is itis somewhere.
You don't have to give me an.
Laina McMahon (41:46):
It exists, it existed and it is somewhere
Right, there are records ofpeople cashing in large amounts
and, yeah, without going intotoo much detail, there's a lot I
know and a lot that I just wantto.
I just want to protect theintegrity of the investigation.
It's still open.
(42:07):
It's still open, it's stillactive.
A lot of behaviors of certainindividuals that were very close
to her were extremely alarming.
Now, looking back, and now, sixyears later, and it all makes
sense looking back, like I said,it's almost like Pirates of the
Caribbean, but junkies andmentally ill.
Let's be transparent.
Anngelle Wood (42:29):
There's a lot of questionable players in this
case.
Laina McMahon (42:33):
A lot of questionable players and a lot
of players that lack integrityand, you know, emotional
regulation and self-control, andI think that plays a big factor
into it.
Anngelle Wood (42:44):
What has your experience been like being a
regular everyday citizen andthrown into this new world that
nobody is prepared for?
There's no playbook for thisyou are now tasked with.
You're a family member ofsomeone who's missing.
You've put on these reluctantlyput on these, you know
(43:07):
investigative hats that you'renow trying to protect the legacy
of your mom.
You're trying to protect theprivacy of your own family 100%
what does that look like?
Laina McMahon (43:19):
Well, kind of, as I mentioned earlier, it's you
know you feel somewhat isolating, being a victim of a family
member that's, you know, missing.
It's this ambiguous loss, it's.
You can't prepare yourself.
You essentially try to make upscenarios in your head of what
(43:40):
you think might have happened,just to try to cope and to try
to grieve.
And you know, I was an ER nursefor so many years, like, I've
seen trauma, I've seen badthings, I've thrived in that
environment.
But when it actually happens toyou, I think you know the only
thing you can really do is learnto grow from it and learn to,
(44:00):
you know, appreciate what youhave and realize that life truly
is disposable and there are alot of humans and hurt people
like to hurt people and it'sbeen really eye-opening but
honestly it's, it's taught me alot about myself.
Um, I've grown a lot.
I feel like it's prepared me tobe a better mother and a better
(44:22):
person.
It's made me realize the closerelationships that I have and
people that care about me are soimportant.
And it humbles you in a sensethat when something tragic
happens to you, you know whoyour circle is and you know who
your players are, and it doeshumble you.
I mean as much as this is adisaster in itself, like it's
(44:45):
taught us a lot.
We're learning to grow.
We're still learning like can'twrap your your brain around the
what-ifs.
Like I have to try to explainto my three children that you
know what happened to granny andI don't even know.
You know it's a hard thing togo through, but ultimately we
just have to keep moving forward.
(45:05):
We have to have this commonmission to seek justice, seek
the truth, and I believe theanswers are there.
I believe that it's a solvablecase.
I think it's just going to takesomebody that you know really
wants to reinvestigate and putpressure on people that need
pressure.
Anngelle Wood (45:23):
What is your relationship with investigators
at this time?
Do you get regular updates?
Do you check in with them?
Do they reach out to you?
What does that look like?
Laina McMahon (45:31):
The state police have had a lot of turnaround on
our case.
I think she's had fivedetectives, so I'm honestly not
even sure which state police isin charge of it.
Now I do occasionally I'm incontact with the assistant
district attorney.
They assure me that it's active.
But again, as far as you know,handsome police.
(45:53):
I think they did what theycould for what they had, but
ultimately I think they were inover their heads.
I think they needed moreresources.
I think it hasn't been easy,but I'm learning to try to
navigate this process withoutblaming anybody or putting
anybody at fault.
But you know, here we are sixyears later and you do start to
(46:17):
lose hope, like will this everbe solved?
Will we ever know where she is?
Will we ever get answers?
I don't know.
I can try to remain hopeful andoptimistic that, yes, we will,
but the reality is I don't knowhas your family?
Anngelle Wood (46:33):
have you or or I guess, you or your brother in
this case have you submittedyour DNA to the database so in
the event that someone islocated, and if it is your mom,
you can be put?
Laina McMahon (46:46):
in touch.
I actually went to that missingperson event in Boston.
Anngelle Wood (46:51):
And they did.
Laina McMahon (46:54):
So yes, yeah.
So they said you know if she'sever found on state, you know
across state lines.
She's in NAMS already, which isthe National Database for
Missing People.
Her DNA is already uploaded inthere, as well as mine and my
brother's.
Anngelle Wood (47:10):
So anything we can do to help, what do you
think in your gut happened?
Laina McMahon (47:19):
I think somebody thought she had money, which I
don't think she had.
I think there was drugsinvolved.
I think there was rage involved.
I've noticed a lot of behaviorsof certain individuals change
drastically and you know, moneybeing a motive for a lot of
(47:40):
things.
I think somebody went in there.
There was no car in thedriveway, mind you.
It was at the shop.
Her lights were on on, soobviously it was late at night.
I think somebody came inunannounced.
Neighbors did overhear anargument of two males fighting
with her.
The night she went missing andsome have reported hearing
(48:01):
fights of gold like where's thegold?
She lives in a very tiny,dead-end street.
The houses are super close, sothere was death.
Something definitely happened,whether it was full rage or
accidental, you know and thenthey panicked, I don't know.
I try to come up with thesescenarios in my head, you know,
(48:22):
just for my own clarity, but thereality is I don't know.
Her fitted sheet was missing.
Her shoes weren't there, soit's almost like she walked off.
We couldn't find her purse.
She had a brown bag that wasnever recovered, with her ID and
everything.
So it's almost like she couldhave walked off.
(48:43):
But then also, seeing the blooddroplets in the house could
make me believe there was moreof a struggle.
I'm not sure.
Anngelle Wood (48:49):
What's most important for you, lena?
That people know about your mom.
What's most important.
What do you feel like it'soverlooked the most about your
mom's story?
Laina McMahon (48:59):
I feel like throughout all of this, you know
, people have been projecting or, you know, spinning their own
theories about what they thinkmay have happened to my mom, and
I think some of the stuff thatthey say is is true and accurate
, but I think a lot of it is,you know, very hurtful and it's
baseless.
It's only disrupting the case.
(49:22):
I feel like there's a lot again.
There's going to be speculationon any case, naturally.
So what I've learned is try tojust to keep her story out there
.
You know, speak my truths andultimately, the goal is to get
justice for my mom and I,honestly, am not going to stop
until we have answers.
Anngelle Wood (49:42):
Amen.
I know that you have aconnection to Shana and light
the way, which is an incredibleorganization that has taught me
a lot about advocacy andsupporting families just like
yours, and I hope you'llcontinue to reach out for help
(50:02):
and support through some placelike light, the.
I am here to support you in anyway I can.
We are, when I say we, theladies that you met at the State
Police Unresolved Case Daymyself, dr Myers, melanie
McLaughlin, who also is a friendof a missing boy from many,
(50:24):
many years ago, and that's howwe sort of came together.
What we want to do with thisorganization, this advocacy
organization we have started inMassachusetts, is because of
families like yours, because ofstories like yours.
You know, I talk to familiesand they say we had no idea what
to do, we didn't know who totalk to, we didn't know where to
go.
I don't want that for you.
(50:46):
I don't want families first ofall.
I don't want families to haveto ever experience this, but, in
the event that this does happen, that you have the access to
information on where to go, whoto contact, what are some of the
things that you're able to do,some of those resources.
(51:07):
So that's one of the thingswe're trying to establish.
Laina McMahon (51:12):
And that's wonderful.
You know again, like you said,people.
What do you do in thissituation?
But knowing that there's otherpeople that you know can relate
to you and you know that livethis every day.
It's you know.
I look at Maramari's sister inawe and you know people like
that who've never given up 20years later, and it's sad that
(51:37):
that has to be her life missionand it seems unfair, but the
reality is that people need tobe held accountable.
Like you, can't make rashdecisions and not expect there
to be consequences and thereactions of people are also
telling right.
Anngelle Wood (51:54):
The reactions that you're seeing from certain
instances are telling if I canbe a part because this isn't
about me, but if I can be a partof something that helps
families like yours feel lessalone.
That's what I want to do.
I appreciate that Going forward.
If there and I know that theanniversary is coming up if
(52:17):
there's something that we coulddo, we could organize something,
whether that's in Hanson, youknow, these are things that we
could talk about.
I would like to help you.
Awesome Something that we cando around the anniversary.
When's her birthday?
Laina McMahon (52:33):
November 27th.
Anngelle Wood (52:35):
Okay, that's another date.
That's another date to target,just to make sure that we keep
her case and her face out there.
Laina McMahon (52:47):
I don't want anybody to forget like she
deserves justice, just more thananybody else.
Anngelle Wood (52:52):
It's right, she's somebody's mom, she's
somebody's grandma, she'ssomebody's sister, she's
somebody's auntie, she's youknow, we don't need to talk
about what those relationshipslook like and that's okay, but
the fact of the matter is is shelived, loved, had you and your
brother and your grant and yourchildren, her grandchildren.
This is all very important thatwe make sure we recognize that
(53:15):
she is missing.
We can speculate and we can sayall the things that we think
happened, but at the end of theday, none of that is truly
helpful without trying to findout, get to the bottom of what
happened.
In doing that, we need to be asfactual as possible.
(53:36):
So that's why it's importantfor me to reach out to you,
because you can tell the storyof what happened in a way that
is certainly respectful of yourmom and what she went through,
and to know that some of thenarratives and the noise
surrounding this are just takingaway from the real stories that
(53:56):
your mom is missing.
Laina McMahon (53:58):
I completely agree.
It's completely distractingfrom the fact that we're dealing
with a missing person, andpeople's need to spread
falsehood says far more abouttheir character than mine.
And I'm trying to remain humble, I'm trying to remain hopeful
and ultimately I'm not going togive up until the answer.
So I don't care what peoplethink I, my whole entire life
(54:22):
has been hard.
I don't expect it to get easierat any point, but that's OK.
I think it builds character.
Get easier at any point, butthat's okay.
I think it builds character andI think having these life
experiences, even though notwarranted or wanted, I think it
it's helped me to become abetter person and to grow, and
it really has it's.
Anngelle Wood (54:41):
It's been a lot, but you know I'm not going away
and you're still smiling andthat's important because when
you talk about your mom, I cansee the love I can see you know
you've shared.
You know there's difficultythere, but despite all that,
she's your mom and you love herand you're not going to give up
(55:01):
on her 100 well, thank you.
Laina McMahon (55:05):
Thank you.
Anngelle Wood (55:06):
I have some other questions that I want to ask
you.
When was she born?
Laina McMahon (55:12):
She was born November 27th 1964.
Anngelle Wood (55:17):
Was she born in Quincy.
Laina McMahon (55:19):
She was born, I think, at St Elizabeth's of
Boston.
Anngelle Wood (55:23):
What were some of the things that your mom loved?
Did she have a favorite color?
Laina McMahon (55:28):
She liked purple.
She really enjoyed drinking tea.
She would have like 20 cups aday.
Like I said, she was reallysimple.
She enjoyed her pup.
She enjoyed her grandchildren.
She enjoyed arts and crafts.
She was very creative.
She, you know, would allow youto get messy and play with the
(55:51):
glitter and everything else thatcomes with that.
Like she, she was a good person.
She was her own worst enemy andI think you know, maybe growing
up in the environment that shedid kind of affected that.
But ultimately she was aharmless person.
She didn't have a mean bone inher body.
Anngelle Wood (56:08):
She never really talked bad about anybody did she
have some favorite music orbands that she enjoyed?
Laina McMahon (56:15):
oh, she liked like the rolling stones, like
classic rock, um metallica, youknow all the hard rock.
Anngelle Wood (56:24):
She enjoyed it all well, I ask a lot of that
stuff because it it helpshumanize them.
Yeah, you know, these arethings that people don't know.
It's like how'd she?
Where'd she grow up?
She grew up in Quincy.
Where was she born?
She was born in Boston, inBrighton, right?
She loved music.
She loved her favorite colorwas purple, and and also what I
do is I make a flyer withphotographs of her and
(56:48):
information and, and oftentimes,if I know someone's favorite
color, I'll add the favoritecolor in there.
It's just one of the manythings that we do, just as
another means to talk about thatperson and another thing that
can be shared, another flyer,another way to be an everyday
advocate that people can shareand learn some of the factual
(57:09):
information about your mom'scase.
I've been doing this long, notmy my background you probably
don't know this my background Iwas on rock radio for more than
20 years.
Laina McMahon (57:20):
Oh, that's awesome.
Anngelle Wood (57:21):
So your mother probably listened to me on the
radio.
Laina McMahon (57:25):
If you like what station was it?
Anngelle Wood (57:27):
I was on.
The last station I was on wasWZLX.
Okay, yes, because I'm fromBoston, I'm from the area too.
I was on WFNX, I was on BCN, Iwas on ZLX.
I did you know a couple ofother things throughout that,
but music is a big part of mybackground and when I started,
when I got into podcasting, Iloved, I love true crime, I love
all of that.
I've learned to.
(57:48):
Really, I always did look at itas humanity.
I never looked at it as anexploitative kind of thing to
just take fake information justto get clicks, which happens way
too much.
Way too much to tell acompassionate story, and I want
(58:08):
to humanize the person we'retalking about and make sure
families like your family, you,the daughter, I want to make
sure that you know that we're onyour side.
Laina McMahon (58:15):
I appreciate it, it really does.
It means a lot.
Anngelle Wood (58:24):
Thank you, lena.
I know these conversations aredifficult for families.
I know families want to havethem because they want nothing
more than to get the informationout about their missing loved
one.
It has been nearly six yearssince Sandra Crispo was last
seen.
At the time of herdisappearance Sandra did not
(58:47):
have a cell phone.
There has been no activity onany of her accounts.
She had no health issues.
She was single.
Information is needed inSandra's case.
You can contact the HansonPolice Department 781-293-4625.
Mass State Police Detectives at508-894-2600.
(59:12):
Sandra's family would like toknow where she is, what happened
to her.
She has grandsons at homewaiting for her.
Thank you for listening.
My name is Angelle Wood.
This is Crime of the TruestKind.
(59:34):
I talk about New England crimestories.
I talk about history andadvocacy.
Advocacy is key in the workthat I do.
I try to be one of the helpers.
It's really difficult forfamilies to navigate these
things and I never want to besomeone that makes it more
(59:59):
painful for families who aregoing through this.
Please follow the show at Crimeof the Truest Kind on.
Well, everything Bye-bye.
Lock your goddamn doors, we'llbe right back you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com