August 19, 2024 • 12 mins
On October 2, 1988, 11-year-old Thomas Picard went missing in Fall River, MA, Despite searches and clues, his body was -found on January 7, 1989, in Cook Pond, with an autopsy revealing he had been murdered, Decades later, the case remains unsolved, but Thomas' case has been reopened, and the Bristol County District Attorney's Office has renewed hope with advanced DNA technology and genetic genealogy. 🧬🕵🏽♂️
If you have any information, however small, please contact:
📞Ct, Ann Marie Robertson 508-961-1918
📞Det. John McDonald: 508-324-2796
Let's work together to bring justice for Thomas and his family!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Mysteries and Mimosa's, my name is Max and I'm here with my lovely wife and
(00:14):
your co-host Aria.
Hi everyone.
Hi Aria and welcome back all you true crime connoisseurs.
It's Monday which means it's time for another Mystery Monday episode.
I actually really like doing these Mystery Monday episodes because they're super short,
you know, they shed light on cases that, you know, don't get a lot of attention and that's
the whole purpose and they're fun to do.
(00:37):
Yeah, I agree.
So today's case is a cold case from Fall River, Massachusetts.
But before we get started, don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to our show and
be sure to follow us on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram for exclusive content at Mysteries
and Mimosa's podcast.
And this week's Mystery Monday episode is brought to you by the pet of the week, Zoe.
(00:58):
Born in from listener Paula, Zoe is a Labrador pit bull mix.
You can find her picture by checking us out on Facebook and Instagram.
And don't forget, if you have a pet you'd like to see highlighted on the show, you can
email your pet's pic to us at mysteriesandmimosas at gmail.com.
Thank you listener Paula for that adorable pet picture.
I really like this segment because pets are awesome.
(01:19):
So send us in your fur friends.
We love it.
Let's get into this episode.
On October 2, 1988, 11-year-old Thomas Picard was reported missing to the Fall River Police
Department in Massachusetts by his mother.
When Thomas was reported missing, his mom said she last saw him on October 1, the day
(01:40):
before she reported him missing, wearing gray corduroy pants, a striped shirt, and white
sneakers.
According to his mom, not only did Thomas suffer from emotional challenges, he was in
special needs classes and he had run away from home one time before, but this time was
different.
Almost two months later on November 24, Thomas's bike was located, but Thomas was nowhere to
(02:03):
be found.
You know, one of the things that police always have to consider when they take these missing
persons, well obviously they take them all very serious, but they do look into how many
times these kids had run away and really there's only so much they could do, especially in
the 80s.
They don't have cell phones during that time and so really they probably, I would guess
at this level, would put out a bolo for the kid, you know, be on the lookout.
(02:29):
They try to put resources into trying to locate him, talking to friends, you know, things
like that in order to see is he a runaway again?
Did something upset him where he just left and he's going to return?
But you know, almost two months later, finding his bike, police probably took this one very
seriously.
Yeah, I'm curious the time he had run away before, you know, why this time was different.
(02:51):
I wonder if he didn't stay out overnight before because she did report him missing relatively
quickly for thinking that maybe he ran away again.
She still reported him the next day.
So yeah, you know, maybe he ran the first time he ran away.
He, you know, came back the same day.
Maybe it was just like a short lived emotional outburst.
Yeah.
And when he didn't come home that night, maybe she was worried like, okay, something's wrong.
(03:15):
He definitely, you know, is a more than a runaway at this point.
Right.
She probably had contacted his friends, I assume, and knew he wasn't with any of them.
So yeah, I'm sure she was worried.
Yeah.
So for about three months, Thomas's family lived without answers, not knowing where he
was or what might have happened to him.
And all of that changed on January 7th of 1989.
(03:37):
So remember, he's reported in October is missing.
They went all of October, November, December until finally they have some answers.
So on a seemingly ordinary Saturday, the lifeless body of Thomas Picard was found in the shallow
end of Cook pond by several of Thomas's friends.
He was found by his friends?
Yeah.
(03:57):
His friends found him.
That's got to be traumatic for that group of kids.
Yeah.
I would imagine that would cause some lifelong trauma finding your friend, you know, finding
his lifeless body in a pond.
Absolutely.
And you know, missing him for all these months and they're just out playing and happened
upon his body.
That's terrible.
According to Fall River Police Lieutenant Brian Lynch, the boys were exploring a remote
(04:19):
section of Cook pond when they found Thomas behind a dense wall of underbrush.
Apparently this area was a popular place for the local kids to hang out, build forts and
clubhouses and do all the fun things that kids did in the eighties.
A lot different than now.
You know, I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I was always outside.
I never was allowed inside.
(04:41):
I mean, certainly we didn't have the distractions that kids have today.
I didn't have electronics.
I did have a Nintendo, but you know, my mom was very strict on limiting that amount of
time that we played on that.
And honestly, I just kind of think that she wanted me and my sister to just get out of
the house so we didn't bother her.
Yes.
She had some quiet.
Probably.
(05:02):
So, you know, my sister and I were always riding bikes, playing with neighborhood kids
and hardly ever in.
And I can't imagine this was much different, especially when you have this wooded area.
It seems like a wooded area of land around a pond.
That just is an awesome opportunity to go explore and have fun.
When police responded, it took several hours for authorities to recover his body from the
(05:25):
icy grip of the pond.
They had to traverse through about a hundred yards of underbrush and briars just to get
to the pond.
And once they were able to locate Thomas, they found a skeletal portion of the body
above the ice.
That is, I mean, that speaks to a further trauma of these kids.
I mean, I couldn't even imagine one finding your deceased friend, but, you know, seeing
(05:46):
him stuck halfway out of the ice with the, you know, the exposed part being skeletal
remains.
That's a pretty gruesome picture.
Yeah.
I mean, I can imagine it in my head and it's terrible.
When the autopsy was conducted, the medical examiner ruled the cause of death was asphyxiation
and the manner of death was homicide.
The medical examiner was also able to determine Thomas was dead before his body went into
(06:10):
the water.
Early on in the homicide investigation, several teams of detectives were deployed and worked
tirelessly to piece together the tragic events that led to Thomas's death.
Detectives began interviewing people and even believed they were closing in on potential
suspects, but Thomas's case has never been solved.
But Thomas's story doesn't end there.
(06:31):
Decades later, justice for Thomas Picard remains elusive.
The Bristol County District Attorney's Office has recently reopened the case enlisting the
help of advanced DNA technology and genetic genealogy in hopes of finally identifying
Thomas's murderer.
Yeah, they're using that genetic genealogy so much now to solve these cold cases.
(06:52):
Yeah, I think it's fascinating.
I mean, those are much smarter people than me.
I can't even fathom what, you know, I work with an analyst who tells me about how she
uses genetic genealogy to solve cold cases and she'll get about three minutes into this
you know, instruction on how she does it and I just lose complete focus.
(07:13):
Yeah, it's not, I think people think, okay, you have a DNA sample, you know, you put it
in this database and if there's a match, it'll match up.
But the genetic genealogy portion is so much more work than that.
Right.
And, you know, the two major genetic DNA places where you can submit your DNA is AncestryDNA
(07:37):
and 23andMe.
And neither of those two major databases work with law enforcement to help identify these,
you know, DNA samples for cold cases.
And so there are a couple of them.
GEDmatch is one of them where they do work with law enforcement, but you have to opt
in to say, yeah, I will allow you to share my DNA profile with law enforcement.
(08:00):
And so the database is already small and when they get that DNA profile, they basically
look and say, okay, here's these distant relatives and they start whittling away to eliminate
people until they hopefully, they call it cutting off branches of the tree to say, all
right, this DNA profile doesn't match to this side of the family.
(08:23):
And they look for those common ancestors or maybe even hopefully, you know, paternal and
maternal relatives.
And then they try to establish some sort of connection and they use birth certificates,
they use death certificates, they use voter registration, all kinds of different methods
(08:45):
to try to put one of these DNA profiles in the area at that time.
It's a daunting task, certainly something that I wouldn't be interested in doing, but
you know, God bless those people who do it because they're good at it.
It's fascinating to hear about it, but yeah, it's way over my head as far as how they do
(09:06):
that.
And the amount of work is crazy that they put into these cases.
Yeah.
And listening to that analyst I mentioned, it's really fascinating because she'll start
talking about, you know, this cold case, how she's working genetic genealogy, how she started,
you know, making connections and eliminating people.
And then she says, oh man, I get really excited because I found this person.
(09:29):
And then it turns out not to be that person.
That, you know, the DNA actually ends up having like no relevance to the case or something
along those lines.
And so it's definitely for them an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs.
With the advancement of DNA technology, police are hopeful to finally solve this case and
they're asking for your help to finally find justice for Thomas and his family.
(09:51):
If you have any information, no matter how small it might be, you're encouraged to contact
the Massachusetts state police, Lieutenant Anne Marie Robertson at 508-961-1918, or you
can contact the Fall River police, Detective John McDonald at 508-324-2796.
(10:13):
This is such a sad story.
And for decades, this family has gone without, I mean, partial answers.
At least they were able to recover their son, you know, their loved one.
But for decades, these people have no answers to what happened.
You know, all we know is he died of asphyxia.
So that leads me to believe he was strangled to death, either manual strangulation or, you
(10:34):
know, with some sort of device.
Yeah, ligature.
But at least they have some DNA that they can process in hopes of tracking this person
down.
I bet you this case gets solved.
Yeah, I hope so.
Well, thank you for listening to another Mystery Monday episode.
I love how short these are, straight to the point.
Get the information out there and really ask you for your help to bring justice to these
(10:57):
families.
In the meantime, you know, please do us a favor, like us, follow us.
Subscribe.
Leave us a comment.
It's pretty easy, really.
Yeah.
I mean, unless you don't want to, you just want to keep listening.
That's fine, too.
We like that support as well.
And lastly, before we close this one out, I'm really looking forward to your pet pics.
I want to be inundated with fur babies in my inbox.
(11:20):
Yes.
Do you?
Yes.
Okay.
Join us Thursday for another episode where I sit on the hot seat.
Aria brings me through trivia where I'm going to get 100%.
And if you go to our website, you can actually find the Discord link, join our server and
engage us in conversation about these.
Tell us what your thoughts are.
Or if you would like to submit trivia questions for Max, for me to give to Max on the hot
(11:50):
seat.
Oh, well, yeah.
Do that.
What year is Thursday's episode?
1982.
I challenge you.
1982 trivia.
Don't make it too difficult because I'm not that smart.
But nonetheless, let's raise our bubbly glasses to the family and to Thomas Picard.
Cheers.
Thanks for watching.
Welcome to Mysteries and Mimosa's, my name is Max and I'm here with my lovely wife and
(00:14):
your co-host Aria.
Hi everyone.
Hi Aria and welcome back all you true crime connoisseurs.
It's Monday which means it's time for another Mystery Monday episode.
I actually really like doing these Mystery Monday episodes because they're super short,
you know, they shed light on cases that, you know, don't get a lot of attention and that's
the whole purpose and they're fun to do.
(00:37):
Yeah, I agree.
So today's case is a cold case from Fall River, Massachusetts.
But before we get started, don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to our show and
be sure to follow us on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram for exclusive content at Mysteries
and Mimosa's podcast.
And this week's Mystery Monday episode is brought to you by the pet of the week, Zoe.
(00:58):
Born in from listener Paula, Zoe is a Labrador pit bull mix.
You can find her picture by checking us out on Facebook and Instagram.
And don't forget, if you have a pet you'd like to see highlighted on the show, you can
email your pet's pic to us at mysteriesandmimosas at gmail.com.
Thank you listener Paula for that adorable pet picture.
I really like this segment because pets are awesome.
(01:19):
So send us in your fur friends.
We love it.
Let's get into this episode.
On October 2, 1988, 11-year-old Thomas Picard was reported missing to the Fall River Police
Department in Massachusetts by his mother.
When Thomas was reported missing, his mom said she last saw him on October 1, the day
(01:40):
before she reported him missing, wearing gray corduroy pants, a striped shirt, and white
sneakers.
According to his mom, not only did Thomas suffer from emotional challenges, he was in
special needs classes and he had run away from home one time before, but this time was
different.
Almost two months later on November 24, Thomas's bike was located, but Thomas was nowhere to
(02:03):
be found.
You know, one of the things that police always have to consider when they take these missing
persons, well obviously they take them all very serious, but they do look into how many
times these kids had run away and really there's only so much they could do, especially in
the 80s.
They don't have cell phones during that time and so really they probably, I would guess
at this level, would put out a bolo for the kid, you know, be on the lookout.
(02:29):
They try to put resources into trying to locate him, talking to friends, you know, things
like that in order to see is he a runaway again?
Did something upset him where he just left and he's going to return?
But you know, almost two months later, finding his bike, police probably took this one very
seriously.
Yeah, I'm curious the time he had run away before, you know, why this time was different.
(02:51):
I wonder if he didn't stay out overnight before because she did report him missing relatively
quickly for thinking that maybe he ran away again.
She still reported him the next day.
So yeah, you know, maybe he ran the first time he ran away.
He, you know, came back the same day.
Maybe it was just like a short lived emotional outburst.
Yeah.
And when he didn't come home that night, maybe she was worried like, okay, something's wrong.
(03:15):
He definitely, you know, is a more than a runaway at this point.
Right.
She probably had contacted his friends, I assume, and knew he wasn't with any of them.
So yeah, I'm sure she was worried.
Yeah.
So for about three months, Thomas's family lived without answers, not knowing where he
was or what might have happened to him.
And all of that changed on January 7th of 1989.
(03:37):
So remember, he's reported in October is missing.
They went all of October, November, December until finally they have some answers.
So on a seemingly ordinary Saturday, the lifeless body of Thomas Picard was found in the shallow
end of Cook pond by several of Thomas's friends.
He was found by his friends?
Yeah.
(03:57):
His friends found him.
That's got to be traumatic for that group of kids.
Yeah.
I would imagine that would cause some lifelong trauma finding your friend, you know, finding
his lifeless body in a pond.
Absolutely.
And you know, missing him for all these months and they're just out playing and happened
upon his body.
That's terrible.
According to Fall River Police Lieutenant Brian Lynch, the boys were exploring a remote
(04:19):
section of Cook pond when they found Thomas behind a dense wall of underbrush.
Apparently this area was a popular place for the local kids to hang out, build forts and
clubhouses and do all the fun things that kids did in the eighties.
A lot different than now.
You know, I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I was always outside.
I never was allowed inside.
(04:41):
I mean, certainly we didn't have the distractions that kids have today.
I didn't have electronics.
I did have a Nintendo, but you know, my mom was very strict on limiting that amount of
time that we played on that.
And honestly, I just kind of think that she wanted me and my sister to just get out of
the house so we didn't bother her.
Yes.
She had some quiet.
Probably.
(05:02):
So, you know, my sister and I were always riding bikes, playing with neighborhood kids
and hardly ever in.
And I can't imagine this was much different, especially when you have this wooded area.
It seems like a wooded area of land around a pond.
That just is an awesome opportunity to go explore and have fun.
When police responded, it took several hours for authorities to recover his body from the
(05:25):
icy grip of the pond.
They had to traverse through about a hundred yards of underbrush and briars just to get
to the pond.
And once they were able to locate Thomas, they found a skeletal portion of the body
above the ice.
That is, I mean, that speaks to a further trauma of these kids.
I mean, I couldn't even imagine one finding your deceased friend, but, you know, seeing
(05:46):
him stuck halfway out of the ice with the, you know, the exposed part being skeletal
remains.
That's a pretty gruesome picture.
Yeah.
I mean, I can imagine it in my head and it's terrible.
When the autopsy was conducted, the medical examiner ruled the cause of death was asphyxiation
and the manner of death was homicide.
The medical examiner was also able to determine Thomas was dead before his body went into
(06:10):
the water.
Early on in the homicide investigation, several teams of detectives were deployed and worked
tirelessly to piece together the tragic events that led to Thomas's death.
Detectives began interviewing people and even believed they were closing in on potential
suspects, but Thomas's case has never been solved.
But Thomas's story doesn't end there.
(06:31):
Decades later, justice for Thomas Picard remains elusive.
The Bristol County District Attorney's Office has recently reopened the case enlisting the
help of advanced DNA technology and genetic genealogy in hopes of finally identifying
Thomas's murderer.
Yeah, they're using that genetic genealogy so much now to solve these cold cases.
(06:52):
Yeah, I think it's fascinating.
I mean, those are much smarter people than me.
I can't even fathom what, you know, I work with an analyst who tells me about how she
uses genetic genealogy to solve cold cases and she'll get about three minutes into this
you know, instruction on how she does it and I just lose complete focus.
(07:13):
Yeah, it's not, I think people think, okay, you have a DNA sample, you know, you put it
in this database and if there's a match, it'll match up.
But the genetic genealogy portion is so much more work than that.
Right.
And, you know, the two major genetic DNA places where you can submit your DNA is AncestryDNA
(07:37):
and 23andMe.
And neither of those two major databases work with law enforcement to help identify these,
you know, DNA samples for cold cases.
And so there are a couple of them.
GEDmatch is one of them where they do work with law enforcement, but you have to opt
in to say, yeah, I will allow you to share my DNA profile with law enforcement.
(08:00):
And so the database is already small and when they get that DNA profile, they basically
look and say, okay, here's these distant relatives and they start whittling away to eliminate
people until they hopefully, they call it cutting off branches of the tree to say, all
right, this DNA profile doesn't match to this side of the family.
(08:23):
And they look for those common ancestors or maybe even hopefully, you know, paternal and
maternal relatives.
And then they try to establish some sort of connection and they use birth certificates,
they use death certificates, they use voter registration, all kinds of different methods
(08:45):
to try to put one of these DNA profiles in the area at that time.
It's a daunting task, certainly something that I wouldn't be interested in doing, but
you know, God bless those people who do it because they're good at it.
It's fascinating to hear about it, but yeah, it's way over my head as far as how they do
(09:06):
that.
And the amount of work is crazy that they put into these cases.
Yeah.
And listening to that analyst I mentioned, it's really fascinating because she'll start
talking about, you know, this cold case, how she's working genetic genealogy, how she started,
you know, making connections and eliminating people.
And then she says, oh man, I get really excited because I found this person.
(09:29):
And then it turns out not to be that person.
That, you know, the DNA actually ends up having like no relevance to the case or something
along those lines.
And so it's definitely for them an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs.
With the advancement of DNA technology, police are hopeful to finally solve this case and
they're asking for your help to finally find justice for Thomas and his family.
(09:51):
If you have any information, no matter how small it might be, you're encouraged to contact
the Massachusetts state police, Lieutenant Anne Marie Robertson at 508-961-1918, or you
can contact the Fall River police, Detective John McDonald at 508-324-2796.
(10:13):
This is such a sad story.
And for decades, this family has gone without, I mean, partial answers.
At least they were able to recover their son, you know, their loved one.
But for decades, these people have no answers to what happened.
You know, all we know is he died of asphyxia.
So that leads me to believe he was strangled to death, either manual strangulation or, you
(10:34):
know, with some sort of device.
Yeah, ligature.
But at least they have some DNA that they can process in hopes of tracking this person
down.
I bet you this case gets solved.
Yeah, I hope so.
Well, thank you for listening to another Mystery Monday episode.
I love how short these are, straight to the point.
Get the information out there and really ask you for your help to bring justice to these
(10:57):
families.
In the meantime, you know, please do us a favor, like us, follow us.
Subscribe.
Leave us a comment.
It's pretty easy, really.
Yeah.
I mean, unless you don't want to, you just want to keep listening.
That's fine, too.
We like that support as well.
And lastly, before we close this one out, I'm really looking forward to your pet pics.
I want to be inundated with fur babies in my inbox.
(11:20):
Yes.
Do you?
Yes.
Okay.
Join us Thursday for another episode where I sit on the hot seat.
Aria brings me through trivia where I'm going to get 100%.
And if you go to our website, you can actually find the Discord link, join our server and
engage us in conversation about these.
Tell us what your thoughts are.
Or if you would like to submit trivia questions for Max, for me to give to Max on the hot
(11:50):
seat.
Oh, well, yeah.
Do that.
What year is Thursday's episode?
1982.
I challenge you.
1982 trivia.
Don't make it too difficult because I'm not that smart.
But nonetheless, let's raise our bubbly glasses to the family and to Thomas Picard.
Cheers.
Thanks for watching.
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