Member-only story
Judy Chartier: Another Victim of James Mitchell DeBardeleben?
The teenager disappeared in 1982 and is linked to a predator potentially more vicious and sadistic than Bundy.
Author’s note: Since this article was published, there has been an update in this case. Please see the end of the piece for a link.
It is now almost four decades since 17-year-old Judith Ann Chartier disappeared without trace in Massachusetts. One of her brothers still hopes to learn what happened to the sister he was so close to, despite the passage of time.
But could a vicious predator who committed so many other shocking crimes be behind the vanishing of this young woman — and has he already effectively dodged paying for what he did?
Judy goes missing
It was June 1982 and Judy Chartier was a student at her local Chelmsford High School. Although her brother Joe told the Lowell Sun she was popular and renowned for her caring nature, she was also something of a homebody and close to her parents and six siblings. Judy was also engaged to her sweetheart Roger Balkum.
However, she was a typical teenager too and occasionally attended high school parties, especially those in Roger’s nearby hometown of Billerica. On June 5th…
