WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE PECORDS?

This book is a TRUE mystery of a missing family, the Pecords, who vanished from their home on a Friday evening in early fall of 1959. It is not a CRIME STORY; it may turn out to be one, but not at this time. They were the last remote stop on the author’s paper route, located 50ft from the Connecticut River. Parts of the theme and the era have similarities that were evident in the movie STAND BY ME which was set a year later in 1960 based on the fiction novella, “The Body” by Stephen King.

Instead of calling the police, he called two buddies to conduct their own investigation and nearly got killed. The book is also a memoir in a sense that the author allows the reader to peer into the 50’s era in his hometown, by utilizing the nervous flashbacks he experienced and recorded afterward, during a run for his life. Because of a sworn oath between the author and his teenage friends, he was unable to tell his story till now.

As a coincidence, a relatively new college, Goodwin College, purchased the missing family’s home and invited the author to do a tour of it, one last time. They acknowledged that they had planned to tear it down in order to build a “cottage” for hosting off-campus meetings on the site. They shared with him how the street he grew up on got its name, Colt Street. (The missing family’s home was also the last house on the street.) The fact that the house was part of a ferry landing set up by Samuel Colt (Colt 45) was incredible. Mr. Colt also lived at the landing while a mansion was being built for him across the street also overlooking the Connecticut River. If you log into Goodwin.com, you can maneuver a telescope on the peak of the building to view the surrounding area…

webcam.goowin.edu/view/index.shtm

Some readers have criticized that “The book was not a true crime story” and it is not, although it might be at some time in the future. Others said that, “We didn’t do enough investigation in regards to where the missing family might have gone”. Please keep in mind that we were all age 15 at the time, roughly the same age as the kids in the movie “Stand By Me”, which was set one year later in 1960. The town’s police department records were destroyed 10 years later, apparently standard procedure. Later on, when we requested help from the FBI, I doubt they took us seriously. It was obviously a different era.

In discussing the story with the editor of the town newspaper, The Gazette, Bill Doakes. He informed the author, that there were a number of unsolved missing persons in town since the mid 1900’s. I know it sounds implausible that these situations exist, but they do. Initially, and for a long time after the “incident”, the boys kept a low profile. They were young and just plain scared that they might be implicated in a crime, especially having found a hidden wall safe’s door swinging open and “empty” in the house. In fact, we agreed to never discuss it with anyone, unless all three were to agree.

Please note: The search for the Pecord’s is still going on primarily by the readers and classmates from East Hartford, Conn. Bits and pieces continue to flow in and will be published on the website of KeypublishingCompany.com near future. If you have something to add or questions to ask, please feel free to go to this website and press the “Contact Tab” and forward them.

From the Author

You might have also thought as I did that by now, someone, a relative or a close family friend would have come forward, considering all the publicity the story has received all over the state. We are still waiting.

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Updates for my story “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE PECORDS?”

1. We have learned that Emma Pecord the matriarch of the family actually died  February 1957 two years before that night I Sept 1959, when the house was suddenly abandoned with food on the table and pots on the stove.
2. I assumed she was still living in the house.  Keep in mind as their paperboy I visited the house six days per week. The house was on the edge of the Connecticut River. ( Kind of a spooky setting) In 1956 when I started the paper route, I had a very nice relationship with Emma and her husband Francis. They could be a little difficult especially when the fireman had to remove them on occasion from the house due to many floods.  The house was on the edge of the Connecticut River. They treated me like a son and were good tippers.
3. After her daughter, Elaine moved in, I saw very little of Emma.  I was told when I asked for her, that she need to stay in the house because “she wasn’t feeling well”.  No one ever told me that she died!   Why was that kept secret?
4. Elaine took over the payments to me when I collected on Fridays or Saturday mornings. My tips shrunk.  She smoked like a chimney.   Emma was friendly and warm, Elaine was different.
5. An obituary pertaining to Francis which is in the folder shows that he was alive till 1965, however it shows that he lived in Essex.  I do remember seeing and saying hello to Francis up until the house was abandoned, but not as frequently as in previous times.
6. The Real Estate Transfer Record” attached in the folder” shows that Francis was still the owner of the house, 4 months later January 1960.
7. Then the house transferred again.  This time to Elaine and George and strangely to an Edward Nenninger?   Who is he?
8. What happened to  Francis?  You will note that in his obituary it says he was living in Essex, Conn. When he passed.  Why was he not living in his house?

For me, these discoveries expand the mystery of the Friday “collection” night when considered in a context of my story. (Special thanks to classmate, Cynthia McNamar and Genealogical Researcher Crawford C. Westbrook  and other EHFD residents who submitted leads and other information).

I can’t believe that we still haven’t found what happened to Elaine and George Krawshuk and their two children (I think a boy and a girl, I just can't recall 100%).  I still remember finding the 2x3 homemade wall safe in the master bedroom empty?  What was in it.  Where is it?  What was buried by the ferry will out back of the house separating the forest from the property.

Why did the police stop me from going near the house a week after the family disappeared?

NOTE:  CLICK HERE TO VIEW SOME OF THE LATEST RESEARCH ON THE MISSING FAMILY (PECORD'S-MOST-RECENT-UPDATES-March-2019.zip)

Feel free to add to this info using the email address on the Contact Tab upper right corner of this site.

Also, notice my most recently published story - “HEAVEN SENT”