SEABROOK — Curt Pishon disappeared on July 5, 2000, during his night shift as a security guard at the former Venture Corp. in Seabrook.
The unsolved case haunts Pishon's family and many in Seabrook, including police Lt. Michael Gallagher, who believes foul play resulted in Pishon's death and disappearance. Now, with the creation of New Hampshire's new Cold Case Unit, Gallagher hopes the case will finally be resolved and Pishon's remains found and returned to his family.
Pishon's name, along with the names of victims of more than 100 other unsolved cases, make up New Hampshire Cold Case Unit's Victims List. Consisting of decades worth of unsolved murders, suspicious deaths and suspicious missing persons, the cases on the list will have the undivided attention of a unit that will use resources few local police departments have at their disposal. That includes the state crime labs, new forensic science and high-ranking law enforcement professionals with extensive experiences.
The unit was created in July. A team of four law enforcement professionals make up the unit, headed by Senior Assistant Attorney General William Delker, a prosecutor with more than a decade of experience prosecuting high-profile homicides in the Granite State.
Also involved are Robert Freitas, a retired Manchester Police Department investigator, and state police Trooper John Encarnacao, a detective with the Major Crime Unit of the New Hampshire State Police. Finishing up the team is Sgt. Scott Gilbert, a detective on the State Police Major Crime Unit who has overseen the investigation of numerous homicide cases in his more than two decade police career.
"Each of the four of us will take four or so cases to work on at a time, and we'll work on them until we solve the case or hit a dead end," Gilbert said. "We will use what we call a solvability factor (in prioritizing the cases). We'll look at things like, is there a suspect, is there new evidence — because there have been a lot of technical changes in forensics — and are there witnesses and suspects who are still alive?"
Gallagher said with those criteria, the Pishon case should bode well.
"We have good solvability factors on this case," Gallagher said yesterday.
Gilbert said although murder cases are by state law under the jurisdiction of the attorney general, because Pishon's case is listed as a suspicious missing person case, it's still under Seabrook purview. But that doesn't mean the Cold Case Unit won't focus on it.
"We're not here to take cases away from agencies who are investigating cases, and many of the names on the list are cases that are being investigated by other agencies," Gilbert said. "But, if we get a call from an agency that says, 'We have reasons to believe A, B, and C about this case and we want your help,' then we'd be happy to get involved."
Gallagher said that call is something Seabrook police Chief Patrick Manthorn will make soon.
Gilbert is familiar with the Pishon case and actually served beside Curt Pishon on the Concord Police Department for about three years before muscular dystrophy terminated Pishon's 10-year law enforcement career. Gilbert's been brought in to help with the Pishon investigation in recent years when Seabrook police called for resources the State Police Major Case Unit could provide.
Gallagher said Seabrook police have followed leads for the almost 10 years since 41-year-old Pishon disappeared. That information — reinforced by calls to the Pishon family's "Find Curt" tip line — lead Gallagher to believe people who worked with Pishon at Venture killed Pishon when he came across criminal activity during his shift at Venture in the early morning hours of July 5, 2000.
The lack of a body and suicide note put an end to the suicide theory some put forward at the time, Gallagher said.
But with an entire town to patrol and other crimes to solve, Gallagher and Seabrook's detectives don't have the time or money to focus extensively on the Pishon case. Gallagher believes the Cold Case Unit has what it takes to bring an end to the mystery and peace to the Pishon family.
For more on N.H.'s Cold Case Unit, visit www:doj.nh.gov/coldcaseunit. To contact the Cold Case Unit, call 603-271-2663 or 271-1255, fax 603-223-6270 or e-mail coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov.
