Susan Caira, a 21 year old mother of two young children disappeared under circumstances similar to the disappearance of Joan Risch. Caira was last seen on the night of Monday, September 16th, 1968. According to neighbors, two men were seen entering her modest first floor apartment at 87-A Pearl St., Newton Corner where she lived with her two small children, aged 3 and 1. Caira was separated from her husband, Emilio, who lived in Waltham. Neighbors told police that shortly after the men entered the apartment, they heard a commotion.
Caira's mother, Elma Fortier of Watertown, told investigators that Caira would have never left her two children alone. Upon a cursory survey of the apartment, Fortier said that the only missing items were a housecoat and a pair of pajamas. Caira presumably left wearing only those garments.
In January, 1972, Watertown Police detectives were told by an informant, who claimed that he was struggling with his conscience, that Caira's body was buried at the bottom of a slope in neighboring Belmont, on land that is part of the Beaver Brook Reservation off Trapelo Road.
To my knowledge, police have nevered recovered Caira's remains, her whereabouts are still unknown, and no arrests have been made in connection with her disappearance.
According to a website for people seeking their birth parents, one Ms. Brenda Caira found her father Emilio Caira in about 2005, after having presumably begun her search in the early 1990s. Acording to her post on the message board, she is still seeking her mother. Apparently, she lived with her mother's parents, Lester and Elma Fortier of Watertown.
I discussed this case with a retired Watertown Police detective. I mentioned the disappearance of a woman on Pearl Street, and he immediately recognized it, and mentioned the names of the parties involved. He said it was one of those cases that burns itself into the mind. According to him, the police always believed that Susan's estranged husband, Emilio, was involved. The case was never officially closed, to the best of his knowledge, though they believe Susan's remains to be buried in the foundation of the Howard Johnsons, whick was being poured at the time.
