|
UPDATE July 15, 2005 Click Here for News Broadcast about Tony
Investigations continue for missing persons
Updated: 7/15/2005 9:02 PM
Capitalnews9.com
By: Ryan Peterson
Brandon Labonte, 21, has been missing since February 16. Anthony Colucci,
20, was last seen on July 4. Police said they are growing frustrated over the lack of information.
Pittsfiled Police
Chief Anthony Riello said, "It is frustrating. We feel that there is information out there, information to be gathered. The
frustration is, not being able to."
Could the two cases be connected? Both are young white men that live less than
a mile from each other. However, Riello said he is confident that the similarities end there.
LaBonte was last seen
at his South John Street apartment. He never picked up his last paycheck and his cell phone has gone silent. Colucci was supposed
to meet a friend for fireworks at Wahconah Park on July 4, but he never showed up. His truck was found four days later in
the October Mountain State Forest.
Police are beginning to fear foul play may have been involved in both cases.
"We
feel that there definitely are people who have seen something or someone and should be giving us a call. We also know that
there's folks involved and know, perhaps, more details," said Chief Riello.
Meanwhile, Pittsfield Residents are concerned,
and wondering what happened to their city's small town feel.
Beth Hall said, "Pittsfield used to be a place where we
could raise our kids and they could play in the neighborhood and ride their bikes. Now we have shootings and stabbings and
murders and missing people. I'm very concerned for Pittsfield in general."
Chief Riello is asking anyone with information
regarding the disappearance of Brandon LaBonte or Anthony Colucci to come forward, no matter how insignificant you think it
is.
If you have any information, you are asked to call the Pittsfield police at 413-448-9723 or State Police in Lee
at 413-243-0600.
Police fearful of 'foul play'
By
Jack Dew, Berkshire Eagle Staff
July 15, 2005
PITTSFIELD -- Brandon LaBonte went missing Feb. 16, disappearing
after a friend dropped him off near his South John Street home.Anthony Colucci has been missing since July 4. He was last
seen near his Taylor Street house and failed to meet a friend for a date to watch the Fourth of July fireworks at Wahconah
Park.
Both men are young -- Colucci is 20, LaBonte is 21 -- and both are white. They lived within three-quarters of
a mile of each other in Pittsfield.
Beyond these obvious similarities, police and the Berkshire County district attorney
don't know if the disappearances are connected, but say they have considered that possibility, however remote, as they try
to find the missing men.
While LaBonte and Colucci are being treated as missing persons, "in both of these cases, the
families have indicated that
these are not the type of young men who would up and leave without notice. We consider them
to be missing persons, and we are very concerned," District Attorney David F. Capeless said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"We
are obviously very concerned about the possibility of foul play in both cases," he added.
Capt. Patrick Barry of the
Pittsfield Police Department said it is unlikely the disappearances are related. "Our investigation to this point has shown
absolutely no connection between the two. I'm intimately familiar with the details of both cases ... and I can tell that there
appears to be no connection whatsoever, but we are open to any and all possibilities."
Colucci has been missing since
July 4, and was last seen near his Taylor Street home in Pittsfield. He called a friend at 8 p.m. that day to say he would
meet the person at 8:30 p.m. at Wahconah Park to watch the fireworks, but he never showed up.
His 1997 Toyota Tacoma
pickup was found in October Mountain State Forest in Washington four days later, on July 8. People familiar with the investigation
said authorities found blood in the truck, but officials would not confirm that yesterday. It was not clear whether the blood
was the result of an earlier injury or was related to Colucci's disappearance.
As investigators are trying to pin down
Colucci's movements and figure out how and when his truck was taken to October Mountain, Capeless said they are eager to talk
with anyone who was in the state forest on July 4 through July 8, regardless of what they saw or didn't see.
"If they
were there and did not see the truck, that is very important information, and people may not realize that they possess information"
that could be helpful, Capeless said.
LaBontes face silence
Brandon LaBonte went missing after a friend dropped
him off near his South John Street house. When his parents saw him on Feb. 8, eight days before he disappeared, he looked
as if he had recently been in a fight and told the two that he had been robbed. Police say that incident was never reported,
however.
For his mother and father, Barbara and Robert LaBonte, it has been six months of waiting for word of their
son. They have been met with a steady silence. He never picked up his last paycheck from John Goddard Construction. At one
point, his parents paid to add minutes to his cell phone in the hope that he might turn it on, but after it was unused for
weeks, the phone company canceled the number.
"I tried to call it, and it's not there anymore," Barbara said.
LaBonte's
22nd birthday is July 31, and his father said the looming date has made it a hard month. Though six months have passed since
his son's disappearance, it still doesn't get easier, he said.
Both asked that anybody with any information about Brandon
LaBonte's disappearance call Pittsfield Police. "Even if they think it might not be anything, it could be something," Barbara
LaBonte said.
"We just want to keep the word out there, and I don't want anyone to give up on him. We haven't. There
is always that hope, and I would just like to find him so we can have our closure," she said.
Capeless said investigators
have "talked to a great number of people in both cases, and obviously we are making a great effort to establish a time line,
but at the same time we are frustrated with the information we have been unable to get." That is why in both cases, he said,
authorities have made repeated pleas for help from the public.
Pittsfield Police can be reached at (413) 448-9723.
Jack
Dew can be reached at jdew@berkshireeagle.com or at (413) 496-6241
Disappearance fuels police hunt
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Massachusetts State Police
and local police are seeking information about the disappearance of a 20-year-old Pittsfield man who had ties to Ludlow and
Wilbraham.
Anthony Colucci of 30 Taylor St., Pittsfield, has been missing since the evening of July 4 when he failed
to meet a friend to watch the Pittsfield fireworks, according to the Berkshire district attorney's office.
His 1987
green Toyota Tacoma pickup was found Friday morning in the October Mountain State Forest off Shermerhorn Road in the area
of Felton Lake in the town of Washington.
Investigators continued a search of the state forest yesterday.
Officials
have determined that Colucci had planned to meet a friend at 8:30 p.m. July 4 to watch the fireworks at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield.
At about 8 p.m., he called to say he would be late, but never arrived, officials said.
Colucci's father and
grandfather resided for years in Ludlow, and the family still has relatives in the area, said Gary Lennox of Wilbraham, who
knows Colucci.
"There are a lot of anxious people around here," he said.
Lennox said his wife has been a close
friend of Colucci's aunt for years.
"(Colucci) has been out to our house many times. They have a very close relationship,"
he said.
Lennox said Colucci is not the type of person who would stray from home without telling anyone where he was
heading.
"We're just trying to keep hope," he said.
Police would like to speak with anyone in the area of
the state forest between the evening of July 4 and Friday afternoon. Of particular interest are people who may have been camping,
fishing or riding in the vicinity of Camp Eagle or Felton Pond.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the Pittsfield
police at (413) 448-9723, or the state police barracks in Lee at (413) 243-0600, or the Cheshire barracks at (413) 743-4700.
Search for missing
man continues
Police appeal for information
PITTSFIELD -- Nine days after Anthony Colucci failed to keep a date to watch a Fourth of July
fireworks display, police, his family and his friends appear to have no idea what has become of him.
Colucci, 20, hasn't been seen or heard from since he failed to show up at Wahconah Park to watch the fireworks
following a Pittsfield Dukes game. His truck, a dark green 1997 Toyota Tacoma pickup, was found in October Mountain State
Forest in Washington on July 8, but there was no sign of Colucci.
Yesterday, state police resumed searching in the rough, heavily wooded terrain of October Mountain,
and the Pittsfield Police Department's Strategic Response Team and members of the Fire Department searched an area near Colucci's
Taylor Street home in Pittsfield, where Chief Anthony J. Riello said the young man was last seen. Last heard from July
4
The Berkshire County district attorney's office yesterday released new information about Colucci's last-known
movements. In a written statement, it said that Colucci had planned to meet a friend at about 8:30 p.m. on July 4 to view
the Wahconah fireworks.
At about 8 p.m., the DA's office said, Colucci called his friend -- whose name was not released -- to say
he would be late. He never showed.
Police are asking anyone who may have been in the October Mountain State Forest between Monday evening, July
4, and midafternoon on July 8, especially in the vicinity of Camp Eagle or Felton Pond, to call them. This includes anyone
who may have been hiking, mountain biking, dirt biking, fishing or four wheeling, regardless of whether they think they saw
anything connected with Colucci's disappearance.
Colucci's family was not available for comment yesterday. A man answering the door at their home who identified
himself as a friend of the family said they were unavailable.
Members of the Pittsfield Police Department's Special Response Team and the Fire Department searched in the
Housatonic River near South Street (Routes 7 and 20) and in areas around Industrial Drive, the Housatonic Railroad tracks
and behind Clapp Park between 10 a.m. and noon for any signs that might hint at Colucci's whereabouts. Firefighters also used
a small boat to search the river. All those areas are located within a mile of Colucci's residence.
Riello confirmed that the search had been conducted, but did not say whether anything had been found that
might help solve the mystery of Colucci's whereabouts. He declined to speculate on what became of Colucci or on how his truck
got to October Mountain State Forest. He reiterated the plea for help from the public.
Police would like anyone who may be able to help their investigation to call either the Pittsfield Police
Department at (413) 448-9723, the Massachusetts State Police Lee barracks at (413) 243-0600 or the Massachusetts State Police
Cheshire barracks at (413) 743-4700.
Eagle reporter Tony Dobrowolski contributed to this report.
New information released in man's disappearance
Updated: 7/13/2005 6:08 PM
Capitalnews9.com
By: Ryan Peterson
Authorities are continuing to ask for the public's assistance
in the investigation of a Pittsfield man missing since July 4.
On Wednesday, Pittsfield and Massachusetts State Police continued their search of October Mountain
State Forest for 20-year-old Anthony Colucci.
According to the Berkshire District Attorney's Office, investigators have learned that Colucci
planned to meet a friend on July 4 at 8:30 p.m. to watch the fireworks at Wahconah Park. At around 8 p.m., Colucci called
his friend to say he'd be late -- but he never showed up.
Colucci's green Toyota pickup truck was found off of Shermerhorn Road in the area of Camp Eagle
and Felton Pond at the State Forest on the morning of July 8.
If you have any information about Colucci's disappearance or if you were at
the October Mountain State Forest between the evening of July 4 and mid-afternoon July 8, please call the Pittsfield police
at 413-448-9723, State Police in Lee at 413-243-0600, or State Police in Cheshire at 413-743-4700.
Article Published: Monday, July 11, 2005 - 11:30:51 AM EST
TheTranscript.com
Police
seek info on missing P'field man
WASHINGTON -- The discovery of an abandoned 1997 Toyota Tacoma pickup
in October Mountain State Forest has prompted investigators to ask for help in locating the vehicle's owner.Anthony Colucci,
20, of Taylor Street, Pittsfield, was last seen Monday, July 4. His dark green truck was located Friday afternoon near Schermerhorn
Road in Washington.
Police are requesting anyone who may have been in the area of Camp Eagle or Felton Pond between
the afternoon of the fourth to mid-afternoon Friday to contact them.
A massive search including state police, Berkshire
Mountain and Central Berkshire search and rescue teams, the state Emergency Management Agency, environmental police and the
state Department of Conservation and Recreation personnel have been searching the area where the pickup was found.
In
February, 21-year-old Brandon LaBonte of South John Street, Pittsfield, was reported missing. Five months later, he is still
missing.
Anyone who may have information about the disappearance of LaBonte or who may have seen Colucci or his vehicle
within the past week is being asked to contact the Pittsfield Police Department at 448-9723. Anyone with information about
Colucci or who was in the forest last week should call Pittsfield Police or state police at (413)743-4700 at the Cheshire
barracks or (413)243-0600 at the Lee barracks.
-- Jennifer Huberdeau
Police searching for missing Pittsfield man
Updated: 7/9/2005 10:03 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff
Investigators are asking the public for help in finding a
Pittsfield man who has been missing since July 4.
According to investigators, 20-year-old Anthony Colucci was last seen Monday night in Pittsfield.
Colucci's dark green 1997 four wheel drive Toyota Tacoma was found Friday afternoon near Schermerhorn Road in the October
Mountain State Forest in Washington.
If you have any in information regarding the whereabouts of Colucci or his
vehicle in the past week you are being asked to call Pittsfield police at 413-448-9723, State police at Lee at 413-243-0600,
or State police at Cheshire at 413-743-4700.
Pittsfield, MA July 9. 2005
By WNYT Staff
Investigators are asking for help in locating a Pittsfield man missing since Monday, July 4th.
20-year-old Anthony Colucci of 30 Taylor Street in Pittsfield, was last seen in Pittsfield on Monday evening.
His vehicle is a dark green 1997 Toyota Tacoma pick up, that was found Friday afternoon near Schermerhorn Road
in the October Mountain State Forest in Washington.
Investigators are asking anyone who may have seen Colucci or his vehicle within the past week to call the Pittsfield
Police at (413) 448-9723 or Massachusetts State Police at (413) 243-0600 or (413) 743-4700.
|
