PATRIC McCARTHY - 10 yo (2003) - Bourne/ Cape Cod MA

The FBI agent who investigated the disappearance
and death of 10-year-old Patric McCarthy of Bourne cannot say with
certainty that the boy's death was accidental.
Buried within 420 pages of heavily redacted documents obtained by the Times
through a Freedom of Information Act request is a note from an assistant
U.S. attorney about agent Maureen Robinson's response when she was
asked if she had formed an opinion of whether Patric's death was accidental or intentional.

Related Links
More Patric McCarthy stories

"(The agent) stated that she did not draw any conclusion and believes that both are possibilities," the memo states.
On Oct. 13, 2003, Patric was reported missing as his family finished a
three-day weekend at a condominium complex near Loon Mountain in
Lincoln, N.H. Four days later, after a massive search that included
friends and family from the Cape, his body was found 2.2 miles away in a
remote section of Whaleback Mountain.
Dr. Thomas Andrew, New Hampshire's chief medical examiner, ruled his death
accidental by hypothermia. Patric's father Stephen McCarthy, his mother
Deanne Murray, his uncle Geoffrey McCarthy and his grandfather James
Murray Jr., reject that, saying they suspect Patric was murdered and
that his body was dumped on the mountainside.
Last year, New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney's office and John
Kacavas, U.S. attorney for New Hampshire, concluded follow-up reviews of
the case and determined there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone in Patric's death.
Kacavas was adamant that Patric's death was accidental and criticized private investigator
Terrance O'Connell's assertions that it was murder as "reckless speculation."
In the recently released
documents, there is an email from Kacavas to an unknown addressee,
stating that a high-ranking official in the deputy attorney general's
office agrees "there is no prosecutable case." But it's the follow-up
comment that everyone "speak with one voice" that Patric's family
members find distasteful.
"They've circled wagons and are telling everyone to follow the party line," Stephen McCar-thy said.
In an email Thursday, Kacavas refused to answer specific questions sent to
him about the FBI documents. "I have said all I wish to say on the matter," he wrote.
The Times has reported that
officials from the U.S. attorney's offices in New Hampshire and Boston
have differing opinions on whether Patric's death was accidental by
hypothermia, as it was ruled, or a homicide.

"You have to go further, dig deeper'

The newly released FBI documents are only one-quarter of what the agency
says it has on file. They do little to ease the doubts of family members
that Patric was killed. While Robinson attempts to poke holes in
O'Connell's evidence, she can't say with certainty that Patric's death
was accidental even after more than 50 direct interviews with the
victim's family, friends, former classmates, teachers, administrators
and first responders.
"All logical investigation conducted/completed; no evidence sufficient to support
federal charges of homicide or conspiracy in (Massachusetts) obtained,"
she wrote in a 2009 summary of the FBI investigation.
"I would think if she can't say 'no' you have to go further, dig deeper,"
Stephen McCarthy, Patric's father, said. "We're talking about a murder;
it's not like a dog getting hit. If there's any doubt, (the investigation) goes on."
New Hampshire's state
and federal law enforcement agencies have said they will reopen the
case, but only if new evidence becomes available.
Completely redacted from the documents received by the Times are interviews done
by the FBI with Patric's stepmother, Margaret "Max" McCarthy, and his
stepbrothers, Gabe Fritz and Noah Fritz. A law enforcement source with
knowledge of the interview with Gabe Fritz said he admitted to pushing
Patric to the ground and getting on top of him the day he was reported
missing, something he failed to tell New Hampshire State Police
detectives.
Gabe and Noah also gave
conflicting reports about where and when Patric went missing, according
to documents released last year by New Hampshire authorities.
In previous interviews with the Times, Margaret McCarthy has denied any
involvement in Patric's death by her or her sons. She divorced Patric's
father, Stephen, shortly after the boy's death and moved with her children to Ohio.
The U.S. Department of
Justice cited privacy in not releasing the interviews with Margaret
McCarthy and her sons, but some of the other redactions remain
unexplained. Whole sections of interviews are covered over without
specified reasons.
Some of the FBI documents obtained by the Times have never been seen by
the family and provide new information, O'Connell said.
Deanne Murray received a similar packet of information from the FBI through a
separate FOIA request, and her father is still sifting through it but
has already found inconsistent information in it.
Stephen McCarthy also requested documents and only got one-quarter of what the
Times received, he said. "We're going to push for more documents to be
released," he said. "It's almost like starting from square one. We've
requested documents from every agency, and we're putting it together
again and, hopefully "» we'll get someone's attention and move it forward."

New details

One of the newest revelations for the family is that Patric's body was
found by a woman from the Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue Team,
Michelle Cormier, Murray and McCarthy said in separate interviews. The
family had been led to believe that it was Kevin Jordan, a New Hampshire
Fish and Game warden, who found Patric.
"(Cormier) came across the body of a little boy on a flat section of ground," the
report states. "He was face down with his legs out straight. She stayed
about 20 feet back and called out to (name redacted) who had medical training."
The woman told Robinson that
searchers were never asked to look for Patric's other belongings — he
was wearing a hat, coat and had his Nintendo Game Boy with him when he
went missing.
"That's key. That's one of the
biggest things that throw a red flag up," Stephen McCarthy said. "In
hypothermia cases, they drop clothes in the vicinity. And they were told
to never look at it? Unbelievable."
A leading hypothermia expert hired by the family is quoted in documents of saying
Patric's case doesn't fit the profile of someone dying from exposure.
Only one member of the search team did a cursory search for Patric's
clothing in a 100-foot radius on his own, according to the reports, and
nothing was ever recovered.
"The distance he traveled from the (place last seen) was surprising," Cormier told the
FBI, according to the report. "But in her experience, lost children and
lost adults can do amazing things."
She did add that it was a surprise not to find Patric "huddled up in a ball" or
"under leaves" trying to stay warm. "It was an awful long way for anyone
to climb, especially since it was not on a maintained trail," she told Robinson.

Discrepancies in reports

That is something that has always bothered members of the McCarthy family.
Patric was a timid 10-year-old boy who was afraid of the dark. The idea
he wandered off that far and ignored the screams of searchers is not
credible to family members.
It's a refrain repeated often in the hundreds of pages in the FBI documents.
Meanwhile, the documents also clearly show that Deputy Medical Examiner Rosemary
Swain did something she should not have done that day when Patric's body
was discovered.
"After she examined Patric's
body and documented her findings, (Swain) washed his face so that the
family could see him without the dirt on his face," Robinson wrote. "She
also manually closed his eyes (which remained partially open) because,
in her experience, she felt it would be easier for the family to view
him with his eyes closed."
Her actions led to discrepancies between her initial report and the autopsy
done by Andrew, the chief medical examiner.
Swain's written report is not included in the FBI documents released, but a
copy of it obtained by the Times last year shows that it contradicts the
findings of Andrew in his autopsy of Patric. In her report, Swain
indicates Patric's eyes were open and he had "leaves and dirt in eyes,
nose, mouth." She also checked off "petechiae" on her report, an
indication of asphyxiation, according to forensic experts. In the
autopsy, Andrew wrote that Patric's eyes were closed and there is no
mention of leaves or dirt on his face and no petechiae was evident. He
also indicates that he examined the body before it was washed.
Petechiae is key because O'Connell has theorized that Patric was smothered and
his body was moved to the remote location where he was found.
Murray, Patric's grandfather, is convinced that Swain has changed her story to
fit the narrative. In her interview with Robinson, Swain said after
giving the OK to bring Patric's body down off the mountain, she drove
directly from her home to Fournier Funeral Home to examine his body.
But a police log shows that she was at the Lincoln Police Station 2½ hours before going to the funeral home.
It is the constantly evolving stories that nag at the Murray and McCarthy
families. "This is getting sicker and sicker by the minute," James
Murray Jr. said.
Stephen McCarthy said Swain visited his condo before going to the funeral home to talk to them about
Patric's body being found. "The cover-up continues," he said.
Family members are frustrated at the failure of New Hampshire and federal law
enforcement officials to keep the case open and their failure to hold
officials accountable for what they say was a botched investigation.
"It's not closed. It's not closed. It's not closed," Stephen McCarthy said.
"We're looking for all the ammunition we can gather to get it to somebody independent."
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120115/NEWS/201150333

I have been working on Patric's case going on nine years now. Along with other's who are working day and night to get the truth out about Patric's Mysterious Death. So many unanswered questions pertaining to what time Patric went missing . Inconsistancies of the step-brothers. Patric's backbackpack that was found in downtown Lincoln. Patric's Step-mother's whereabouts at the time Patric went missing.

Autopsy by Andrew is inconsistant with ADME Rosemary Swains handwritten document when she performed the External Examination on Patric. Witnesses that were never interviewed. Margaret McCarthy's polygraph test i.e. Step-Mother has been confirmed deceptive. Enough for now. I Than you for keeping Patric's story alive. The Truth will be told and the dominoes will start falling.

Thanks DForensic for your personal insights on this case.

We welcome your input and hope that you can keep us updated on the latest developments.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:Thanks DForensic for your personal insights on this case.

We welcome your input and hope that you can keep us updated on the latest developments.

"You can ALWAYS remember the TRUTH, but you can NEVER remember a LIE"

DForensic44 wrote: I have been working on Patric's case going on nine years now. Along with other's who are working day and night to get the truth out about Patric's Mysterious Death. So many unanswered questions pertaining to what time Patric went missing . Inconsistancies of the step-brothers. Patric's backbackpack that was found in downtown Lincoln. Patric's Step-mother's whereabouts at the time Patric went missing.

Autopsy by Andrew is inconsistant with ADME Rosemary Swains handwritten document when she performed the External Examination on Patric. Witnesses that were never interviewed. Margaret McCarthy's polygraph test i.e. Step-Mother has been confirmed deceptive. Enough for now. I Than you for keeping Patric's story alive. The Truth will be told and the dominoes will start falling.

Thank you so much for this post.

I hope we will hear from you again when there are new developments, or sooner.