Episode Description- On Tuesday October 28, 2008, 36-year-old Corrie Anderson would vanish without a trace. That morning she had worked her normal shift at Jamestown Community College, where she worked part time in the library, before stopping to visit her boyfriend at the car dealership where she worked. She would stop home before all signs of her vanished. There's been no trace of her since. In 2021 two sets of human remains would be found 10 yards apart of the Rails to Trails path in Portland, NY. While neither them would prove to be Corrie, they also lead to three additional mysteries. What happened to Corrie Anderson, Marquita Mull, & Patricia Laemmerhirt? And who is the Rails to Trails Jane Doe?

Episode Publication Date- June 30, 2024

Tuesday October 28th started out like a normal day for Busti resident 36-year-old Corrie Anderson. Corrie worked part time in the library at Jamestown Community College. On this day, she worked her shift at the library and got done at her usual time around noon. After work, Corrie stopped to see her boyfriend who worked at the Lake County Dodge car dealership that was on Washington Street at the time and left there between 1 and 1:10 pm. After leaving the car dealership Corrie stopped back at her house on Wellman Road in the town of Busti.

When Corrie failed to show up to her meeting at the school and didn’t pick up any of her children, the family notified police right away. This was completely out of character for Corrie, she was very devoted to her children. There was also a significant amount of concern from Corrie’s family that her disappearance may be a result of her estranged husband Ken whom Corrie had an order of protection in place.

Corrie and Kenneth had met in 2000, marrying shortly after. Corrie had two daughters from a previous marriage. In 2001, Corrie and Kenneth would welcome a son. They been married for five years before their separation, when Corrie learned that he was still married to his previous wife. Kenneth was not happy about the separation and continued to try to reconcile. He would even go so far as to put a GPS tracker on her car. This is when Corrie sought the order of protection against Kenneth, which he would violate in 2007, the year before Corrie’s disappearance. Corrie had sent an email to a relative prior to her disappearance describing how Kenneth would try to make her feel insane and that he was trying to drag his feet on trying to get the terms of their separation worked out because he had “control issues”.  

On Thursday October 30th, a hunter would find Corrie’s 2005 dark blue Dodge Caravan was found by a logger abandoned on a trail just past a gas well on Kortwright road. The van was well out of sight from the road, but its location was not far from Corrie’s house, only about a mile away. The van was taken to a lab in Batavia New York to search for any evidence that might help track down what happened to Corrie. They continued to search the area around where the van was found however the weather would not cooperate with them long and the search had to be called off as the New York weather dumped snow upon the region.

 In 2016, police would receive a reliable tip that sent them back to do another search of the area where the van was discovered. They launched a large-scale search, including the use of search dogs and metal detectors. The weather was also vastly improved from their prior attempts at searching the area and they felt that it was because of this that they located and secured some evidence, including Corrie’s keys and her other shoe. 

In November of 2016, Kenneth Anderson would be accused of abducting his current wife from New York and sexually assaulting her. An article by Spectrum News, Kenneth and his wife were found at a Days Inn in Richmond Kentucky by police. His wife at the time had a restraining order against him, just like Corrie had, and he had violated it. His wife would report to police that Kenneth had assaulted her and threatened to lock her in a basement and take her children. He was charged with kidnapping, domestic violence, and 1st degree sexual assault. With this news, New York State Police began working with the law enforcement officials in Kentucky to see any potential new leads would come from this arrest. Much like Corrie had described in the email to a relative before her disappearance, Kenneth’s wife in 2016, would describe Kenneth as extremely controlling and that he had a history of assaulting her. Kenneth was held in a Madison County Detention Center. His current wife would return to New York and had plans to meet with New York State Police soon after according to an article in Huff Post. While Kenneth Anderson was and still is considered a person of interest in this case, he’s never been charged.

Facebook Group to help Find Corrie Anderson: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1362627964213519

If you have any information about Corrie Anderson's disappearance, please call NYSP at 716-665-3114.

 Patricia Laemmerhirt, who was 27 when she disappeared back in 1976 also has never been found. Patricia lived in Westfield, New York with her husband Ernest Laemmerhirt Junior on North Portage Street. In March of 1976, she told her brother Albert Sam that there were marital issues occurring between her and Ernest and he came to retrieve her from Westfield and took her to stay in Dunkirk, New York with their mother. She would later return to Westfield to stay with Ernest. On April 5th Ernest would call Patricia’s brother asking if he had seen Patricia, stating that he had not seen or heard from her since the two days earlier. Suspicious of Ernest’s story, Albert would break into the home to look for clues for her disappearance and would find that all her belongings, including all her clothes were gone. He would tell the Buffalo News- “There was not one sign that my sister had ever lived there. Her drawers were all empty. No clothes, nothing”.  Ernest would report that he thought she may have gone to Chicago, Illinois. Like Corrie Anderson and Marquita Mull, Patricia was a mother, leaving behind two children. In 1993, Patricia’s brother Albert would get permission from and commission the cost of excavating the property that Patricia had previously shared with Ernest. While they were unsuccessful with finding Patricia, District Attorney James P Subjack would say in an article in the Buffalo News that the publicity that Albert continued to garner with his search for her was bringing new leads in their investigation. Unfortunately, there’s never been any evidence of a crime and without finding her remains, there’s not much for police to go on. The search of the property in 1993 did end up recovering some bones, but they turned out to be animal bones, likely pig or cow, left over from a time some butchering had taken place on the property. They also found a bread wrapper from 1974 though, proving that the concrete floor of the basement had been poured sometime after that. If you have any information on the disappearance of Patricia Laemmerhirt, please reach out to New York State Police-Fredonia at 716-679-1549.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault: 

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

If you or someone you know currently are or has been a victim of domestic violence:

24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, the National Domestic Violence Hotline provides essential tools and support to help survivors of domestic violence so they can live their lives free of abuse. You can call 1-800-799-7223, chat with someone online at thehotline.org, or text the word 'start' to 88788 to connect with one via text message. 

Associated Press. (2021, September 28). INvestigation of human remains in woods leads to second body. Retrieved from Spectrum News: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2021/09/28/chautauqua-county-sheriff-s-investigating-discovery-of-human-remains

Dudzik, K. (2021, September 28). Focus on 3 missing women in Chautauqua County. Retrieved from WGRZ2: https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/focus-on-3-missing-women-in-chautauqua-county/71-0835f6ee-9c71-4cd8-a0d5-e6c0b7a0963e

Goshgarian, M. (2021, October 27). 13 years later, Chautauqua County mother still seeks closure for missing daughter. Retrieved from Spectrum News: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2021/10/27/13-years-later--chautauqua-county-mother-still-seeks-closure-for-missing-daughter

Gould, J. (2021, October 7). Second Body found in North County Identified As Missing Woman, Sheriff Says. Retrieved from WNY News Now: https://wnynewsnow.com/2021/10/07/second-body-found-in-north-county-identified-as-missing-woman-sheriff-says/

Lohr, D. (2016, November 14). Ken Anderson, Cold Case Suspect, Arrested On Charges Of Kidnapping, Rape (Exclusive). Retrieved from HuffPost: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ken-anderson-cold-case-arrested_n_582a2721e4b060adb56fdb10

News Staff. (2021, September 27). Anthropology Team Assisting With Identification Of Remains Found Monday. Retrieved from WNY News Now: https://wnynewsnow.com/2021/09/27/human-remains-found-near-northern-chautauqua-county-trail-sheriff-confirms_updated2/

Peters, L. (2016, November 15). Family of Missing Chautauqua County Woman Speaks Out on Arrest of Possible Suspect. Retrieved from Spectrum News: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/news/2016/11/15/family-of-missing-chautauqua-county-woman-speaks-out-on-arrest-of-possible-suspect

Stuck, L. (2019, September 20). Unsolved. Retrieved from WGRZ: https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/crime/wny-unsolved/unsolved-the-disappearance-of-corrie-anderson-11-years-later/71-f2f96994-437f-4fa5-8e1f-d0e43c5a10b0

Stuck, L. (2019, September 23). Unsolved: New DNA technology could help crack 11-year-old cold case. Retrieved from WNY Unsolved: https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/crime/wny-unsolved/unsolved-new-dna-technology-could-help-crack-11-year-old-cold-case/71-cf25afc8-9be1-412a-88e4-fc5b7fdf1482

Tichy, E. (2022, December 4). New details released on remains found in Chautauqua County. Retrieved from The Jamestown Post-Journal: https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/crime/new-details-released-on-remains-found-in-chautauqua-county/article_3fc59828-7382-11ed-a776-cf1bd91de4f7.html

Tichy, E. (2022, December 3). Testing helps narrow search to ID woman found in NY. Retrieved from Times Observer: https://www.timesobserver.com/news/local-news/2022/12/testing-helps-narrow-search-to-id-woman-found-in-ny/

Tichy, E. (2021, October 1). Corrie Anderson Family Still Pained by Disappearance. Retrieved from The Post-Journal: https://www.post-journal.com/news/top-stories/2021/10/corrie-anderson-family-still-pained-by-disappearance/

Warner, G. (1993, October 10). Brother digs in, seeks clues to woman missing since '76. Retrieved from The Buffalo News: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news/132883330/

WKBW. (2021, October 18). 'I demand justice': Family of Marquita Mull devastated, left with unanswered questions. Retrieved from WKBW: https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/you-took-a-part-of-our-heart-our-soul-family-of-marquita-mull-devastated-left-with-unanswered-question