Body in freezer identified as Maine woman missing for 28 years

LEWISTON, Maine — State police have confirmed the woman’s body found inside a Lewiston storage locker in October is Kitty Wardwell, Stephen McCausland, spokeman for the Department of Public Safety, said Friday.


Wardwell, who was 29 when she disappeared in 1983, was slain, according to Mark Belserene, administrator for the state’s medical examiner’s office.


“The manner is homicide but we’re not going to release the cause yet,” he said Friday.


“It’s being withheld,” McCausland said.


Wardwell’s body was found inside an unplugged freezer in a storage locker rented by Francis “Frank” Julian of Lewiston, who died on Oct. 1 at the age of 80. Julian was the last person to see Wardwell alive and was her boyfriend at the time of her disappearance.


Wardwell and Julian shared her No. 3 apartment at the Greenwood Gardens Apartments on U.S. Route 1A in Holden in 1983, according to McCausland.


State police interviewed former neighbors in late October, and urge people who lived in the apartments from January to June 1983 to call the Orono barracks at 866-2122.


A lab in Pennsylvania did the DNA testing, McCausland said. The results were forwarded to the medical examiner’s office and detectives on Thursday. Wardwell’s family was informed Friday morning.


Wardwell, who was from Holden, Maine, according to the state police website's missing persons page, was initially reported missing in July 1983 by a friend. Wardwell's sister also reported her missing months later.


At the time, Julian said he had left Wardwell at a New Hampshire motel after a fight and returned to Maine alone, according to a state police missing persons report.


Investigators had believed she was likely a victim of foul play. Julian had been questioned over the years about the case, which remained open, McCausland said.


McCausland said the DNA testing was conducted at a Pennsylvania lab and the results were sent to Maine's medical examiner's office and to detectives on Thursday. He said police notified Wardwell's family on Friday morning.


The medical examiner's office has also determined that Wardwell's death was a homicide, but the cause of death was being withheld, McCausland said.


"Detectives will continue to interview members of Julian's family in an attempt to find the origin of the freezer and when it was placed in the storage facility," he said.