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The night my mother disappeared, she went out with nothing but the clothes on her back to go meet her girlfriends to have drinks.

And she was with them all the way up until closing time at the penalty box.

And that was the last time anybody saw her. There were a couple of claims that it was possible that she was seen at a bar across the street from the penalty box that night after the penalty box closed a bar called San Sones.

But that was never proven. There was just hearsay about that initially when she first disappeared while we were all real and from the shock of it all.

One of the questions that popped into our mind was did she just take off? Did she just get tired of being a single mom and with all the frustration?

But we came to the conclusion very quickly that that was not the case because she just went out that night with nothing but the clothes on her back.

She didn't take her jewelry. She didn't empty her bank account. She didn't take spare cash that was sitting on her dresser. She didn't pack a bag and bring clothes with her.

On June 4, 1975, Dorothy Garasco went out to have drinks with some girlfriends in Boston, Massachusetts. Her three sons ages 21, 14, and 12 were at home that evening and went to bed that night not thinking anything was a mess.

The next morning they awoke to find that their mother still hadn't returned. The younger two got themselves off to school and figured that their mother must have spent the night with a friend and she would be back by the time the school day was over.

They were shocked to find that their mother still hadn't returned that evening. The boys weren't sure what to do so they kept waiting.

After days with no word from their mother, Dorothy's eldest son went to the police station to report her missing.

48 years later, Dorothy's sons are still searching for answers.

I'm Marisa and from Wondery, this is episode 405 of The Vanished, part one of Dorothy Garasco's story, The Monster.

Well done. You've sorted through the embarrassment of riches that is the modern podcast landscape and found me Rob Briden on my podcast.

In this series of Briden and I talk to, among others, Harry Hill, Ben Elton, Charlotte Church, Steve Cougan and Dame Harriet Walter.

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Before we get started, just a quick disclaimer. This episode contains graphic descriptions of intimate partner violence and child abuse. Please take care while listening.

By the spring of 1975, 40-year-old Dorothy Garasco was a single mother of three sons. Her eldest, Anthony, had just returned from the military. Dorothy's middle son Rick was 14 and the youngest John was just 12.

On the evening of June 4, Dorothy planned a night out with some of her friends. This was not an unusual occurrence. They were going to a bar called the penalty box in the North Station area of Boston. That evening Dorothy left her home in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston and drove to the penalty box in North Station about six miles away. Dorothy was last seen at that bar.

And some believe that she went to an after-hours bar after closing, but no one knows for sure. All we really know for certain is that Dorothy never made it home that night and was never seen again. Dorothy's sons awoke the next morning and the younger two got themselves off to school.

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