Maine Unsolved: Mary Ellen Tanner, Part One

Murder, She Told

Kristen Seavey

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

1978 - Kennebunk, Maine. On a hot summer day in July of 1978, a group of young sky divers made a chilling discovery as they flew over the skies of Gracie Evans Field in Lyman—the lifeless body of a young woman. Her death was quickly ruled a homicide, and news spread like wildfire through the neighboring coastal Maine towns. The woman was identified as Mary Ellen Tanner, who had just celebrated her 18th birthday just weeks prior. Mary was last seen on the evening of Friday, July 7th, 1978 on the Mousam River Bridge in the center of town, hitchhiking her way home, which was just a short distance away. But Mary was holding onto a secret… and investigators couldn’t help but wonder if this gave her killer a motive to pick her up that night. What happened to Mary Ellen Tanner? Detailed sources can be found on murdershetold.com Connect on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok. Support Murder, She Told here. If you have any information on the murder of Mary Ellen Tanner, please contact Maine State Police, Major Crimes Unit South at 207-624-7076 or leave a tip here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Kristen Ceevy, this is murder she told.
0:21.3	On Sunday, July 9, 1978, Laurie Cray and her cousin went to Gracie Evans Field, a grassy
0:28.8	meadow in Lyman, Maine, just 15 minutes from Walker's Point, where the Bush family had
0:34.2	vacationed for generations in Kennybunkport, but a world away.
0:39.2	The field was just over the line from the popular resort town of Kennybunk, Maine.
0:44.8	She basked in the sun and watched the Thunderbird skydivers entertain crowds with their weekly
0:50.5	jump.
0:52.0	Despite the scorching hot weather in July, families and teens bore the swelter to view the team
0:58.1	in action, the children stared at the sky in awe of the men flying through the air
1:03.5	like superheroes.
1:05.7	At 3.30 pm, Laurie fanned herself as she watched the plane climb, expecting it to continue
1:12.1	until it reached a suitable altitude for them to jump.
1:16.3	But the plane didn't go to its typical 10,000 feet.
1:20.1	Instead, it leveled off, began circling the field.
1:24.5	The crowd seemed puzzled, and Laurie heard murmurs of questions and theories.
1:30.4	Maybe they were having mechanical problems, perhaps one of the skydivers had become ill
1:35.2	or gotten cold feet.
1:37.5	The young pilot of the Cessna 180, Dan Allo, a 22-year-old from Old Orchard Beach, had
1:43.7	just taken off about two-thirds of the way down the dirt runway.
1:47.9	He pulled the nose of the plane up to clear the evergreens that lined the perimeter of the
1:52.3	field.
1:53.5	With the plane climbing, he would see little but the sky through the front window of the
	...

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