In a heartwrenching end to a mysterious disappearance six months ago, Coreen Wiese, whose body was found floating in the Saco River, will be buried Saturday.
She was the daughter of Wesley and Cindy Wiese of Henry Hill Road in Buxton.
“We’re heartbroken,” her father said Wednesday.
Funeral services are at 2 p.m. at the South Buxton Cemetery at Tory Hill at 2 p.m. Visiting hours are 10 a.m. to noon at the Dennett, Craig & Pate Funeral Home, routes 202 and 4A (13 Portland Road) in Buxton.
Buxton police announced Tuesday findings of the state medical examiner’s office that identified the body, found by a group of teenagers, as that of Wiese. Wiese, who was a 15-year-old sophomore at Bonny Eagle High School, disappeared Nov. 8. She had been last seen at the Limington Rapids, near the Route 25 bridge over the Saco River.
Officer Mike Grovo of Buxton police, the investigator who led an exhaustive search for the girl, read the medical examiner’s statement in Buxton town hall. Grovo had worked relentlessly to find the missing girl.
Although Grovo said there is now closure for the Wiese family, he said it was a difficult conclusion to a long investigation that had consumed the entire Buxton Police Department.
“I’m sad the way it ended,” Grovo said.
In a strange twist, Grovo’s son, Ben, a Bonny Eagle High School student, was among the group of six teenagers who discovered her body several miles downstream and past a dam from the Route 25 bridge. The teens, gathered at a rented cottage on Warren Road, discovered the body close to midnight Friday.
“It blows me away,” the officer said. “I couldn’t believe it when he called me.”
Laurie Ann Prescott of Buxton said her daughter, Melanie, 18, a Bonny Eagle student, was also one of the teens. Melanie Prescott is one of two girls who had rented the cottage on Warren Road.
Prescott said her daughter recounted the events of the night.
The teenagers had a bonfire in a pit near the cottage and went to the beach for water to dowse the bonfire. The teens were tossing rocks into the river when one made an odd noise. She said her daughter ran to the cottage for a flashlight.
She shined the flashlight into the river and spotted the body. “She was extremely freaked out,” said Prescott. She said her daughter has sought counseling at school since the incident.
Grovo said it’s been tough on all the kids. “He’s having a hard time dealing with it,” Grovo said about his son.
Prescott said her thoughts and prayers are for Wiese’s family. She and her daughter cut 50 daffodils, tied ribbons around bunches of them and released them Sunday into the Saco River.
Grovo said the body was found in water about 3 feet deep and 20 to 30 feet off the beach. Buxton Police Chief Jody Thomas said there is no evidence of any foul play. The state medical examiner is still waiting for a toxicology report.
“The investigation is closing,” said Thomas. “It was a drowning.”
After Wiese had disappeared, investigators found writings that included the date Nov. 8, the letters “RIP” and initials “CW” scrawled on rusty beams under the bridge. The FBI joined Buxton police and the Maine Warden Service in the investigation. A spokeswoman for the FBI Monday declined comment, referring all questions to Buxton police.
At 7 a.m. on Nov. 8, Wiese had boarded the school bus at her home on Henry Hill Road. The family said they believe her daughter was picked up by someone along River Road between 7:30 and 8 a.m. and dropped off at the intersection of River Road and Route 25, which is near the bridge.
Sherman and Betty Boulter of Standish live near the bridge. They were sitting at their table when they saw a girl they believe was Wiese walk past about 9 a.m., heading toward Standish on Route 25. Then about 15 minutes later, they saw her again walking west past their home.
A spokesman at the National Weather Service said Wednesday there was rain all that day with temperatures in the 50s.
Boulter said the girl was wearing slacks but didn’t think she had a coat. “She was all wet,” Boulter said.
Perhaps an hour later, Boulter said, his wife saw the girl at the picnic area near the bridge when they were driving home from a restaurant in Limington. “Betty said, ‘There she is,'” Boulter recalled recently. She was alone when the Boulters saw her.
The disappearance baffled investigators. Her parents gave police a box containing their daughters’ personal notes and letters. Police said one of Coreen Wiese’s letters indicated that she was troubled.
“There was nothing clearly stating she was going to commit suicide,” Grovo said.
Asked if there was concrete evidence that Wiese took her own life, Thomas said, “No.”
Coreen Wiese, the Buxton teen who had been missing since Nov. 8 will be buried on Saturday. Wiese’s body was discovered in the Saco River by a group of teenagers on May 11.Send questions/comments to the editors.
