BANGOR, Maine — Richard A. Morse III appeared to be getting his life back on track after he got out of prison in 1998 for his role in robbing a store in Winterport while disguised as a woman. The 26-year-old was working two jobs, splitting his time between his hometown of Belfast and Bangor. He spent an enjoyable Thanksgiving that year with family members.
Then he vanished.
“After he got out, he spent that summer with us at the farm,” Christopher Morse, the missing man’s younger brother, said last week, referring to the family farm in Belmont. “He had a job in Belfast, and he was working in Bangor, too. He was staying at a hotel in Bangor and had an apartment in Belfast.”
“After Thanksgiving … he disappeared,” Christopher Morse said.
Nearly two decades later, the mystery of Richard Morse’s disappearance appears no closer to being solved.
This is what his family knows: He was waiting tables at 90 Main Restaurant, a Belfast eatery that has since closed, and was working with deaf people in Bangor in the fall of 1998, according to his siblings.
“I know that he was involved in the deaf community,” said Christopher Morse, who was 16 when his brother went missing. “He was doing some stuff with sign language. That’s all I know.”
His sister, Diahanne Morse of Belfast, said her older brother had a deaf friend growing up and learned sign language as a youngster.
“We were really close,” Diahanne Morse said recently, recalling her brother. “He was just about fun, and he was quick-witted.”
Richard Morse was reported missing from 480 Main St. in Bangor on Dec. 15, 1998, Detective Sgt. David Bushey, who leads the Bangor detectives division, said by email last week. The address was the former Main Street Inn, which was torn down in 2006 to make way for Hollywood Casino.
“His whereabouts remain unknown,” Bushey said.
“He was supposed to be in court that morning,” Diahanne Morse recalled. “I don’t even remember what that was for it’s been so long. We tried and tried to call him.”
Police informed her that one of the last places Richard Morse was seen was at a Bangor bar, she said. One of the conditions of his probation was that he could not use alcohol.
“Things can happen when alcohol and drugs are mixed,” she said. “There are so many rumors, so many different things that have been said” about what happened to her brother.
The news that he was missing “was devastating” to her and her family, Diahanne Morse said, and it remains so even after 18 years.
“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him,” the missing man’s sister said. “At least once a day, there is something that reminds me.”
‘That might be him’
Richard Morse’s case is one of four missing persons investigations in Bangor. Roderick Hotham, 62; William Hilderbrand, 28; and Sharon Smith, 25, are all listed as missing. Detectives working on Smith’s case dug up a property in Hermon last month looking for her body, renewing hopes for closure for her family after 36 years.
Christopher Morse said it was reading the story about Smith in which his brother’s case was mentioned that led him to reach out to the Bangor Daily News in the hope someone might have information that could shed new light on the case after nearly 18 years.
When Richard Morse was reported missing to Bangor police by his mother, Tina Morse, the FBI looked into the case, according to his brother. Tina Morse did not return messages seeking comment.
“The FBI came in and took his stuff, his computer, his pager and anything like that” from his Belfast apartment, Christopher Morse said. “And to my knowledge, they still have it. We have never gotten it back.”
The FBI gets involved in missing children cases and those in which the missing person is believed to have crossed, or been taken across, state lines.
“We frequently offer our assistance to our state and local partners in cases such as this,” Special Agent Kristen Setera of the FBI Public Affairs office in Boston said in a Tuesday email.
“Currently, we are not involved in this case,” she said.
Over the years, both Christopher Morse and his sister have attempted to find their missing sibling by reaching out to family and friends scattered across the country in the hope he might have contacted them. They’ve also done internet searches, but their efforts always end with a “dead end,” Christopher Morse said.
“There have been times I search on the internet for hours and hours, hoping for some type of sign,” Diahanne Morse said.
She still holds out hope that he just ran away.
“There are times you see someone walking down the street and you think, ‘That might be him,’ but it never is. It plays with my head. It’s a bizarre feeling,” she said. “There is no closure.”
“After time goes on, things fade and you tend to wonder: Is he still alive?” Christopher Morse said.
The family was contacted by police in Seattle in 2003 or 2004 about a body found that matched his brother’s description, but “we got a call a few weeks after and they said dental records proved it wasn’t him,” Christopher Morse said.
Bangor police say the case is still open and Detective Tim Shaw is assigned as the primary investigator.
“An active File 6 (missing person report) remains active in NCIC,” Bushey said, referring to the National Crime Information Center, a nationwide computerized crime database.
‘Really bad choices’
Richard Morse graduated Belfast Area High School in 1991. He was 21 when he was charged with the March 11, 1993, armed robbery at Gillen’s Market in Winterport during which $800 in cash was taken. His aunt also was charged in the crime for helping Morse disguise himself as a woman and for driving the getaway vehicle. She now lives in Belfast and declined a request to talk about her nephew.
“I just think he got in with the wrong crowd and made some really bad choices,” Diahanne Morse said of why her brother turned to crime.
Richard Morse later pleaded guilty to the robbery and was sentenced to four years in prison with six years probation upon his release. He wore a dress, hat and heavy makeup as a disguise during the armed robbery.
Shortly after his release from prison, he was arrested for drunken driving, which resulted in seven days in jail, a $600 fine, and a suspended driver’s license for 18 months, as well as an additional 14 days in jail for violating his probation.
Even so, his siblings say, Richard Morse had turned a corner and had started on a good path in life.
“He and I really never talked much about his crimes other than the fact he wasn’t proud of his past and was working hard to put it behind him,” Christopher Morse said.
Christopher Morse said he went to pick up his brother in Bangor for Thanksgiving in 1998 and everything appeared normal.
“He was typical Rick,” Christopher Morse said. “He was always happy, fooling around, messing with people. He was like that the whole ride back from Bangor.”
A week or so after the holiday, the family received phone calls asking where Richard was and started to worry.
“When the job started calling asking, ‘Where is this kid?’ We knew something was wrong,” Christopher Morse said.
His brother was required to keep his probation officer informed of his whereabouts and his employment.
“He spent 4½ years in prison,” Christopher Morse said. “At that point, he got those things behind him and was moving forward. Then, he was there one day and gone the next.”
Anyone with information about Richard Morse can call the Bangor Police Department at 947-7384. Those who want to remain anonymous can select option 6 to access the department’s tip line. Detective Tim Shaw can be reached by email at Tim.D.Shaw@Bangormaine.gov.