EP 85 | A Missing Mother: Sandra Crispo, Hanson, Mass, with her daughter Laina McMahon

What do Auntie Em, Dropkick Murphys, Mr. Ballen, and HoJos have in common? We roll into Quincy for a look and a story. 

A Missing Mom Mystery. Sandra Crispo vanished from her Hanson, Massachusetts home on August 7, 2019. She left her beloved dog, Clarance, behind without food or water and her home unlocked with lights and air conditioning running. She was living her best life in her new home and spending quality hours with her young grandsons. 

Six years later, her case remains unsolved despite evidence suggesting foul play, including blood found throughout her house and witness reports of an argument the night she disappeared.

• Sandra had recently moved to Hanson from Quincy, downsizing to a small house after her father passed away 
• Her father left behind a substantial estate including reported gold bars, creating significant family tension
• Sandra was last seen on surveillance at Cumberland Farms buying cigarettes after her son-in-law helped her drop her car at a mechanic
• Neighbors reported hearing an argument involving two men at Sandra's home the night she disappeared
• Blood from Sandra and an unidentified male family associate was found in the home six weeks after her disappearance
• Sandra was 54 years old when she vanished and had found new purpose in being a grandmother to her daughter's children
• Despite grand jury testimony and ongoing investigation, no arrests have been made in the case

Information is needed in Sandra Crispo's disappearance, contact Hanson Police Department at 781-293-4625 or Massachusetts State Police Detectives at 508-894-2600.

More at CrimeoftheTruestKind.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Sandra Crispo's Case
• 5:12 History of Quincy, Massachusetts
• 17:41 Sandra's Life Before Disappearance
• 30:51 The Last Day Sandra Was Seen
• 37:18 Evidence and Investigation Developments
• 47:12 Family Dynamics and Gold Bars
• 54:30 Conclusion and How to Help

Transcript

Anngelle Wood: 0:00

Well, hello, my name is Anngelle Wood and this is Crime of the Truest Kind. It's nice again, feels good, doesn't it? For those of us who are in the Massachusetts to England vicinity, it's very nice because the warm weather is upon us. This is a Massachusetts and New England-based true crime, regional history and advocacy-focused podcast. I created it, I research it, I write it, I record it, I edit it, I release it, I promote it. It's all me. Thanks so much to the show supporters who help keep this going. I sent a message out via Patreon about new merch with the logo refresh. I will have more on how you can support the show later.

Anngelle Wood: 1:05

There is a lot of noise going on around here. The Karen Reid trial got underway the second one. I don't have a hard stance on it. I don't follow it religiously, like a lot of other people do. I said what I said and a reminder to that dip who left a review a while back about how I tore her down. Karen Reed, you were wrong. You didn't listen to the show. In related news, the internet is in a twist about a serial killer in New England. Rather Facebook or a Facebook group. Of this theory I say no, there are no solid connections. Not yet. I remain a skeptic, and thanks to Bob Ward of Boston 25 News for helping out on that one.

Anngelle Wood: 1:51

In this episode, I talk about a case that remains unsolved six years on, a case based in the South Shore, of a missing woman, a mom, a grandmother, a sister, a friend. There is a lot of noise around this case and I'd like to put the focus on her and the facts of her disappearance. It does need clarity. This is episode 85, the Case of Missing Person Sandra Crispo from Quincy, mass. Now. Sandra moved to the small town of Hanson shortly before she disappeared and her daughter, lena, tells her story. Sandra Crispo grew up in Quincy. She was one of five children in the Dabrowski family, stephen M Dabrowski Sr. Their father passed away in January 2018 at the age of 84. Their father passed away in January 2018 at the age of 84. He lived in Housenac in Quincy for more than 50 years and he raised his family there. Now, as I do with this show, I learned a lot about that area while researching this story.

Anngelle Wood: 2:59

Let's talk about Quincy, or Quincy to locals. According to the site Coastal Neighborhoods Howe's Neck is a small waterfront neighborhood that sits on a peninsula surrounded by Quincy Bay, hingham Bay and Rock Island Cove. The area is rich in history, named for Atherton Howe, the mayor of Boston, england, who was granted the land in 1636 as both a farm and an orchard. Today, locals refer to the community as the Neck, or God's country, and are proudly referred to as Neckas. I don't know proudly might be a stretch. It sits on the water with a view of the Boston skyline. On the tip of the Neck sits Nut Island and yes, I am suppressing all my inappropriate jokes it is the national park where residents enjoy views of Squantum. One of the most desirable addresses in Quincy, with its million-dollar homes. There's Wollaston Beach, off Quincy Shore Drive, with the Quincy Shore Reservation and its 2.3-mile beach, popular for its bike trails. You know I've said this from time to time. This show can't be too bad for New England tourism. I talk up our towns and cities quite a lot. Quincy is the eighth largest city in Massachusetts, with 101,163 residents in 2025. That's according to World Population Review.

Anngelle Wood: 4:27

Quincy is part of Norfolk County. It's called the city of presidents and the birthplace of the American dream. Quincy is the birthplace of the second and sixth US presidents, john Adams and his son, john Quincy Adams. It was also part of the developing granite industry for more than a century, home to America's commercial railway, the Granite Railway, built in 1826 with the express purpose of transporting Quincy granite to Charlestown for the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument. Quincy Quarry and the Granite Workers Museum hosts a walking tour discussing the history of the Quincy Quarries, and I should add that my friend Kristen, who was born and raised and still lives in Quincy, told me that the quarries are mentioned in the Departed, the movie and Buffy the Vampire Slayer the show.

Anngelle Wood: 5:28

My father-in-law worked in the ships in the Quincy shipyard. It was rough work Small spaces riddled with asbestos. He developed COPD as a result and at almost 89, he's hanging in there. He tells us lots of stories. His family had a bakery in the west end of Boston before they leveled that neighborhood to build Mass General Hospital and it displaced thousands of families. There used to be a sign on Starro Drive right near that site that said this if you lived here, you'd be home now. Yeah, no shit, we know they did live there and you kicked them out and stole their homes. I've talked about it in other episodes, namely the two episodes I did about the Coconut Grove Fire.

Anngelle Wood: 6:15

The Four River Shipyard was in operation from 1883 until 1980. The shipyard produced hundreds of ships, including destroyers and aircraft carriers. Asbestos was used for several decades of the shipyard's history and as a result many people developed asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma, copd. Today the United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum and the USS Salem occupy the former shipyard grounds and are open to the public. The USS Salem serves as home to the Kilroy was here catchphrase. The phrase is believed to have originated with James Kilroy, a shipyard inspector in Quincy.

Anngelle Wood: 6:59

During the war. Kilroy would mark sections he had inspected with. Kilroy was here to indicate his work. American soldiers quickly adopted this practice and it grew in popularity and the man Sticks named a record after it, that record's biggest hit. Do you know this is for the older crowd of listeners. Mr Roboto, you're right Now. I worked in radio for a long time and I know for sure that the purist of the Styx fans didn't love that one. Many found it kind of quirky and goofy, but it became one of their biggest hits. Now it's a Boston thing to make fun of our most successful exports. I say that about the Dropkick Murphys but despite all my razzing, the Dropkicks are known to show up for us.

Anngelle Wood: 7:47

Formed in Quincy in 1996, they came together on a dare when Ken Casey accepted the challenge to form a band in very little time. He didn't play anything when he started the band. In their almost meteoric rise to a level of success in such little time kind of baffled locals. In the beginning the band took their name from a local man named John Dropkick Murphy, a known wrestler. He also operated the Bellows Farm Sanatorium in Acton, something Ken Casey called a primitive detox center. In a piece for Boston Magazine he said I always heard old guys my grandfather's age say, oh, I was in Dropkicks or they took me to Dropkick Murphys and he thought that would be a cool name for a band. And the rest, as they say, is rock and roll history sort of. They rehearsed in the basement of a barbershop and they got their big break from another well-known Boston band, mighty Mighty Bostones, when they were invited to open up for their 1997 tour. And the Dropkicks paid their respects to the Beachcomber when that dive bar on Wollaston Beach shut down in 2015. After 56 years they gave him a proper send-off for its final show. They gave him a proper send-off for its final show.

Anngelle Wood: 9:04

Quincy. Massachusetts is the birthplace of Howard Johnson's Hojo's. Now I learned a lot about the history of Howard Johnson's, let me tell you. Founded by Howard Deering Johnson when, in 1925, he bought the drugstore he had been working at on Beale Street in Wollaston, he stepped it up in his homemade ice cream adding butterfat and higher quality ingredients. He saw trends in business and he expanded with an ice cream stand on Walliston Beach next to the home he was leasing for the summer. Legend has it he sold as many as 14,000 cones in a single day at that stand. That seems humanly impossible. I mean, how much homemade ice cream could he churn out in 1925? I don't know. By 1929, he opened the first traditional Howard Johnson's restaurant in Quincy Square to a booming business. Then that stock market crash of October 1929 kicked off the Great Depression and nearly crushed his business altogether.

Anngelle Wood: 10:10

Hojo survived and in the coming years Johnson took a leap. In 1935, he had the idea for a new restaurant in Orleans, on the Cape, on the plot of land owned by Eugene Sprigg. It was located where Route 28 met Route 6A. It was a prime location for the hordes of motorists who drove by or sat in Cape traffic. He struck a deal with Sprague and a franchise was born. Orleanshistorycom has a photo called the birthplace of franchising. In 1939, there were 107 Howard Johnson's locations.

Anngelle Wood: 10:49

By 1954, the company opened its first motel in Savannah, georgia. It grew to include more than 1,000 franchise restaurants and 500 motor lodges. The Verb Hotel in the Fenway, a former Hojo's. Anyone remember the huge Hojo's on Route 3 in Nashua, new Hampshire, with the pool? I remember the fogged up windows. It was one of two Hojo's in Nashua. The other was Stanu-Upster Highway area. I don't quite remember. I found the site hojolandcom. Let me tell you I could go on and on about the history of Howard Johnson's but I won't.

Anngelle Wood: 11:30

Quincy, massachusetts, is the birthplace of Dunkin' Donuts. The first Dunkin's is still in operation. The first of its kind coffee and donut shop opened in Quincy in 1948. Originally named Open Kettle, it served coffee, pastries and sandwiches. Two years later it was renamed Dunkin' Donuts. As folklore has it, an architect was inspired by the idea of dunking donuts into coffee. Four years later, founder William Rosenberg had five locations in operation. That original Dunkin' Donuts is still standing and was restored to its 1950s glory, complete with a retro sign.

Anngelle Wood: 12:10

Love them or hate them. Dunk's is huge, selling billions of cups of coffee each year. Dunkin' sells at least 60 cups of coffee every second. That equates to approximately 2 billion cups of coffee sold worldwide in 2017. Boop Ben Affleck loves Dunkin' Donuts. I mean, the guy is a super millionaire and he still goes and gets his Lodge regular.

Anngelle Wood: 12:35

And, yes, having a Dunk's across the street from a Dunk's is a very Boston kind of thing. And when I say Boston, it's a local thing. Outside of here I don't think anybody gives a care. Here's a quick story about no one really giving a care outside of Boston. I was in California and there are a couple that I go to. There's one in Encino that I go to when I'm there and there was one in the one in Woodland Hills I was staying close to. So I walk into this new Dunkin Donuts because they're pretty much all new out there, and I walk in. I went oh my God, I said it out loud and the woman behind the counter was like what is this woman's problem? And I'm like it's just like the olden days of Dunkin' Donuts, with all the donuts in the display. It looked beautiful. I'm being nostalgic with I'm from Boston and this is like the old school when they used to make the donuts and put them in the display case and it was so cool and I could see in the woman's eyes. She's like whatever, freak. I got my coffee with 10 skim milk. I turned around to leave and I yelled Yankee, suck.

Anngelle Wood: 13:35

Let's talk about some of the notable people from Quincy lots of Adams's and Quincy Adams's and actress Lee Remick, the legendary Dick Dale, surf rock pioneer, grammy-nominated producer, engineer and songwriter Louis Bell. You may not know his name, but you do know Post Malone's and Justin Bieber's and Taylor Swift's and Cardi B's. Something I did not know until this very day Jonathan Bartlett Allen, known professionally as Mr Ballin, the true crime podcast host, grew up in Quincy. I did hear that he had a relative who wrote for the Boston Globe and I figured out he's the guy with the backwards baseball hat, so that all tracks.

Anngelle Wood: 14:21

The actress named Clara Blandick. She rose to stardom for her portrayal as Auntie M in the Wizard of Oz. You may remember her from the earliest scenes with Dorothy played by Judy Garland, and then much later. I'm trying to remember Wizard of Oz. It's been quite a while since I watched it. Clara grew up in Quincy. Her story takes a very sad turn, though, when, on April 15, 1962, the pain of arthritis and failing vision became too much. She returned home from Palm Sunday, church services set out her acting credentials and press clippings, placed a plastic bag over her head and took a fatal dose of sleeping pills. She died at peace on her sofa at the age of 85. The note she left spoke of her agonizing pain and her impending blindness.

Anngelle Wood: 15:18

I also learned that many of the Wizard of Oz cast have Massachusetts connections. I won't laundry list that here for you now, but I do share the link among my sources at crimeofthetruestkindcom. You can go there and learn about the history of Howard Johnson's at Hojo Land. That's just some of what I learned about Quincy that I shared with you today. And Sandra Crispo lived much of her life there, only moving to Hanson a few months before she went missing. I have talked about the town of Hanson, where Mara and Julie Murray grew up. It is a small town of about 10,000 people I did visit most recently was for the funeral service for Julie's brother, fred Murray Jr, who passed away very recently. Oh and, by the way, there are no new discoveries, no breaking headlines in Mara's case. That is absolute clickbait bullshit. And when there is, the Murrays will tell you.

Anngelle Wood: 16:24

On Wednesday, august 7th 2019, 54-year-old Sandra Crispo was seen for the last time on surveillance at Cumberland Farms near her home. She stopped to get cigarettes on her way back from leaving her car at the garage for repairs. Sandra, who was taking care of her grandsons while her daughter worked in the city, was home when her son-in-law came to pick up their kids after his work day. He helped Sandra drop her car off at a mechanic and gave her a ride back to her place. Her tiny house at 47 Spofford Ave in Hanson was what we would call quaint in what realtors call a condo alternative Two bedrooms, one bath, 612 square feet, a postage stamp yard, great spot close to her daughter and a spot she got to enjoy for all of three months.

Anngelle Wood: 17:15

A series of unanswered calls began when Lena, her daughter, tried her mom on Thursday. Those calls went unanswered. By Friday morning, august 9th, when Lena arrived to drop off her children before work, her mom was not around, something that concerned her immediately. Sandra watched her grandchildren three days a week and had planned to keep them overnight. That Friday, when Lena arrived, she found the lights were on, the air conditioning was still running and the back door was unlocked. But Sandra's dog, clarence, he was there. He was scared In her first look around, she noticed that his bowls were empty. Now Lena knew her mother would never have left her dog behind without telling anyone and she wouldn't have left her house unlocked and the last items tossed in the trash were diapers from Wednesday when Sandra last had her grandchildren. Weeks would pass with no sign of Sandra. Searches turned up nothing. Weeks after Sandra's disappearance, lena and her husband, tim testified before a grand jury. Her understanding was that they were pretty close to making an arrest, but no one has been arrested yet.

Anngelle Wood: 18:32

I mentioned Sandra's father at the beginning, stephen Dabrowski Sr. Who died in 2018, almost two years before Sandra went missing. He left behind a substantial estate which included up to a million dollars in gold bars. It has been a long-standing problem within the family. When you hear something like gold bars, you think, well, that's weird. What's the value in that? When I thought about how older people looked at banks and investing, it does make sense to me. During the Great Depression, people lost everything. Banks lost everything. This estate and these gold bars have been a long-standing problem within the family and something many close to Sandra believe made her a target, and something many close to Sandra believe made her a target.

Anngelle Wood: 19:31

I first met Lena at the Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Case Unit's Missing Persons Day in East Boston earlier this year. We spoke about her mom's case, this underlying story that there are some unsavory players that continue to drive a narrative. This is about a missing woman, sandra Crispo, a woman whose entire second act was about being a grandmother to her grandsons. Sandra lived in that small cottage in Hanson. A neighbor shared that they had heard a loud argument the night Sandra disappeared In that small but tidy house. Lena would eventually find droplets of blood On the bed on the walls Up. Next, my conversation with Lena, sandra Crispo's daughter, who tells us about her mom, her mom's life, what was most important to her and the parts of her story that no one ever talks about.

Anngelle Wood: 20:27

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Laina McMahon: 21:12

Thank you, getting justice for my mom, which has been my only mission throughout all of this, is finding out what happened, keeping it in the media, as hard as it may be, it's not easy putting yourself up there and you know and try to keep it relevant. You know the best I can. I'm just doing the best I can for what I got and it's it's been a lot.

Anngelle Wood: 21:41

I know, and that's why I say to you you know what, if any point you want to pull the plug on this and wait till later, I am at the mercy of whatever you do and don't want to do. People in your situation get re-victimized again and again and again. Not only were you victimized by the fact that your mother's missing, you feel like you have a lot of the answers Right and you're like screaming into the void, right, and I see that a lot. First of all, I wish we didn't have to do this. I wish I haven't been learning this and finding out that families like yours have this common thread of what the fuck right?

Anngelle Wood: 22:20

quite literally what the fuck. What else do I have to do to get you people to listen to me?

Laina McMahon: 22:24

And I actually appreciate you for acknowledging that because it in a sense makes me feel a little better, because it feels so isolating to go through this and you feel like you don't really have resources and people to reach out to.

Anngelle Wood: 22:37

But I struggle with as somebody who tries to advocate. I really want the firsthand account of a family member. That's where your mom gets lost.

Laina McMahon: 22:48

Exactly. She is lost in all of this.

Anngelle Wood: 22:52

So let's start here Tell me about your mom. Where did she grow up, what was her life like? What are some of the stories that you know about your mom's earlier life? Because these are the things that we never hear about. We never hear about the person.

Laina McMahon: 23:08

Right, absolutely Well, she was one of four. They grew up in Quincy, massachusetts. My grandfather was a bricklayer. Growing up, my grandmother was a stay-at-home mom but she suffered from mental illness. So I know that their upbringing wasn't ideal. I know that there's, you know, internal family drama which has been there since day one. But you know, all in all she grew up in that environment, met my dad when she was about 19. They got married, had my brother and then two years later they had me and we grew up in Quincy.

Laina McMahon: 23:47

My dad was a commercial lobsterman and my mom would work on the boat with him and you know we would be out there in the sun and, you know, get in our little aquarium he would throw up baby lobsters and we really did have, you know, a good upbringing in the younger years. And then you know she started that was the opiate epidemic and she got addicted to Oxycontin from a former fisherman that she worked with and you know she struggled for a long time. She was very depressed and, you know, had her own troubles. I actually, you know my grandmother, got custody of me when I was 15. So I moved in with her and I kind of had this little bit of resentment towards my mom, because I felt like she wasn't there for me when I needed her the most.

Laina McMahon: 24:38

And it was really hard but yeah, ultimately we made it through and you know, I realized as an adult that I have children now and I figured I would give her the second chance to be in my life and be active with my kids and and she loved it honestly, like that was her passion. She really she wasn't career oriented, she didn't have any real big goals, she, she was just simple. She really was. She was simple. She loved tea, she loved her dog, didn't have a big circle of friends, like mainly hang out with her sisters, mainly just kept to herself. But yeah, like I said, we did reconnect, you know, when I became a mom and realized that life is short and everybody deserves second chances and she loved being a grandmother, she really really did Like those boys are her life. So yeah, it's been, it's been a lot.

Anngelle Wood: 25:42

She was living in Quincy for a while and then she did. She sell her house in Quincy and then buy the house in Hanson yeah.

Laina McMahon: 25:50

So my grandfather passed away in 2017 and then she had this big, you know four-bedroom house in Quincy and you know he was pretty much supporting her like paying the bills, so she was left his house. So we decided to downsize and move her closer to Hanson. So we got her a cute little you know 700 square foot house. It was all recently renovated like she was happy it was. It wasn't anything crazy, but it was enough to it's all she needed and for the first time, I felt like she felt like she had something that was hers and it was almost like a new outlook on life. And, you know, despite her having her issues in the past, I feel like this, you know, was a really good time for her right prior to her disappearance.

Anngelle Wood: 26:43

Tell me about the dynamic among her siblings. She's one of four siblings, so one brother, three sisters.

Laina McMahon: 26:54

She had a brother who passed away in the 90s. He had AIDS and he was gay. He was never accepted by his father so he took his own life One of four now.

Anngelle Wood: 27:07

Of the five siblings. Where does your mom fall? Uh second to youngest she was raised in a big family where, I mean, I, I came from a family of five, so I know that it can be chaotic. Yeah, she had you and your brother pretty young.

Laina McMahon: 27:24

Yeah.

Anngelle Wood: 27:25

What were the early years like for all of you?

Laina McMahon: 27:28

Honestly, she was very hands-on, she was very crafty, Like she was never afraid to do fun projects. Again, she really didn't have any extra passions, like she was a homebody and she liked it that way and you know she enjoyed being a mother and she was present growing up and at what point in your childhood was she working on the on the lobster boats?

Laina McMahon: 27:54

the majority of it she used to beat like long line hooks, like she was. She was a worker, she was right in the seafood industry and you know, she I watched her for years and my dad and her both were, you know, extremely hard workers and they did everything they could and provided for us for what we needed. And is your dad still around? Yeah, he's a bricklayer now. He's out of that industry, but he's around. Yeah, he lives in Quincy.

Anngelle Wood: 28:24

Has he been supportive of you and your family throughout this.

Laina McMahon: 28:29

See, I don't really think you know he struggles with alcoholism and I don't think he really knows how to. You know, not that emotional, it's a lot for him. I don't think he ever stopped loving her. He since remarried, but you know they had a very amicable split. There was no animosity, anything like that did they separate because of the drugs?

Laina McMahon: 28:51

yeah, I think that definitely put a strain on their relationship and you know my dad ultimately moved out, so it was just my brother and I and then you know I think moving in with my grandmother was. You know she regrets not taking my brother also, but he was a little bit older and you know it's kind of hard to restart a life that. You know she regrets not taking my brother also, but he was a little bit older and you know it's kind of hard to restart a life. That you know when you're adolescent ages, when it's already fragile and you know a lot going on. How was your brother doing? My brother has struggled with substance abuse. I actually adopted his child, so I had three boys under the age of two. I check in with them once every once in a while but we really don't have a close relationship. I think he's more ashamed of his decisions and I would never judge like I get it. Everybody is affected by somebody with substance abuse and mental health.

Anngelle Wood: 29:48

It's very important to say this, that it affects anyone 100%. A stay-at-home mom, a teacher, a principal, a CEO, a high school student. Drugs affect everyone, and if anybody looks around and says well, that doesn't happen to me or that won't happen to me, just wait.

Laina McMahon: 30:08

It doesn't discriminate. Yeah, you know, and that's the reality we live in.

Anngelle Wood: 30:13

And that's something that's important for me to point out is that I don't care what somebody's history is. If they're missing, we need to find them.

Laina McMahon: 30:22

Right. If anything, it only makes them, you know, more of a liability and a concern. You know.

Anngelle Wood: 30:28

The vulnerability is greater right.

Laina McMahon: 30:31

she had periods of sobriety, like you know, obviously during the later half, but I think she just always struggled with, you know, self-doubt and I think she never really thought she was good enough and you know that was kind of hard to see. But again, like I said, being a grandmother kind of gave her this new perspective, a purpose, essentially like something to look forward to, and she was really good at it.

Anngelle Wood: 30:55

Sometimes that's what happens in someone's second act, right? You know, I can speak from experience in my own family. You know, sometimes our parents aren't great parents, but their journey makes them better grandparents.

Laina McMahon: 31:07

Sometimes our parents aren't great parents, but their journey makes them better. Grandparents Right, and we have to learn to evolve. We're not here to parent. Our parents were here to grow and hopefully not repeat mistakes or anything. You know, nobody's perfect.

Anngelle Wood: 31:18

That's right. Nobody's perfect. Talk to me about what you know about the last days before she disappeared. What was going on, to the best of your ability, what was going on in her day to day and leading up to the last time that she was seen?

Laina McMahon: 31:38

Well, I think since my grandfather passed in 2017, there was a huge rip in the family was a huge rip in the family. A lot of people seemed very money motivated, a lot of greed. You know, I single-handedly witnessed this whole thing. You know, destroy my family in more ways than one. But day to day prior to her disappearance, she was living in her small home in Hanson. She seemed happy. She had her dog. You know we were talking plans to put a fence in for the boys. She was honestly the happiest that she's been that I've witnessed.

Laina McMahon: 32:15

But again, there was that constant tension there, that constant bickering back and forth. You know, family members arguing about inheritance and all over my head. It's something that I tried to stay away from because again, they've been perseverating on it since prior to our disappearance. And now, looking back, things start to click and things start to make sense and you realize all these people that were around all the time now nobody's around, nobody's talking about it. Now, nobody's around, nobody's talking about it. It's almost like they're squirreling and it doesn't seem is to continue to seek justice. To continue to seek, you know, the truth and find out what happened to Sandra.

Anngelle Wood: 33:18

And that last day was like most days yes, she was getting her car worked on.

Laina McMahon: 33:27

It was a typical. Yeah, it was Wednesday, august 7th. I'll never forget. I started in a new department so I wanted my children at our house extra early. I worked in the city like 11 to 11. So I got there like 930. She came to the front door. Her dog is very hyper. He was like a lab mix from the pound that she adopted and she loved him. His name was Clarence, but he was very flighty. So that morning in particular I pulled in front of her house, got the boys out of the car and they just kind of went in one by one. She's holding the dog, typical morning, you know, no concerns. I reported to work that day.

Laina McMahon: 34:09

We had prearranged her car to get fixed because the previous winter it got backed up into a snowbank and when she pulled out the whole exhaust ripped off. So her car sounded really loud and I'm like mom, we cannot go into another season of a loud car Like, let's fix your car. So she agreed we went to the mechanic down my street. They took the car in On that day. That Wednesday my husband got out of work around five, picked her up at her house, drove back to the mechanic shop. My mom followed him, tim went in, talked to the mechanic and then he drove her home and before they got home she wanted to stop at Cumberland Farms in Hanson. She was a smoker. So he said, yep, no problem, they're seen on surveillance pulling up. That's the last known images of her. He dropped her off around five-ish. She got out of the car. She looked at him and the boys and he said say, say, I love you, granny. And they're all like I love you, granny. She went in the house, called her cousin. They had plans to meet up that night because she didn't have to watch my kids Thursday. She only had to watch them Friday called her cousin but they never ended up going down.

Laina McMahon: 35:25

Next day the mechanic had called me. He said you know X, y, z. I said if you see anything else, can you please fix it, cause she's probably not going to want to get it done. And he goes Lena, I'm not looking for anything else, we're going to deal with the exhaust. I said, no problem, I'll call her.

Laina McMahon: 35:41

So I called her around noon. She didn't answer and originally, like I did kind of get this feeling that like why isn't she answering? She doesn't have a car, but also it was a nice summer day, like, who knows, she might have been outside in the yard walking the dog. Like you know when I get some criticism online, well, she had concerns. Why didn't she go over there? I also had like four kids with me, you know. So me and the kids were at the beach. We came home, I fed them lunch, I proceeded to call her a couple more times. She didn't answer, and then before bed, it was like eight 30. I called her and again no answer, and I reached out to family members. I'm like have you heard from my mom, and they said, nope, I have not.

Laina McMahon: 36:28

I said okay, well, she's supposed to watch my kids tomorrow and she's not answering. Let me know if you hear from her. So that next day was a Friday and again I called her before I left to go to her house. She didn't answer, so got there, pulled in the driveway. Normally I'm like to the kids everybody on Brooklyn Then we go in and went to the front door. It was locked and then I proceeded to like to the kids everybody on Brooklyn, let me go in. I went to the front door, it was locked, and then I proceeded to go to the back door and that was unlocked and opened.

Laina McMahon: 36:55

I kind of peered in and you know normally that dog that's very flighty was kind of shaking on the recliner and then, like I briefly looked, he had no food or water. And then I'm looking around, I'm like the lights were on, so clearly she was there at night, the air conditioner was running, but I was just kind of in a frazzle, like I have a brand new job, I can't call in on orientation, like so I arranged child care, dropped my kids off and then I reported to work and I just had this sinking feeling. I don't know how to explain it. I looked at one of my co and I said I feel like something's wrong with my mom and she said she would never forget my desperation, almost in my face. So I called my husband. I'm like you know. She wasn't there. So he reported her missing after work.

Laina McMahon: 37:43

Hanson police were very responsive initially. You know they put out all the stops. They made her a tear too like, which is essentially a child going missing. You know they searched pretty extensively the area around her house. They had canine, they had drones, they were out on ATVs. Since then, that's here we are six years later and we still don't have answers and we still don't know the truth.

Anngelle Wood: 38:12

When you were inside her house, did you see, aside from her puppy dog, whose situation was completely abnormal from the way your mom would take care of her dog? What else do you remember from that initial? I guess look around. You weren't in the in the mode of investigating at that point because at that point, like where's my mom? What's going on? Did anything stick out to you at that moment?

Laina McMahon: 38:39

nothing initially other than you know the dog. But again I really didn't walk around or anything it wasn't know. Later on police didn't process her house for evidence. Approximately six weeks later it was after I was on my hands and knees kind of scouring for clues. And then that's where I kind of noticed there was droplets of blood in almost every room of her house, small, you know, and not enough to be visible like whoa a crime was committed here. So then I wrote to the DA's office I said I believe there's a public threat.

Laina McMahon: 39:14

It was 54 days in at that point and I felt like Hanson needed more resources. I feel like you know it's a small town, they're really not cut out for potential foul play and big cases. So I reached out to the DA's office. I got like an immediate response. The state police, kind of you know, came in and helped, led the investigation. I felt like there was a lot of progress within the case. You know we were convened shortly after they took over. We were convened for a grand jury where I've testified as a witness a few times, jury where I've testified as a witness a few times.

Laina McMahon: 39:52

But again it wasn't until after the fact that I realized there were small amounts of blood throughout almost her entire home. Like I looked under the bed, all the bed slats were off. There was a straw purse and it had little drops like somebody might have been looking for something. Her house, um, initially was fine, but then when we went back it appeared tossed. My husband went there that Saturday because she had the cat and the dog to feed them and then certain family members came in and they were looking. They were like where's the gold?

Laina McMahon: 40:22

And, you know, very confrontational and Tim's like what do you mean? Where's the gold? Where's Sandra? Wow, that's very telling. But again, looking back, you know they've been fighting about this gold since 2017. So two years later, all right, now you're going to talk about literally six days before she went missing, somebody in my family texted me. I know she has the gold bars. I'm not going to mention what was exchanged, but looking back now, it's completely alarming and it all makes sense. Looking back now, I feel like this is a very solvable case. After the state police had processed her home, they said it wasn't enough to indicate that a crime was committed. But you, there was blood DNA of another male individual that's associated with the family that was found in her house, as well as my mom's blood.

Anngelle Wood: 41:18

Did she have a partner? Was there a romantic relationship going on with anybody at that time?

Laina McMahon: 41:25

Nope, she was very much single and again, her and my dad had split, probably 15 years previous, very amicable. She didn't have any relationship, red flags, anything like that.

Anngelle Wood: 41:39

Where is the gold? This reported gold, so it is it is somewhere. You don't have to give me an.

Laina McMahon: 41:46

It exists, it existed and it is somewhere Right, there are records of people cashing in large amounts and, yeah, without going into too much detail, there's a lot I know and a lot that I just want to. I just want to protect the integrity of the investigation. It's still open. It's still open, it's still active. A lot of behaviors of certain individuals that were very close to her were extremely alarming. Now, looking back, and now, six years later, and it all makes sense looking back, like I said, it's almost like Pirates of the Caribbean, but junkies and mentally ill. Let's be transparent.

Anngelle Wood: 42:29

There's a lot of questionable players in this case.

Laina McMahon: 42:33

A lot of questionable players and a lot of players that lack integrity and, you know, emotional regulation and self-control, and I think that plays a big factor into it.

Anngelle Wood: 42:44

What has your experience been like being a regular everyday citizen and thrown into this new world that nobody is prepared for? There's no playbook for this you are now tasked with. You're a family member of someone who's missing. You've put on these reluctantly put on these, you know investigative hats that you're now trying to protect the legacy of your mom. You're trying to protect the privacy of your own family 100% what does that look like?

Laina McMahon: 43:19

Well, kind of, as I mentioned earlier, it's you know you feel somewhat isolating, being a victim of a family member that's, you know, missing. It's this ambiguous loss, it's. You can't prepare yourself. You essentially try to make up scenarios in your head of what you think might have happened, just to try to cope and to try to grieve. And you know, I was an ER nurse for so many years, like, I've seen trauma, I've seen bad things, I've thrived in that environment.

Laina McMahon: 43:51

But when it actually happens to you, I think you know the only thing you can really do is learn to grow from it and learn to, you know, appreciate what you have and realize that life truly is disposable and there are a lot of humans and hurt people like to hurt people and it's been really eye-opening but honestly it's, it's taught me a lot about myself. Um, I've grown a lot. I feel like it's prepared me to be a better mother and a better person. It's made me realize the close relationships that I have and people that care about me are so important. And it humbles you in a sense that when something tragic happens to you, you know who your circle is and you know who your players are, and it does humble you.

Laina McMahon: 44:41

I mean as much as this is a disaster in itself, like it's taught us a lot. We're learning to grow. We're still learning like can't wrap your your brain around the what-ifs. Like I have to try to explain to my three children that you know what happened to granny and I don't even know. You know it's a hard thing to go through, but ultimately we just have to keep moving forward. We have to have this common mission to seek justice, seek the truth, and I believe the answers are there. I believe that it's a solvable case. I think it's just going to take somebody that you know really wants to reinvestigate and put pressure on people that need pressure.

Anngelle Wood: 45:23

What is your relationship with investigators at this time? Do you get regular updates? Do you check in with them? Do they reach out to you? What does that look like?

Laina McMahon: 45:31

The state police have had a lot of turnaround on our case. I think she's had five detectives, so I'm honestly not even sure which state police is in charge of it. Now I do occasionally I'm in contact with the assistant district attorney. They assure me that it's active. But again, as far as you know, handsome police. I think they did what they could for what they had, but ultimately I think they were in over their heads. I think they needed more resources. I think it hasn't been easy, but I'm learning to try to navigate this process without blaming anybody or putting anybody at fault. But you know, here we are six years later and you do start to lose hope, like will this ever be solved? Will we ever know where she is? Will we ever get answers? I don't know. I can try to remain hopeful and optimistic that, yes, we will, but the reality is I don't know has your family?

Anngelle Wood: 46:33

have you or or I guess, you or your brother in this case have you submitted your DNA to the database so in the event that someone is located, and if it is your mom, you can be put?

Laina McMahon: 46:46

in touch. I actually went to that missing person event in Boston.

Anngelle Wood: 46:51

And they did.

Laina McMahon: 46:54

So yes, yeah. So they said you know if she's ever found on state, you know across state lines. She's in NAMS already, which is the National Database for Missing People. Her DNA is already uploaded in there, as well as mine and my brother's.

Anngelle Wood: 47:10

So anything we can do to help, what do you think in your gut happened?

Laina McMahon: 47:19

I think somebody thought she had money, which I don't think she had. I think there was drugs involved. I think there was rage involved. I've noticed a lot of behaviors of certain individuals change drastically and you know, money being a motive for a lot of things. I think somebody went in there. There was no car in the driveway, mind you. It was at the shop. Her lights were on on, so obviously it was late at night. I think somebody came in unannounced. Neighbors did overhear an argument of two males fighting with her. The night she went missing and some have reported hearing fights of gold like where's the gold? She lives in a very tiny, dead-end street. The houses are super close, so there was death.

Laina McMahon: 48:11

Something definitely happened, whether it was full rage or accidental, you know and then they panicked, I don't know. I try to come up with these scenarios in my head, you know, just for my own clarity, but the reality is I don't know. Her fitted sheet was missing. Her shoes weren't there, so it's almost like she walked off. We couldn't find her purse. She had a brown bag that was never recovered, with her ID and everything. So it's almost like she could have walked off. But then also, seeing the blood droplets in the house could make me believe there was more of a struggle. I'm not sure.

Anngelle Wood: 48:49

What's most important for you, lena? That people know about your mom. What's most important. What do you feel like it's overlooked the most about your mom's story?

Laina McMahon: 48:59

I feel like throughout all of this, you know, people have been projecting or, you know, spinning their own theories about what they think may have happened to my mom, and I think some of the stuff that they say is is true and accurate, but I think a lot of it is, you know, very hurtful and it's baseless. It's only disrupting the case. I feel like there's a lot again. There's going to be speculation on any case, naturally. So what I've learned is try to just to keep her story out there. You know, speak my truths and ultimately, the goal is to get justice for my mom and I, honestly, am not going to stop until we have answers.

Anngelle Wood: 49:42

Amen. I know that you have a connection to Shana and light the way, which is an incredible organization that has taught me a lot about advocacy and supporting families just like yours, and I hope you'll continue to reach out for help and support through some place like light, the. I am here to support you in any way I can. We are, when I say we, the ladies that you met at the State Police Unresolved Case Day myself, dr Myers, melanie McLaughlin, who also is a friend of a missing boy from many, many years ago, and that's how we sort of came together.

Anngelle Wood: 50:28

What we want to do with this organization, this advocacy organization we have started in Massachusetts, is because of families like yours, because of stories like yours. You know, I talk to families and they say we had no idea what to do, we didn't know who to talk to, we didn't know where to go. I don't want that for you. I don't want families first of all. I don't want families to have to ever experience this, but, in the event that this does happen, that you have the access to information on where to go, who to contact, what are some of the things that you're able to do, some of those resources. So that's one of the things we're trying to establish.

Laina McMahon: 51:12

And that's wonderful. You know again, like you said, people. What do you do in this situation? But knowing that there's other people that you know can relate to you and you know that live this every day. It's you know. I look at Maramari's sister in awe and you know people like that who've never given up 20 years later, and it's sad that that has to be her life mission and it seems unfair, but the reality is that people need to be held accountable. Like you, can't make rash decisions and not expect there to be consequences and the reactions of people are also telling right.

Anngelle Wood: 51:54

The reactions that you're seeing from certain instances are telling if I can be a part because this isn't about me, but if I can be a part of something that helps families like yours feel less alone. That's what I want to do.

Anngelle Wood: 52:10

I appreciate that Going forward. If there and I know that the anniversary is coming up if there's something that we could do, we could organize something, whether that's in Hanson, you know, these are things that we could talk about. I would like to help you. Awesome Something that we can do around the anniversary. When's her birthday?

Laina McMahon: 52:33

November 27th.

Anngelle Wood: 52:35

Okay, that's another date. That's another date to target, just to make sure that we keep her case and her face out there.

Laina McMahon: 52:47

I don't want anybody to forget like she deserves justice, just more than anybody else.

Anngelle Wood: 52:52

It's right, she's somebody's mom, she's somebody's grandma, she's somebody's sister, she's somebody's auntie, she's you know, we don't need to talk about what those relationships look like and that's okay, but the fact of the matter is is she lived, loved, had you and your brother and your grant and your children, her grandchildren. This is all very important that we make sure we recognize that she is missing. We can speculate and we can say all the things that we think happened, but at the end of the day, none of that is truly helpful without trying to find out, get to the bottom of what happened. In doing that, we need to be as factual as possible. So that's why it's important for me to reach out to you, because you can tell the story of what happened in a way that is certainly respectful of your mom and what she went through, and to know that some of the narratives and the noise surrounding this are just taking away from the real stories that your mom is missing.

Laina McMahon: 53:58

I completely agree. It's completely distracting from the fact that we're dealing with a missing person, and people's need to spread falsehood says far more about their character than mine. And I'm trying to remain humble, I'm trying to remain hopeful and ultimately I'm not going to give up until the answer. So I don't care what people think I, my whole entire life has been hard. I don't expect it to get easier at any point, but that's OK. I think it builds character. Get easier at any point, but that's okay. I think it builds character and I think having these life experiences, even though not warranted or wanted, I think it it's helped me to become a better person and to grow, and it really has it's.

Anngelle Wood: 54:41

It's been a lot, but you know I'm not going away and you're still smiling and that's important because when you talk about your mom, I can see the love I can see you know you've shared. You know there's difficulty there, but despite all that, she's your mom and you love her and you're not going to give up on her 100 well, thank you.

Laina McMahon: 55:05

Thank you.

Anngelle Wood: 55:06

I have some other questions that I want to ask you. When was she born?

Laina McMahon: 55:12

She was born November 27th 1964.

Anngelle Wood: 55:17

Was she born in Quincy.

Laina McMahon: 55:19

She was born, I think, at St Elizabeth's of Boston.

Anngelle Wood: 55:23

What were some of the things that your mom loved? Did she have a favorite color?

Laina McMahon: 55:28

She liked purple. She really enjoyed drinking tea. She would have like 20 cups a day. Like I said, she was really simple. She enjoyed her pup. She enjoyed her grandchildren. She enjoyed arts and crafts. She was very creative. She, you know, would allow you to get messy and play with the glitter and everything else that comes with that. Like she, she was a good person. She was her own worst enemy and I think you know, maybe growing up in the environment that she did kind of affected that. But ultimately she was a harmless person. She didn't have a mean bone in her body.

Anngelle Wood: 56:08

She never really talked bad about anybody did she have some favorite music or bands that she enjoyed?

Laina McMahon: 56:15

oh, she liked like the rolling stones, like classic rock, um metallica, you know all the hard rock.

Anngelle Wood: 56:24

She enjoyed it all well, I ask a lot of that stuff because it it helps humanize them. Yeah, you know, these are things that people don't know. It's like how'd she? Where'd she grow up? She grew up in Quincy. Where was she born? She was born in Boston, in Brighton, right? She loved music. She loved her favorite color was purple, and and also what I do is I make a flyer with photographs of her and information and, and oftentimes, if I know someone's favorite color, I'll add the favorite color in there. It's just one of the many things that we do, just as another means to talk about that person and another thing that can be shared, another flyer, another way to be an everyday advocate that people can share and learn some of the factual information about your mom's case. I've been doing this long, not my my background you probably don't know this my background I was on rock radio for more than 20 years.

Laina McMahon: 57:20

Oh, that's awesome.

Anngelle Wood: 57:21

So your mother probably listened to me on the radio.

Laina McMahon: 57:25

If you like what station was it?

Anngelle Wood: 57:27

I was on. The last station I was on was WZLX. Okay, yes, because I'm from Boston, I'm from the area too. I was on WFNX, I was on BCN, I was on ZLX. I did you know a couple of other things throughout that, but music is a big part of my background and when I started, when I got into podcasting, I loved, I love true crime, I love all of that. I've learned to. Really, I always did look at it as humanity. I never looked at it as an exploitative kind of thing to just take fake information just to get clicks, which happens way too much.

Anngelle Wood: 58:00

Way too much to tell a compassionate story, and I want to humanize the person we're talking about and make sure families like your family, you, the daughter, I want to make sure that you know that we're on your side.

Laina McMahon: 58:15

I appreciate it, it really does. It means a lot.

Anngelle Wood: 58:24

Thank you, lena. I know these conversations are difficult for families. I know families want to have them because they want nothing more than to get the information out about their missing loved one. It has been nearly six years since Sandra Crispo was last seen. At the time of her disappearance Sandra did not have a cell phone. There has been no activity on any of her accounts. She had no health issues. She was single. Information is needed in Sandra's case. You can contact the Hanson Police Department 781-293-4625. Mass State Police Detectives at 508-894-2600. Sandra's family would like to know where she is, what happened to her. She has grandsons at home waiting for her. Thank you for listening.

Anngelle Wood: 59:31

My name is Angelle Wood. This is Crime of the Truest Kind. I talk about New England crime stories. I talk about history and advocacy. Advocacy is key in the work that I do. I try to be one of the helpers. It's really difficult for families to navigate these things and I never want to be someone that makes it more painful for families who are going through this. Please follow the show at Crime of the Truest Kind on. Well, everything Bye-bye. Lock your goddamn doors, we'll be right back you.