Mary Emma Bisenthal Hammond (Aug 1, 1958 – missing Sept 8, 1983) left for work in the early morning hours of September 8, 1983. She went missing and was never seen again. This is the Case of the Month for June 2020. What do we know?
September 1983
On September 8, 1983 Mary Emma Bisenthal Hammond left her home on Elgin St., Brantford, Ontario, Canada around 3:30 am. That morning, she worked the early morning shift at Buns Master Bakery. She had been employed there for about one year.
Her husband, Lawrence Hammond, offered to drive but Mary preferred to walk. Lawrence had met Mary four years ago. He has since remarried and has a family. He is not a suspect.
Mary walked “north on Park Road North (now Wayne Gretzky Parkway) she passed the Massey-Ferguson factory and cut across the field towards the rear of the bakery.” Around 4 am, one of her colleagues called Lawrence. Where was Mary?
Traces
Authorities followed Mary’s footprints to the property line at the rear of the bakery and the point where Mary would cut across the field. And then she was gone. Most likely, Mary got into a car. However, she was very close to work so why bother?
There is the possibility that she was hit by a car. She may have been lifted into that car to be taken to a hospital but I assume that all medical facilities in the area were checked. Another possibility is that Mary died while enroute to a medical facility and was taken to be buried somewhere. Kidnapping remains another option. However, nobody ever sought contact with the family.
Police found some pieces of evidence: some lunch items, a cup, a dish, a half-eaten apple, one of Mary’s white sockets (but not her shoe), and a small quantity of blood in the field.
The Pickup Truck
Police received the tip that a pickup truck was seen leaving the rear of the bakery around the time that Mary disappeared. “The truck was seen parked at the back of the bakery parking lot and later driving through the rear lot. It is described as an older brown pick-up possibly a Ford, with painted bumpers and round headlights. Despite appealing to the public and an exhaustive police investigation, no truck matching that description has ever been found.”
2012
In 2012, police investigated a house near Market Street in Brantford. They “are awaiting forensic results. No human remains were found. The current resident is not connected to the investigation.”
Police said that “recently they were able to identify new evidence in Hammond’s disappearance. and strongly identify people who may have been involved. The people of interest include a former resident of Brantford who is now deceased.”
So, we know that police received tips about a house and multiple people who might have played a role in Mary Hammond’s disappearance. But this is where all the information stops.
Identification
At the time that she went missing, Mary Hammond was 25 years old, about 5’10” tall, and approx.140 lbs. She had long straight reddish-brown hair, with brown eyes, and a fair complexion. She has a mole on her chin.
She was last seen wearing a blue, mauve, and red lumber jacket, blue jeans, white Adidas running shoes with a silver stripe, and a yellow T-shirt.
I have not been able to find whether she had any physical identifiers such as scars or pierced ears. I have not read anything about jewelry that she might have worn.
Mary Hammond was born in Copetown. She graduated from Dundas High School in Dundas. At the time that she went missing, Mary and Lawrence had been married for four months but had known each other for several years. Again, he is not a suspect.
Contact Information
If you have any information, please call the Brantford Police Service at 519-756-7050 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. Incident file number #83-24791.
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In the series “Case of the Month” I highlight old cold cases. These posts are not an in-depth analysis and of course, often more information can be found online and in newspaper archives.
The goal of these posts is to get the cases back in the spotlights, to get people talking again, and if anything to make sure that we do not forget the victims. Just because their cases are unsolved does not mean that we can forget about them.
If you have any thoughts about this case I encourage you to post them on your own social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. Every time that we mention Mary Emma Bisenthal Hammond’s name online we enhance her digital footprint.
We must make sure that she keeps her web presence if we ever wish to find answers in this case. You can help by linking to or sharing this post.
Thank you.