in was have went of Rev. Cause awaited in girl's death Maine's phtpf TnoHiral nv_ . _ . _ _ ^*^ Maine's chief medical examiner today was expected to release the cause of death of Ellen Choate, a 24-year-old Middletown woman who disappeared enroute to. a teaching in that state two years ago. Her skeletal remains were found Tuesday in Maine. Dr. Henry Ryan said the body has been positively identified through dental records. The cause of death is suspicious because the skeleton does have a fractured skull. Dr. Ryan said he is trying to determine the nature of the head injury. Ms. Choate left Philadelphia on May 31, 1975, to go to Maine for the teaching job. She had not been heard from since. Her family was notified by the Maine State Police that her body had been found. It was found about 10 yards from a two-lane highway, 25 miles southwest of Bangor, not far from where Ms. Choate had been living for a few months. MS. CHOATE had gone to Maine for a teaching position at the Children's House in Bangor, where she had been practice teaching during the spring. She was living In Maine and only came home'for a week in May for her graduation from Philadelphia's Raven Hill Academy where she had studied Montesorri education, and to gather belongings at home. Ellen was a 1969 · graduate of Penncrest High School arid a 1972 graduate .of the University of Pennsylvania. After teaching for two years at the Mount Airy Children's Home, Philadelphia she attended the Raven Hill School. Her mother, Anne, was unable to attend the Saturday Raven Hill graduatl on, but spoke with Ellen at 10 a.m. that morning. She said Ellen told.her she had a: s ride to- Maine with a friend from" school and would be leaving that day so she would be In Maine for work on Monday morning. But her ride fell through and Ellen boarded a train for Maine at midnight Saturday. She apparently arrived in Boston at 8:30 a.m. and planned to hitchhike to Bangor. That was all her family knew for two years. "IT WAS a real shock to us when she was reported missing, because I still thought she had a ride," Mrs. Choate said. "Then a friend of hers told me she had taken a train and planned to hitchhike. That's when we figured something happened -that she'd gotten a bad ride." Ellen's mother, who characterized Ellen as a "very gentle person," said she had many friends in Maine and was accustomed to arranging for rides, but Sunday morning was not a convenient time for a lift. . "Her body was not too far from where^ she lived, so she must have gotten a ride out there," Mrs. Choate said. "She already had her own house and car up there." Mrs. Choate said the rural road to Bangor was "desolate" and on that day the weather was "very bad, foggy and rainy." At the time of the disap- perance, Mrs. Choate said police suspected Ellen had just decided to head somewhere else, or to deliberately disappear. "BUT WE couldn't accept mat. We knew Ellen better than that, plus we knew she was doing something she really wanted to do,"Mrs.Choatesaid. When Ellen was reported missing, Mrs. Choate and her three sons did everything they could to locate her. They con- Upper Darby police arrest two Continued from Page 1 Me'mbers of The Concerned Residents of Upper Darby became upset when the Paradise put a flashing sign announcing its opening in the window of the partor. "When anyone came to visit, what were we supposed to do? Say turn right at the massage parlor," Mrs. Dolores Mascitti, one of the group's members said. "That made this look like a honky- tonk town. That was the straw Escalator fall injures boy, 14 MIDDLETOWN - Neil Euga, 14, of 860 Church . Road, Springfield, suffered possible head and Internal Injuries as well as cuts after falling down an escalator at' the, Sears, Roebuck and Co. store in the Granite Run Mall, Wednesday. A Riddle Hospital spokesman said the youth, who was uncon- clous at the time, wa s brought to the hospital by L ima ambulance. The spokesman said the boy is being tested for the extent of injuries. that broke the camel's back. 'TODS ON this side of State Road, the west side, have to walk to school and pass by there," Sam Paoletti, another member said. "We're standing behind our police department and standing behind our mayor," Anne Berberian said, "but we want to know why there are so many massage parlors in Upper Darby? Where are they in Springfield, Haverford, Media and Lansdowne? Why here? Once the Paradise opened, residents checked the yellow pages and advertisements in the Philadelphia daily papers and became alarmed at the number of parlors in their area. "All other owners are;.really upset at the Paradise because we really weren't aware of · their existence until that flashing sign went up," Ms. Berberian said. "How were we to know? There are no - signs outside the other buildings in this area. Customers found them by the ads." "We're not professionals. We're just getting involved," Mrs. Mascitti said. tacted every police department ih the area and hired a private detective in Maine to work on the case. :-j "The Media police couldn't db much, because she disappeared in Maine," she said. ;·* Now, two years later, the body has been found and the long ordea! for Mrs. Choate and her son, David, is over. | "It's a relief to know whgt happened," Mrs. Choate saicj. "Even though our family wfe sure that Ellen had met with fqpl play, we couldn't do anything about it. We knew something happened, but we kept looking 5at every face ... on the television w.e would scan crowds looking for her." : ? ; "Now we definitely know." £· Mrs. Choate said that when medical examiner releases tfie body, they wi 11 have a memorial service. ;~: "I THINK it's ironic that sfe had to go like this, because slie was a very gentle person. I dotft think she would hurt anyone-" Mrs. Choate said. "And she was wonderful with children. She had the ability to make them learn and enjoy doing it." ·% Mrs. Choate said Ellen had "fallen in love with Maine," and was sincerely Interested in teaching with the Montessoci method in Bangor. :£ Ellen was born and raised ift Delaware County. She was -;1 member of the National Honot Society and the Junior Historii$ Club at Penncrest. As editor af the high school paper she hfjd won a "Good Citizen" awarjfl from the Daughters of th^ American Revolution. j»j At the University # Pennsylvania she was very iht terested in drama. Her mothe^ said she had inquired at Tempfci University about its masteri program. - t Ellen is survived by her mother and three older brothers, David T. of Drexel Hill, P.eter J. of Hatboro, and Capt. Robert W. of Fort Hood, Texas.