Jean-Marie's disappearance marked by Eric Blaisdell, Rutland Daily Herald, 15 Apr 2023

STATE Saturday-Sunday, April 15-16, 2023  The Times Argus &amp; Rutland Herald  A7 By ERIC BLAISDELL STAFF WRITER BARRE — It’s been three years since Ralph “Rizz” Jean-Marie went missing in Barre and while the case hasn’t fallen off of law enforcement’s radar, they say they aren’t any closer to finding him. Jean-Marie was last seen on April 13, 2020, reportedly walking away from his room at the Hollow Inn on South Main Street in Barre. His disappear- ance wasn’t reported until April 15, 2020, about 60 hours later. He was 38 years old at the time. Officials have said the lag in reporting, as well as a lack of physical evidence in the case, has made it difficult to solve. Police suspect foul play because Jean-Marie left personal items — including his eyeglasses, a wallet, medications and his iden- tification — in his motel room. His family has reported he has not reached out to them since he went missing, which is out of character for him. Braedon “Brad” Vail took over as police chief in Barre City in March 2022. Vail told The Times Argus in May 2022 that he wanted to “reinvigorate” the investigation in an effort to help solve the case. Vail said in a Wednesday inter- view he meets with his detectives on a weekly basis where they talk about the cases they are working on. He said Jean-Marie’s case is discussed constantly. “As new leads come in, I just make sure that they’re following up on everything that comes in and try to push the ball forward,” he said. Vail said last May that he wanted to dive into the case file. He said Wednesday he has been doing that. The chief said what he’s learned is what he suspected, that this is a large and complex case. Vail said in May he wanted to re-interview those who spoke with police to see if they had any new information to share or if they may have had a change of heart and want to divulge infor- mation they may have withheld previously. The chief said Wednesday those re-interviews have yet to take place, but they will happen. Vail said 11 months ago that police had obtained a new piece of evidence connected to the investigation. The chief said Wednesday that piece of evidence was a cellphone found at the Pierre Motel in Barre. He said after looking through the phone, investigators believe it did belong to Jean-Marie, but it likely had been at the motel for a while and did not have any useful information on it. Vail said police still receive sporadic tips about Jean-Marie, and those tips are investigated. “Folks have called in and said, ‘Oh, I heard this ...’ And those types of leads don’t pan out, but we’re hopeful that in every single bit of information, there may be one common concept along them that may point us in a certain direction. I’m hopeful that may come to fruition,” the chief said. Vail said while this is an active missing person case, the presumption is Jean-Marie is dead. He said there has been no activity in the past three years to indicate that Jean-Marie is alive. This case has received more attention than most missing per- sons cases because supporters of Jean-Marie and advocates have said they believe more hasn’t been done to find him because he was a Black man living in a motel on a state voucher. Sup- porters also have claimed they believe Jean-Marie’s romantic partner at the time may be behind his disappearance. He reportedly got into an argument with her just before leaving the motel. This has led to much rumor and speculation surrounding the case. Vail said it’s added a layer of complexity to solving the case because police are chasing down these rumors to see if they have any merit. While Vail said he can’t speak to what happened at the start of the investigation because he wasn’t here at the time, after looking at the case file, it’s clear much work was done on this case, and he did not get the sense that the case was treated differently because of Jean-Ma- rie’s race or socioeconomic status. Vail said he hasn’t reached out to Jean-Marie’s family to update them on the case since he’s been chief. He said that’s an error he owns and will soon rectify. He said it doesn’t make much sense to be in regular contact with the family at this stage of the inves- tigation, where they will be told there’s not much new to report, but he said police should reach out to the family of a missing per- son annually or bi-annually to let them know what’s going on. A news conference was scheduled for Friday evening at the police department, where supporters of Jean-Marie were expected to demand accountabil- ity from the police. Vail said the idea that police don’t care about Jean-Marie or are no longer investigating his disappearance is false. Supporters have said they are conducting their own investiga- tion, which Vail said he supports. But he noted any information collected by that secondary inves- tigation can’t have been collected by violating anyone’s rights, oth- erwise it will get thrown out of court if a suspect is charged in the case in the future. Washington County State’s Attorney Michelle Donnelly is relatively new to the case, having taken over as the county’s top prosecutor in February. Before that, Donnelly said she had been following the news coverage of Jean-Marie’s disappearance. “It’s tragic to have somebody disappear suddenly and without explanation from our commu- nity. For the family and friends and those who loved and cared about him, it has to be excruciat- ing not to have answers,” she said in a Thursday interview. Donnelly said after speaking with law enforcement about the case, she, too, has not seen any- thing that would indicate race or class impacted the investigation. “I think it’s a difficult case that doesn’t have a lot of evidence to go on,” she said. The prosecutor said it’s understandable that supporters of Jean-Marie want to conduct their own investigation to find out what happened to him. But she, too, cautioned that any information they find should be turned over to police. “Because I couldn’t really accept a case from an informal group. I can’t prosecute a case from that. My cases have to come from law enforcement,” she said. Anyone with information about Jean-Marie’s disappear- ance, or his whereabouts, is asked to call Barre City police at 802-476-6613. A $5,000 reward has been offered for informa- tion leading to the location of Jean-Marie and those responsi- ble for his disappearance. Anon- ymous tips can also be made by texting the keyword “VTIPS” to 274637 (CRIMES) or at new. tipsubmit.com/en/create-report/ anonymous/state.vt.us to submit an anonymous tip online. eric.blaisdell @timesargus.com Jean-Marie’s disappearance marked PROVIDED PHOTO Ralph “Rizz” Jean-Marie, 38, went missing in April 2020. Police suspect foul play in his disappearance.