Grandson's disappearance tied to underworld by Eric Wicklund, Bangor Daily News, 09 Feb 1994

Grandson's disappearance tied to underworld orld LYMAN (AP) - Every morning, from just after Halloween until Christmas last year, Irene Baker would rise early, walk through her cozy kitchen and living room, and look into a small, cluttered room just off the hallway. She'd look toward the bed, knowing what she'd see but hoping just the same that her grandson would be there, sleeping late, and that she'd have to wake him for work. After Christmas, she stored holiday decorations in that room, tucked a photograph of her grandson into the framed engraving of The Lord's Prayer near the front door, and waited. She's still waiting. Thomas Napier disappeared on Oct. 29, 1993. He was last seen by his best friend in Biddeford, where they'd gone to a party. His car, which he'd just bought and equipped with a $400 stereo system, was found - minus the stereo - in a parking lot next to an apartment complex in Saco. What happened to the 21-year-old Napier, a man with a troubled past who was just beginning to put his life in order, is a mystery. His parents, James and Cathy Napier of Alfred, and grandparents, Mike and Irene Baker - with whom Napier lived - have all but given up hope he'll be found alive, and are concerned now with finding his body and putting him to rest. "I'm as certain as I am of sitting here that he's not alive anymore," Irene Baker says. "If Tommy were alive and knew the things that were going on, he wouldn't put us through this.' In a tiny town like Lyman, with its winding, tree- By Eric Wicklund lined country lanes, where everyone knows everyone the Assembly of God Church, and got a part-time job. else on a first-name basis, the possibility that a local He. bought a 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass and a stereo boy might have been killed is a slow, gnawing fear. system. He went roller skating and dancing, made Too many out-of-staters are moving in, the locals new friends and bought new clothes, and began to talk say, and with them comes big-city crime and drugs. in more positive terms about his future. The Bakers believe their grandson became involved "He was really getting his life turned around," Mike with that criminal element, learned too much, and Baker says. "You could tell that he was much more was killed so that he wouldn't expose that underworld. happy with himself and where he was going." "He knew too many unsavory things," Mike Baker The last day anyone saw him alive, Napier took a says, "He knew a lot and he wasn't stupid, He wasn't shower, put on a new set of clothes, and modeled them going to go tell everyone but he knew enough to get for his grandparents. Both describe him as a ladies' him killed." In hopes of "loosening someone's tongue," Mike man a who paid lot of attention to his looks and Baker says, friends and family are planning to raise clothes. reward money with a series of concerts. If the reward says gave her for porce- all Irene Baker Napier her two small used, money go a scholarship the times she woke him up to go to work and did his isn't the will into: in lain ducks that evening, probably to thank Napier's name. A troubled youth who had passed through several laundryer foster homes, Napier adopted After discovering the party in Biddeford had been had been and returned kissed his grandmother and left. once before the Bakers adopted him when he was 11 canceled, Napier told old. friends he was going to meet years some people in Saco, and drove off. That was the last After high school, Napier held a number of parttime jobs, before being hired by a paving contractor time they saw Napier. for eight Friends family house parking lot sometime around midnight. A resiabout months. and believe Police say Napier parked his car in an apartment that's when started hanging out a rough dent saw someone, visibly drunk, walking away from he with crowd. the car at about 3 a.m., but police have all but ruled He was arrested on an assault charge in Millinocket sentenced to nine months in jail and three man out that being Napier. in 1990 and years probation. Two days later, the owner noticed the car still According to his grandparents, the experience parked in his lot. He found the doors unlocked and changed Napier. windows rolled down, and located Napier's work iden"That turned his life around," Irene Baker says. tification badge. "He said to me, 'Now I know the other side. That's not A phone call was made to the Bakers, and police what I want.' " were alerted. They found that someone had stolen After his release from jail, Napier started attending Napier's stereo. "I knew then that something bad had happened," Mike Baker remembers. "'He wouldn't have gone off and left his car like that.' Mike Baker says he scoured the woods along Route 5 until it snowed, and Irene Baker watched shows like "Rescue 911" and "Unsolved Mysteries" to learn how. to go about finding a missing person. Twice police divers have searched the Saco River. near Cataract Dam for some sign of Napier. They've told the family the search will continue in the spring, most likely around the Route 5 bridge in West Saco. "Something draws me to that bridge," Irene Baker says with a shudder. Her husband agrees. "They say it's a good place to dispose of something or someone,' he says. "Just tie a couple concrete blocks onto the legs and throw him over the edge. It's deep and murky there." Mike Baker talks of the rampant drug trade, and of getting legislators and police to crack down, open more jails and put people behind bars. He says his grandson received two death threats, which were never reported to police, and that he was killed to protect the secrets of the drug dealers. Police are saying little about the case, telling the Napiers and Bakers that there's little hope of finding Napier alive and saying nothing about whether they have any suspects. Irene Baker, meanwhile, has a cemetery plot picked out in her hometown of Kennebunk, right next to her first husband. "I could get into, well, that it's cold and snowy out there, and he's, well, he's somewhere out there," she says, searching for the right words. "But I won't do that. Not anymore. Now I just wait."

The Bangor Daily News

Grandson's disappearance tied to underworld by Eric Wicklund, Bangor Daily News, 09 Feb 1994

Grandson's disappearance tied to underworld by Eric Wicklund, Bangor Daily News, 09 Feb 1994

The Bangor Daily News