Andy Puglisi: Open Investigation
The Vanished Podcast
Wondery
4.5 • 15K Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2024
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the early days of the show, I came across a website called haveyouseenandy.com. The website focused on the case of Andy Puglisi, a 10-year-old boy who disappeared from a pool in Lawrence, MA, in August 1976. Andy's friend, Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, created and maintained the website. Melanie had previously directed an HBO documentary about Andy's case, which won an Emmy in 2008 for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.
When I contacted Melanie to inquire about featuring Andy on the show, I was surprised that she responded and agreed, given my limited experience in podcasting at the time. After Andy's original episode aired, Melanie and I stayed in touch, and she even provided her expertise when we covered similar cases from that era.
Through her research, Melanie discovered that there were more missing and murdered children with stories similar to Andy's. This realization led her to shift her focus from Andy's individual case to a broader perspective, uncovering shocking new information along the way. Melanie always expressed a desire to continue telling Andy's story after realizing that this story was more extensive than just one boy disappearing from a pool in 1976.
Melanie often discussed a project she was working on during our conversations. This project that she was chipping away at, a podcast called Open Investigation, is set to be released starting September 3. Melanie joined us again this week to discuss the developments in Andy's case and tell us about her podcast. The trailer is available today, and the first episode will be released tomorrow. You can subscribe to Open Investigation now wherever you listen to podcasts.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
Follow The Vanished on social media at:
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I didn't understand how they could just stop looking for this little boy. |
| 0:16.3 | I mean I knew people didn't just disappear into thin air I didn't know how they could |
| 0:20.0 | stop looking for him and I remember standing outside this tree that was outside of my |
| 0:24.6 | house that I used to love, used to make shadows on my wall and a place of comfort for me |
| 0:30.0 | and I was standing outside under this tree and I was looking out over the projects and I was thinking how could they do that and then I thought when I grew up I'm going to try to find him and it felt like a promise to him and to me that I would do something when I grew up. |
| 0:47.0 | During the early days of the show, more than eight years ago, I somehow made my way to a website, Have You Seen Andy.com, which was about a 10 year old boy, |
| 0:56.8 | Andy Paglesi, who had disappeared from a pool in Lawrence, Massachusetts in August 1976. The website was created and maintained by |
| 1:05.4 | Andy's friend, Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, who had also made an HBO documentary |
| 1:10.6 | about Andy's case years earlier. The story of Andy's |
| 1:14.0 | disappearance was both tragic and compelling. So I reached out to Melanie via |
| 1:18.7 | email to ask about featuring Andy on the podcast. I was so new to this podcast thing that I was shocked when she even responded |
| 1:25.8 | much less agreed. After Andy's story aired, Melanie and I kept in touch and |
| 1:30.9 | she even helped out when we covered similar cases from that era. |
| 1:35.2 | Melanie always voiced an interest in continuing to tell Andy's story. |
| 1:39.3 | Melanie has been researching the players in Andy's case for decades and she came to realize that this |
| 1:44.1 | story was much bigger than one boy who disappeared from a pool in 1976 and that isn't |
| 1:49.4 | to minimize the devastation that's left behind when a child disappears and the case remains unsolved the more Andesis out there. She had to stop looking at Andes case with the focus simply on what happened in Lawrence on that day in 1976. |
| 2:08.0 | She had to look at the circumstances with a wider lens, and what she uncovered was shocking. |
| 2:13.0 | I'm Marissa and from Wundery, this is episode 454 of the Vanished, |
| 2:18.0 | Andy Paglise, open investigation. Welcome to our home. |
| 2:35.0 | our home. |
| 2:36.0 | It's maybe a bit long to spend as people we barely know. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -206 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.