When Shirley Ann “Tippy” McBride left her sister’s Union Street apartment in Concord on July 13, 1984, she didn’t take anything with her.
McBride, 15 years old at the time, hasn’t been seen since.
On Monday, the 42nd anniversary of her disappearance, the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit and the Concord Police Department renewed their call for information pertaining to what happened to McBride.
Authorities suspect foul play was involved in her vanishing, although the case has not been ruled a homicide.
When McBride left her sister’s home, where she had been living for several months, she said she was going to see a boyfriend. She wore “light summer clothing,” according to the Cold Case Unit.
“When she left, she wasn’t mad at all,” her sister Donna Whitcomb told the Monitor in 1984.
She had run away from her family before, but her father, Jack McBride, told the Monitor that it was hard to believe she’d leave and not contact anyone.
“But we have always known where she was — she’s always been in touch,” he said at the time.
Investigators continue to actively investigate what happened to McBride.
“Tippy was just 15 years old when she went missing, and her family has spent 42 years waiting for answers,” said Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, chief of the Cold Case Unit.
Authorities are requesting that anyone who lived in Concord or was visiting the area during the summer of 1984 take the time to look through their photos from that season and submit them to the Cold Case Unit.
“A background detail in a candid photograph, a vehicle parked on the street or a familiar face captured incidentally could provide the missing piece of information we need to bring this family the resolution they deserve,” Knowles said.
No detail is too small to be considered relevant. In particular, investigators hope to hear from the following:
- People who took pictures during the summer of 1984: “Anyone with personal photographs taken in the Concord area, particularly in or around Union Street and the surrounding downtown neighborhoods,” according to the Cold Case Unit.
- Former neighbors who lived on Union Street or in the surrounding neighborhood during the the summer of 1984.
- Classmates/peers: People who attended school with Shirley Ann “Tippy” McBride or had social interactions with her.
Anyone who has information about what happened on July 13, 1984, is urged to reach out to the Cold Case Unit.
- Cold Case Unit Tip Line: (603) 271-2663
- Email: coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov
- Online: Submit a tip at www.doj.nh.gov/criminal/cold-case
To submit photographs from the summer of 1983, send them to the Cold Case Unit’s email address.
