JAY— A vigil marking 36 years since the disappearance of Kimberly Moreau was held Saturday afternoon at St. Rose of Lima Church following a procession down Main Street.
A table adorned with flowers and candles holds a picture of Kimberly Moreau, who went missing on May 10, 1986. Joaquin Contreras/ Sun Journal
Moreau’s sisters and members of the community started at the gazebo behind the Livermore Falls Municipal Building toward the church where they gathered to share memories of Kimberly and pray for a break in the ongoing investigation into her disappearance.
Scattered honks of car horns followed the crowd into the church parking lot, where parish volunteer Penny Laverdiere led the group in prayer while spectators clutched flowers handed out at the beginning of the procession.
“Given the fact that it’s been 36 years, I think people have finally put her to rest and hopefully today will be a way to celebrate her life and that’s kind of what this feels like. I think it’s positive,” said Mitch Thomas, a Lisbon resident who introduced Laverdiere.
The search for Kimberly Moreau began the night she disappeared on May 10, 1986, when the 17-year-old opted to hang out with friends instead of attending her junior prom after an argument with her boyfriend. Moreau came home around 11 p.m. and told her sister Karen that she’d be back in an hour. She got into a white Pontiac Trans-Am parked outside her house and was never seen again.
Over the years, developments and clues have surfaced, and a 2018 search on a property in Livermore proved tantalizingly close to yielding results, but was ultimately unfruitful. While the number of suspects and theories behind Moreau’s disappearance have varied through the years, her father believes she died accidentally, though the inability to confirm any suspicions has left the family in considerable anguish.
“It’s like reliving a funeral over and over again,” said Diane Levesque, the eldest Moreau sister. “We thought we had her and we’ve been very, very close, and you get this big high and then you get dropped; and you’re going to go 10 times lower than where you were before. It’s not a fun thing to dig yourself back out,” she said.
Although thrilled and grateful for the help she and her family have received from volunteers, Diane says she feels uncertain about what life would be like after Kim’s discovery, acknowledging how much of her life it has taken up, given that the search for Kim has gone on more than twice as long as the time she lived with her family.
“This year, we feel like we’re getting even closer. We think that little key piece that we need is actually going to come out of the woodwork. Whoever has it is finally going (to give it to us),” said Levesque, 59.
Members of the community walk down Main Street in Livermore Falls on Saturday to mark the 36 years since Kimberly Moreau’s disappearance from the town. Joaquin Contreras/Sun Journal
Last year, the Moreau family increased the reward for any information leading to the location and discovery of Kimberly or her remains to $17,500.
A table adorned with flowers, candles and a framed picture of Moreau atop a lace tablecloth stood under a statue of the Virgin Mary as Diane, her sister, Karen Dalot, and their father, Richard, addressed the crowd seated inside the church’s dining hall.
“Everybody helps us, and we want in this world to know that we appreciate everything you do,” Levesque said to the crowd. “If it wasn’t for all the people and the help we’ve had over the years, I don’t know how we’d be sane.”
Afterward, viewers gathered with snacks and refreshments around a television to watch a slideshow depicting photos of Kimberly, set to the music of the Eagles’ “Desperado.”
“We’re very proud of the support we’ve received from the community through all the years with them,” said Richard Moreau. “We’ll bring (this) to an end, sooner or later.”
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