NORTHAMPTON — After the apparent suicide of a Clarksburg man on Friday, the search for his missing wife enters its sixth week with few answers provided to the public.
Joanne “Jo” Ringer has been missing since March 2 when she failed to show up for her first day of work as a taxi driver in Easthampton, where her car was later found abandoned. On Friday, the Berkshire district attorney’s office said that Ringer’s husband, Chad Reidy, had been found dead inside his garage after police conducted a well-being check at his home.
That is as much information as anyone is willing to provide. The Berkshire district attorney’s office and Clarksburg Police Chief Michael Williams declined to answer the Gazette’s questions, and multiple calls to a Massachusetts State Police detective assigned to the case went unreturned. The Berkshire district attorney’s office also declined to release police incident logs from Reidy and Ringer’s Clarksburg address.
“They haven’t been giving me much information, but I do know that they are working very hard and they do have a lot of information that they haven’t shared,” said Ringer’s daughter, Savanah Ringer, of Easthampton.
Savanah and some of Ringer’s other loved ones have said they have information that has not been released to the public, but the State Police have asked them to withhold those details because the missing-person investigation is still ongoing.
“I understand, but it is really frustrating because there’s things that we probably could tell people that would help bring in more information,” Savanah Ringer said, adding that she trusts the detective assigned to the case and has faith in the investigative process.
The inevitable social media sleuths of the internet age have been filling that informational vacuum, including the controversial Worcester-based blog TurtleBoy Sports, which has published several anonymously written posts about the case. The site is registered to Aidan Kearney, according to state filings.
Ringer’s close friend Ginger Plantier said Ringer’s family and friends already have answers to some of the speculation flying around the internet, but are staying quiet at the request of police. Instead, she said they have to painfully watch as people argue and speculate about the case online.
“How many times can your heart go through that?” Plantier asked. “This is a person we love, this isn’t a Lifetime movie.”
Meantime, Ringer’s daughter Savanah, Plantier and others continue to put up missing-person flyers. Savanah encouraged anyone that wants to help to print those flyers off the “Bring Jo Ringer Home” page on Facebook.
As the search continues, Savanah said that Ringer’s husband’s family had already reached out to her, the two families drawn together by their grief and desire for answers.
“I’ve gotten several messages from them, and I let them know how deeply sorry I am for their loss,” she said. “They’re very concerned and they want to bring my mom home even more now. They’ve been offering me all of their support.”
The Gazette contacted a member of Reidy’s family, who declined to comment for this story.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call State Police Detective Michelle Mason at 413-499-1112.
The nonprofit organization Halos Investigations has also taken on the case, and is collecting tips via an anonymous hotline at 1-803-599-HALO (4265).
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.