A dead body found in a freezer at a storage unit in Lewiston, Maine, which had been rented by Francis “Frank” Julian since 1992.
Police said yesterday that the remains found in the freezer at Moore Self Storage in Lewiston may be Kitty Wardwell, a woman who went missing in 1983.
Francis Julian was the on-off boyfriend of Kitty Wardwell, who went missing 28 years ago, aged 29.
Francis Julian died on October 1 at 80 years old, and his relatives then found the body when they were cleaning out the storage unit.
Francis Julian, a novelty salesman, was the last person known to have seen Kitty Wardwell before she disappeared when he was 52.
Francis Julian reported Kitty Wardwell missing July 11, 1983, telling Salem, N.H., police that he dropped the 29-year-old woman off at the El Rancho Motel in Salem after a fight and then traveled back to Maine without her.
Marla Collins, Kitty Wardwell’s sister, reported her missing to the Maine State Police on November 23, 1983.
The storage locker where the body was found is at Moore Self-Storage on North Lisbon Street.
The freezer has now been moved to the Maine medical examiner’s office in Augusta, and an autopsy is expected to take place tomorrow.
A spokesman for Maine Department of Public Safety, Stephen McCausland said that officers suspected they had found Kitty Wardwell’s body.
“Yesterday afternoon, relatives of a Lewiston man were cleaning out his storage locker and found a woman’s body inside a freezer,” Stephen McCausland said.
“The rental unit was rented by Francis “Frank” Julian, 80, who died October 1.
“Remains have been found, but we don’t know whose body this is definitively at this time.
“We have put both families in the loop about the discovery and we have interviewed a number of members of both families, but the final determination will be made by the medical examiner.”
According to Lewiston Sun Journal, the freezer had not been plugged in.
Kitty Wardwell’s case is the oldest one listed on the police’s missing persons website.
The woman is described as being 5 feet 7 inches and 120 pounds with brown eyes and shoulder length brown hair.
