View Full Version : Doreen Marfeo - missing for 25 years


1990 UM fan
03-29-2015, 03:01 AM
As of today, Doreen Marfeo has been missing for a quarter of a century. To refresh everyone's memories, this is her case:

Doreen Marfeo was last seen in her home in Johnston, Rhode Island on March 29th, 1990. She disappeared from there and has never been heard from again. She had a poor relationship with her husband of seven years, Stephen Marfeo, and had quit her purchasing director job at the Rhode Island School of Design to work on their marriage.

On the day of Doreen's disappearance, Stephen took a 70-minute lunch break from work. His lunch breaks were usually only 20 to 30 minutes. He claims he went home, ate lunch with Doreen and went back to work, and when he returned home at 4:00 p.m. that day, she was gone. Doreen was supposed to call her mother on the day of her disappearance but never did. Stephen said she packed a suitcase with a week's worth of clothes and took $600 from the safe when she left their home. She did not, however, take her 1984 Ford Tempo, her toothbrush, her hair curlers, her two pet cats or any of the $50,000 in her and Stephen's joint bank accounts. There was no sign of a struggle at the residence. Stephen did not report Doreen missing for two days. At the time of her disappearance, he suspected she was having an affair and had hired private detectives to follow her. There is no evidence that Doreen was actually being unfaithful, however.

Investigators do not believe Doreen left of her own accord and think Stephen murdered her. Her family says she was close to them and would never have left without contacting them. In June 1990, police received two typewritten letters. The first one stated that Stephen had strangled Doreen on the day of her disappearance and dumped her body in a pond in Providence, Rhode Island. The second letter accused Doreen of having affairs with some of her co-workers, men which the letter identified by name. Both letters were typed on a typewriter from Stephen's mother's house. Authorities believe Stephen wrote them, although the letters refer to him in the third person. When the police confronted Stephen about the letters, he hired an attorney and stopped cooperating in the investigation.

In 1999, nine years after Doreen vanished, Stephen told his family members he was going on vacation to straighten out his life. Shortly after he returned, he shot his estranged girlfriend to death and seriously wounded her new boyfriend, then drove to a secluded reservoir in Connecticut and shot himself in the head. He left a suicide note for his mother which referred to his feelings of guilt about Doreen's disappearance but did not say what happened to her. Stephen was never charged in connection with his wife's disappearance, but investigators believe he was responsible. Doreen's mother, however, describes Stephen as a kind and supportive man and does not believe he was involved in her daughter's disappearance.

Doreen Marfeo has been missing for 25 years. She is 5'7, 115 lbs. and has brown hair and green eyes. Doreen has a pale freckled complexion, one of her front teeth is capped and has a large chicken pox scar on the front of one of her shins. Her maiden name is "Dobson" and she speaks with a strong Massachusetts accent. She also suffers from severe allergies, which occasionally causes her throat to swell. Doreen Marfeo would today be 59 years old.

WishfulDreamer
03-29-2015, 01:46 PM
I saw your Facebook post about this. Thanks for bringing it up.

My gut feeling is that Stephen is responsible here. Sure, he was kind to her mother and both she and Doreen's sister believed him to be innocent. But I just don't believe it. The day of the disappearance, he took a much longer lunch break than was usual. He had two P.I.s follow her before her disappearance, but didn't show much concern immediately after she vanished...the detective interviewed in the segment is right that this is very unusual.

The way he killed his girlfriend and shot her boyfriend doesn't prove he killed Doreen, but it certainly doesn't help him look very good.

MegtheEgg86
03-30-2015, 09:38 AM
Always thought Stephen was responsible, and think he had the Dobsons hardcore snowed.

I always had the feeling Doreen's family never had the complete picture on the state of her marriage, despite the sharing she did with her sister. Unfortunately, I think those details are now completely lost to time and circumstance.

WishfulDreamer
03-30-2015, 09:30 PM
Always thought Stephen was responsible, and think he had the Dobsons hardcore snowed.


Agreed. I think this was part of the reason he didn't even fess up in his suicide note. According to articles I've read, he continued giving her mother rides and assisting her on a regular basis and it sounds like they were very close. It sounds to me like he didn't want her to ever know he was responsible, even when he was about to kill himself and had already obviously committed the shooting of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend. That's why I think he just wrote that he felt "guilty" but didn't specify why.

MegtheEgg86
03-31-2015, 10:40 AM
Agreed. I think this was part of the reason he didn't even fess up in his suicide note. According to articles I've read, he continued giving her mother rides and assisting her on a regular basis and it sounds like they were very close. It sounds to me like he didn't want her to ever know he was responsible, even when he was about to kill himself and had already obviously committed the shooting of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend. That's why I think he just wrote that he felt "guilty" but didn't specify why.

I've always kind of wondered in the back of my mind if the deal about Doreen having an affair was what caused the Dobsons the most doubt about Stephen's involvement. I've never felt Doreen's sister was lying about Doreen confiding in her about an affair, nor had any particular reason to do so. I wonder if that individual was ever identified or questioned by police, and if he could've offered any further insight into the state of Stephen and Doreen's marriage.

Blackout
03-31-2015, 09:33 PM
he was innocent!@!!@


or not

Hambone2421
05-06-2015, 03:35 PM
Was anyone ever able to see or have knowledge what exactly he wrote on his suicide note? I know in the case of Nyleen Marshall, UM broadcasted a portion of the letter from the alleged kidnapper and someone on the board later found a full portion of it and put it on the board. I'm curious if Stephen Marfeo's suicide note is also out there somewhere?