Person Of Interest In Molly Bish Killing: DA Seeks Tips

WORCESTER, MA — A convicted rapist who died in 2016 was identified Thursday by the Worcester County District Attorney's Office as a person of interest in the nearly 20-year-old killing of Warren teen Molly Bish.

Worcester DA Joseph Early Jr. identified Francis “Frank” Sumner Sr. as the new person of interest, and said Sumner came to the DA's office through a tip. The possible new break in the unresolved case comes three weeks before the 21st anniversary of Bish's disappearance.

Bish was 16 when she disappeared on June 27, 2000, while working as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in her hometown of Warren. Her body wasn't found until May 2003 after a tip about an article of Bish's clothing seen in a wooded area in Palmer.

Sumner died in May 2016 at age 71. He was convicted of kidnapping and rape in the early 1980s, Early said, and served more than a decade in prison. Over the years, Sumner worked as a mechanic in Worcester County, including at Elite Auto Repair in Rutland, Sumner's Auto Body in Worcester and a Getty station in Leicester, according to public records.

Sumner is the fourth publicly named person of interest in Bish's killing. The last, Gerald Battistoni, died at Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain in 2014.

Although Sumner is a person of interest, Early stopped short of calling him a suspect, instead asking for tips about the former Spencer resident. Investigators want to learn more about Sumner's travel habits, vehicles he drove and people he associated with.

"People think they have a small bit of information that's insignificant, it's not," he said in an interview Thursday afternoon. "It's like putting a puzzle together."

Anyone with information should call the DA's anonymous tip line at 508-453-7575.