Maine State Police | BDN Maine State Police | BDN 
 
 PORTLAND, Maine — An anonymous letter-writer claims to know what happened to Bernard “Bunny” Ross Jr., who went missing at the age of 18 in Aroostook County nearly 40 years ago, police said Friday. 
 
 Lt. Troy Gardner of the Maine State Police told reporters in Portland, where Ross’ parents now live, that investigators want the author to come forward and talk to police. 
 
 “There’s no way to know for sure if the letter is truthful or if the information is accurate,” Gardner said. “There’s always a possibility that it’s a hoax. Obviously, if it is a hoax, that’s a horrible thing to do to somebody who’s been missing their son since 1977.” 
 
 Gardner said Ross’ parents, who lived in Fort Kent at the time of his disappearance, received the letter “a few months ago,” but would not disclose any other details about it, including whether it was handwritten or typed, how many pages it was, where it was postmarked or what the writer claimed happened to the missing man. 
 
 Gardner said police are reluctant to release more information about the letter without learning more about the author and, if the information in the letter is reliable, how that person knows it. 
 
 Ross went missing on May 12, 1977. That morning, he took a family car from their home in Fort Kent to his aunt’s house in Presque Isle. Then, Gardner said Friday, he took another vehicle without permission in Presque Isle. 
 
 That vehicle was later found in Ashland more than 20 miles away, and Ross was last seen on the Realty Road near the Ashland-Portage town line. 
 
 “I think the community was shocked,” said his father, Bernard Ross Sr., 80, on Friday morning. 
 
 “People had a hard time because there were no answers,” Ross’ mother, Carol, 78, said. “It’s not like there was a death. It was the unknown. … There was always the hope that he’d walk through the door one day.” 
 
 Carol and Bernard Ross Sr. moved to southern Maine in 1981 and lived in Gorham until 2001, when they moved to Portland. Carol Ross said Friday that Bunny Ross, one of six children, was “going through some ups and downs” emotionally at the time of his disappearance, but Gardner and the man’s parents on Friday characterized his state of mind as not abnormal for someone in his teenage years. 
 
 “There’s always been the hope or assumption that he’s alive out there,” Gardner said. “Certainly in their minds — and investigatively — there’s been nothing to suggest he’s not alive. The other side of that is that he’s been missing since 1977, and that’s a long time to go without contact with family.” 
 
 Gardner said he hopes the person who wrote the anonymous letter — or anyone else with information about what happened to Ross — calls state police at 1-800-924-2261 or 532-5400 and asks to speak with Sgt. Darrin Crane. 
 
 The Maine State Police also has an online tip form that can be accessed through their website. ||||| A mysterious letter that was recently sent to a couple whose son disappeared in 1977 from Fort Kent has rekindled police interest in the 39-year-old case – and dredged up old emotions for his loved ones. 
 
 Bernard “Bunny” Ross Jr. was 18 years old when he vanished May 12, 1977, after leaving the family’s home one morning in a state of distress, his parents said. He was suspected of stealing a vehicle, which was later found abandoned on a dirt road in Ashland. 
 
 No one has heard from him since, and his parents, Carol, 78, and Bernard Ross Sr., 80, had to learn to live without knowing his fate. 
 
 But any peace they might have found was disrupted when they received an unsigned letter a couple of months ago at their home on Munjoy Hill in Portland, police said. The author indicated that he or she knew about their son’s disappearance, referenced a previous story in the Kennebec Journal about missing persons that mentioned the Ross case, and then suggested that another story about Ross should appear in the Kennebec Journal. The Augusta-area newspaper is owned by MaineToday Media, which also publishes the Portland Press Herald. 
 
 A police spokesman said he was not aware of any connection the Kennebec Journal might have to Ross’ disappearance. Maine State Police Lt. Troy Gardner of the major crimes unit in Houlton contacted the newspapers, hoping that a story might coax the letter’s author to contact police. 
 
 “I’ve never had anything like this happen in my career,” Gardner said. “Basically, all we’re doing is extending an olive branch, saying we want to make contact with this person. Of course, there’s no way of knowing whether the letter’s truthful or the information is accurate, but we are asking for whoever wrote the letter to please contact us.” 
 
 Gardner declined to release the letter, describe what it said or explain what made police take the unusual step of contacting the newspapers to arrange for an interview with the missing man’s family. Gardner acknowledged that the letter could be an elaborate hoax, but added that even if it wasn’t, police wouldn’t release it to the public. 
 
 “If there was details in the letter that we felt were important to the investigation, we wouldn’t release them,” he said. “That’s common sense. It protects the integrity of the investigative process.” 
 
 Gardner arranged for an interview with Carol and Bernard Ross Sr. on Friday. The couple said they are reluctant to put themselves into the spotlight, but were willing to endure the pain of talking with reporters because they want to do what’s right for their son. 
 
 The couple, who have been married for 60 years, said their other children are grown and have children of their own, but they still wonder what happened to their oldest son. Perhaps the most painful memories were the calls they received from police departments around the country trying to identify a body, putting them in the macabre position of hoping the deceased person was their son. 
 
 “We’ve had several calls,” Carol Ross said. “You’d get your hopes up, but of course it would turn out to be someone else.” 
 
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– A cold case in Maine about a teen who vanished nearly 40 years ago is getting a fresh look from police after his parents received an anonymous letter out of the blue. Police are saying very little about the letter's contents, but they hope the author will reach out again and perhaps end the mystery of what happened to Bernard "Bunny" Ross, reports the Bangor Daily News. Police say Ross, then 18, vanished on May 12, 1977, after taking the family car to his aunt's house in Presque Isle, then stealing another car near her home. It was found about 20 miles away, and Ross has been a missing person since. His parents—Bernard Sr., 80, and Carol, 78—say he'd been going through "ups and downs" at the time, but nothing out of the ordinary. The unsigned letter arrived after a local newspaper story about missing persons a few months ago mentioned their son, reports the Portland Press Herald. The letter writer claimed to have information about the disappearance, but police aren't divulging details. “I’ve never had anything like this happen in my career,” says Maine State Police Lt. Troy Gardner. “Basically, all we’re doing is extending an olive branch, saying we want to make contact with this person." Gardner adds that police can't even be sure at this point that the letter isn't a hoax. The Rosses are going public in the hope that the letter writer, who suggested that another newspaper story be written, is legit. It's been the lack of resolution that's been so hard to deal with all these years, says Carol Ross. “It’s not like there was a death. It was the unknown," she says. "There was always the hope that he’d walk through the door one day.” (A diligent mom helped crack a 10-year-old cold case about her daughter's killing.)