Elwyn Randall “Randy” White was a forty-year-old man from Barre City, Vermont, who simply vanished in the summer of 2001. Friends and family last saw him in mid-August. On or around August 21st, 2001, his roommate reported him missing to Barre City police. Randy, who stood five-foot-ten and weighed about 160 pounds with shoulder-length black hair and hazel eyes, had no car and was known for walking everywhere around town. He lived in a second-story apartment on North Seminary Street.
Nine months later, on May 10th, 2002, a turkey hunter was out early near Berlin Pond Road in neighboring Northfield when a strong odor drew him to a shallow grave in the woods. The body inside had been disturbed by coyotes, which had gnawed on a lower leg bone, but it was otherwise relatively intact. Vermont State Police quickly identified the remains as Randy White. An autopsy confirmed homicide, though investigators have never publicly released the cause or manner of death to protect the case.
Randy was the son of James White of Jericho and the late Shirley White, who had died of cancer earlier that year. He was a longtime Barre resident who had lived in several places around the small central-Vermont city. Public records show he had minor prior involvement with the court system; in July 2001, just weeks before he disappeared, he had been named in connection with helping his then-girlfriend, Cleste Manning, harbor her teenage son after the boy skipped school. Manning later pleaded guilty to related charges, but Randy White was not charged in that matter. Police have confirmed he was a heroin user, and investigators have said they explored whether drugs played a role in his death, though they have never confirmed a motive.
Vermont State Police took over the case from Barre City police shortly after the body was found. Detectives interviewed people who knew Randy, including former girlfriends (Manning was questioned but never named a suspect), associates, and anyone who had seen him in the days leading up to his disappearance. State’s Attorney Terry Trono and Lt. Tim Bombardier of the Middlesex State Police declined to discuss specifics—where Randy was killed, how the body was moved, or what evidence existed—saying any public details could compromise the investigation.
Detectives believe Randy was killed around the time he went missing and that his body was deliberately transported roughly fifteen to twenty miles from Barre to the remote spot off Berlin Pond Road and buried in a shallow grave. Because he did not own a vehicle, police have long theorized that someone with access to a car drove him there, either already dead or to dispose of him. Forensic evidence was collected at the scene, but no suspect has ever been publicly identified.
More than two decades later, no arrests have been made and no motive has been disclosed in the murder of Elwyn “Randy” White.
Crime Immemorial 