Name: Mary Kathleen Thill
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: July 5, 1975
Location Last Seen: Seward, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
Date of Birth: Unknown
Age: 22 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 130 lbs
Hair Color: Auburn, wavy
Eye Color: Blue
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Wears glasses
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Available
Clothing: Army type jacket; Levi's jeans; gray pullover sweater; Tuffy leather hiking boots
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Carrying a backpack; thick, round pink framed eyeglasses
Mary was given a ride into town on July 5, 1975, by a friend and dropped off at the bakery. Another friend saw her between 1:30 and 2:00 pm at the waterfall on Lowell Point Road.
The woman’s husband, Michael Thill, was working at Alaska's North Slope when he heard about the disappearance. He returned to Seward as soon as he was notified that his wife was missing.
From all information gathered from friends and relatives, it is not at all likely that Mary would leave without notifying anyone and foul play is suspected.
In 2008, serial killer Robert Hansen became a suspect in Mary's disappearance. Hansen was a pilot who abducted his victims and took them to isolated places, sometimes by car, sometimes by airplane. In 1984, Hansen confessed to killing 17 women and raping 30 others over the previous 12 years. In his confession, he detailed the crimes and later led investigators to the grave sites. They located a dozen bodies. The rest have never been found.
Maps were found in Hansen's Anchorage home. Marks on them matched the locations of the 17 bodies Hansen confessed to murdering. Two of the marks not accounted for are in the Seward and Resurrection Bay areas. It's assumed that those two marks belong to Mary and Megan Siobhan Emerick.
Hansen was known to be in Seward when Mary disappeared. According to a former inmate, Hansen confessed to killing her and dumping her body in Resurrection Bay.
Agency Name: Seward Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Sean Corrigan
Agency Phone Number: 907-224-3338
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: N/A
Agency Name: Alaska State Troopers
Agency Contact Person: Malia Miller, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager
Agency Phone Number: 907-269-5511
Agency E-Mail: malia.miller@alaska.gov
Agency Case Number: D75001356
NamUs Case Number: 16958
NamUs
AK DPS
The Seward Phoenix Log - Jul. 24, 1975
Anchorage Daily News - Sept. 28, 2008
Added: 6/3/22; Last Updated: 6/3/22 - By: Doe-NamUs-App
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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