On the night of May 10th, 1986, 17-year-old Kimberly “Kim” Moreau told her sister that she would be back in an hour, before leaving with her friends. And it did appear that she didn’t intend to be gone for long, as she didn’t take her purse, jacket, or anything else with her. However, Kim never returned.
Odd, inconsistent accounts from friends and acquaintances who saw her that night—including the man who claimed to have dropped her off half a mile away from her home—would only create more confusion regarding her disappearance.
The local police, who were convinced that Kim was simply a runaway, provided little help to the family for months, forcing them to conduct their own investigation, pursuing leads and interviewing locals.
While the Moreaus struggled to find physical evidence or definitive answers, their belief that someone knows something about what truly happened to Kim that night has never wavered.
Four decades later, the question still remains: What happened to Kim Moreau?
One of three daughters, Kimberly “Kim” Ann Moreau was born on January 21st, 1969, to parents Richard and Patricia. The family resided in Jay, Maine.
She loved rock music, fashion, reading (especially Stephen King novels and magazines), and writing poetry.
Kim, who was a cheerleader and a member of her school’s gymnastics team, aspired to become a model one day and had also entered the Miss Maine competition (sadly, though, she would never have the opportunity to compete in it as it took place weeks after she went missing).
She was dating a fellow student named Mike Staples, who had given her his class ring to wear.
The 17-year-old found life in small-town Jay to be boring and hoped to move to a big city eventually.
Kim had a close-knit group of friends since childhood, but in the months leading up to her disappearance she’d started to drift away from them. The reason for this, her family believed, was due to her new friendship with another student, Rhonda Breton.
Rhonda was allegedly possessive of Kim and didn’t want her to have any other friends. Kim’s loved ones noticed a difference in her, noting that she became quieter and more isolated as a result of her friendship with Rhonda.
Kim reportedly learned that Mike had been cheating on her, which culminated in a confrontation between the two on May 9th, during which Kim made it clear that she no longer planned to attend the junior prom with him the next evening. In fact, she was now determined to skip the junior prom altogether.
The night of May 10th arrived and Kim decided to go out with Rhonda, who introduced her to two 25-year-old men: Brian Enman and Darren Joudrey (Rhonda’s boyfriend). Joudrey owned a white Pontiac Trans Am, which would be the vehicle the group went joyriding in.
They brought Kim back to her home briefly around 11 p.m., so she could touch up her makeup and let her sister, 19-year-old Karen, know what was going on. The girls’ parents, Richard and Patricia, were still away at a party. Kim told Karen that she’d be back in an hour, before departing once again in the Trans Am.
Karen didn’t notice anything off about this last interaction with her sister and stated that nothing seemed to be bothering Kim at the time.
Patricia and Richard arrived home from the party later and checked on their daughters. When they realized that Kim wasn’t there, they assumed that she was out with her friends and waited up for her to return. Hours went by with no sign of her.
At 3 a.m., they woke up Karen and asked her if she knew where her younger sister was. Karen told them what Kim had said and that she should have been back by now.
Unable to find her anywhere, they drove to the local police department around 5 a.m. on May 11th and attempted to report her missing. However, the officer told them that they’d need to wait a full 48 hours before doing so, which they agreed to do.
The Moreaus asked around and learned more about who she was with on the night she vanished.
Brian Enman spoke to the family, giving his account of when he’d last seen her.
According to him, Kim was still upset about the argument she’d had with Mike and requested to be dropped off at the end of Jewell Street, roughly half a mile away from the Moreau residence, at approximately 1:15 a.m. She wanted to walk the rest of the way, Enman explained.
This story immediately felt off to Kim’s parents, as she was vocal about the fact that she was afraid of the dark and had always unequivocally refused to walk anywhere alone at night, even short distances.
“She used to say to me—I’m not going to walk in the dark,” remembered Richard, “there are crazies out there.”
Furthermore, it was cold that night and she didn’t have her jacket with her, so would she have chosen to walk half a mile alone on a chilly night? Her loved ones didn’t think so.
While authorities finally allowed the Moreaus to file a missing persons report after the 48-hour waiting period had passed, they were still hesitant to take action of any kind, believing that the 17-year-old was merely a runaway.
Because of this, the Moreaus had to carry out their own search and investigation initially. They felt certain that Kim hadn’t run away and that someone must know what happened to her. Not only did she have no prior history of running away, but she’d also left behind everything—including her purse—further suggesting that she did not leave voluntarily.
They spoke with Kim’s friends and acquaintances, desperately trying to piece together the events leading up to her disappearance. They found out that Kim, Rhonda, Enman and Joudrey drove around from town to town that night.
Richard:
“The girls get in the back seat and the guys were in the front seat. I guess, from what we found out, they went riding all over heck, they went to Farmington, they went to Lewiston, they were riding all over. Unfortunately, we also learned that there was some drugs and alcohol involved.”
(Side note: The details quoted above were presumably provided to the family by Brian Enman, as Rhonda and Joudrey never told them anything about that night. However, there is no elaboration on what kind of drugs or alcohol—or how much of either substance—was involved.)
The presence of drugs and alcohol led the family to wonder if Kim could have died by accident (perhaps due to a drug overdose?), but supporting evidence remained elusive.
They learned that the group attended a party in Livermore Falls as well. Also in attendance was 28-year-old Calvin Tidswell, an arcade owner and alleged drug dealer.
Calvin had previously been incarcerated for involuntary manslaughter (he wrecked a stolen car and his passenger died in the crash), but by 1986 he owned an arcade that was popular with local teenagers and was also said to be dealing cocaine on the side. The Moreau family found notes from Rhonda in Kim’s purse that implied the two knew Calvin well.
Interestingly, multiple witnesses stated that Kim and Calvin got into an argument (the cause of which is unknown) at the party, with some of them claiming that the fight became physical.
For his part, Calvin denied that this had occurred. However, the family’s suspicions about Calvin’s potential involvement in Kim’s disappearance only grew when they discovered that he had Kim’s ring in his possession.
It was the distinctive class ring—which had “Mike Staples” and “Mike 1987” engraved on it—that Mike had given to her. How had Calvin obtained it?
Rumors that Calvin was responsible for Kim’s disappearance began to circulate in the area.
He wrote a letter to the Moreau family to clear things up, as he put it. He stated that he and Kim were close friends and that he had neither harmed her, nor had any knowledge of what happened to her.
He expressed concern that the rumors regarding him were an unnecessary distraction that might lead the family and law enforcement in the wrong direction.
“I write because I am concerned too,” he said.
He also went on to explain that it was actually Mike who had Kim’s ring (perhaps she had given it back during their argument?) and that he’d intended to pawn it. Calvin claimed that he proposed a trade instead—he would supply Mike with alcohol in exchange for the class ring. Mike agreed.
It’s unclear whether or not Mike Staples himself ever confirmed this version of events during his interview with police, as this has never been clarified. However, Richard Moreau has said that Mike showed a shocking lack of interest in Kim’s case and, beyond agreeing to speak with the police, never personally involved himself in trying to locate her.
However, it is worth noting that sources like The Charley Project state that she was wearing the ring on the night of May 10th. If this is accurate, then how would Mike (who isn’t known to have seen her at all that night) have gotten it back?
Later in 1986, Calvin Tidswell would go to jail once again, this time for assaulting a police officer in an unrelated incident.
Not long after Kim vanished, Karen and her boyfriend Bob ran into Darren Joudrey in town.
They asked him if he knew where Kim was, to which Joudrey responded: “I don’t know no fucking Kim! Who’s Kim?”
In an effort to jog his memory, Karen described her sister for him.
“Oh, was that her name?” He replied simply.
He refused to speak with them further and left.
Richard kept in contact with Brian Enman, hoping to learn more about what happened to his daughter.
Though the Trans Am belonged to Joudrey, Enman admitted that he was the one driving it that night. He also revealed something that he hadn’t previously, telling the family that after he dropped off Rhonda (who lived near the Moreaus), he had “consensual sex” with Kim, placing a strong emphasis on the word “consensual.”
The Moreaus found his wording odd and a bit troubling. After all, people don’t typically feel it necessary to specify that they had consensual sex unless they’re being accused of rape—which he wasn’t. But was his statement the product of a guilty conscience? That remains unknown.
Amazingly, Rhonda Breton was somehow even less helpful than Enman, as she refused to provide any details whatsoever about the night of May 10th to either Kim’s family or law enforcement.
“She never gave any information,” said Karen.
When asked whether or not Kim was with her and Joudrey that night, she wouldn’t answer, instead suggesting that they search for the missing student in Farmington or Old Orchard (the reasoning behind her suggestion is unknown).
One of Kim’s other friends followed this advice and went to both towns to look for her, but was unable to locate anyone who had spotted Kim or knew where she might be.
Aside from this, Rhonda offered no assistance.
In fact, she denied being close to Kim at all and claimed that she didn’t know her very well, although the Moreau family knew this to be untrue.
Rhonda moved to California in 1988.
Four months passed before authorities finally conceded that Kim was unlikely to be a runaway and began investigating her disappearance.
An investigator came to the Moreau residence and spoke to them about her case. Following this conversation, she was entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) index, something that the family had been trying to get them to do from the beginning.
The Moreaus had done all they could on their own to find her, keeping careful records of everything they learned and putting up missing persons posters throughout the area with Kim’s picture and their number on it—something that they still do to this day. They received many tips, but none proved to be helpful.
There were also many reported sightings of the missing teenager, but they either couldn’t be substantiated or turned out to be someone who resembled Kim.
“It’s that feeling of helplessness in the end that eats away at you more than anything,” said Richard in August 1986. “At times it hits you and it hits you awful hard. I walk into the living room and I see her picture. It’s hard to deal with. You hope for the best, but after this length of time without anything, you fear for the worst.”
Kim’s mother Patricia echoed this sentiment.
“It’s been very hard.. We break down. My husband cries. I cry. But we just keep praying to God to keep our strength up, so we can find her.”
Sadly, Patricia Moreau passed away in May 1987 after a lengthy battle with liver cancer, never having learned the fate of her youngest daughter.
In the wake of Kim’s disappearance, her loved ones discovered a bottle containing four white pills in her purse. They turned these pills over to law enforcement, but were later disappointed to learn that not only had authorities neglected to analyze the pills, but they had actually lost them.
For their part, the family thought the pills were likely speed, as Karen explained that it wasn’t uncommon for local teenagers to use the drug. However, they didn’t believe that Kim had ever abused drugs and considered it more plausible that she’d only tried them in order to be accepted by her peers.
In 2004, officers and members of a search-and-rescue team conducted a search in the area, without success.
“We covered several acres and the searches will continue,” said State Police Detective Mark Lopez.
That same year, Joudrey’s Pontiac Trans Am was finally processed for evidence—18 years after Kim vanished—but the results were not disclosed to the public.
Over the years, many other searches have been conducted in Jay, Livermore Falls, and Canton, with cadaver dogs in tow.
In 2015, a property that was owned by Enman in 1986 was combed using ground-penetrating radar, an excavator and cadaver dogs, but ultimately no human remains, nor anything else of evidentiary value, was recovered.
Interestingly, though, Enman had this to say about the search:
“If they come up with nothing, I’m going to be even more upset. They come in, humiliating me. I’ve got my name plastered all over Facebook. They have no proof of nothing yet.”
However, he has maintained his innocence of any wrongdoing in Kim’s case, sticking to his story that he dropped her off that night and doesn’t know what happened to her after that.
Additionally, a concrete slab that once formed the base of a fruit stand in Livermore Falls was unearthed. The spot was once a part of the farm owned by Calvin Tidswell’s family. No physical evidence was uncovered there either.
Laurencia Bourget, a psychic medium working with the Moreaus, discovered skeletal remains behind a bowling alley in Jay in 2024. However, they do not belong to Kim and were later identified as 54-year-old Victor C. Pribanic Jr.
Detective Mike Fitzmorris took over the case as lead investigator in 2024. Overseeing the case with Fitzmorris is Detective Corporal Michael Chavez of the Maine State Police Unsolved Homicide Unit.
These men have spoken extensively with the Moreaus and have shown a genuine interest in finding the answers that have so long eluded the family, renewing their hope that a resolution is still possible.
“And now we’re very fortunate to have these two detectives that’s sitting with us right now working this case,” said Richard during a heartfelt interview with the Dark Downeast podcast. “I feel a lot more confident with these two gentlemen that we have one of the best opportunities that we may ever have of bringing her home.”
Kim’s case is still unsolved and her surviving loved ones remain deeply committed to finding her.
"Even though she's not around, we'll never forget her,” said Kim’s sister Diane. “And you won't either because we won't let you.”
Karen:
“We need closure. We really do need help and the answer is out there. Please help us.”
Over the years, Calvin Tidswell, Brian Enman and Darren Joudrey all submitted to polygraph tests, but the results were never made public.
Rhonda Breton and Joudrey have passed away, but Enman and Calvin are still alive.
No one has ever been officially named as a suspect in her case.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Kim Moreau, please send a letter to the family at this address:
Kim’s Justice
P.O. Box #2
Jay, Maine 04239
You can also reach the Moreaus at justwanttofindher@gmail.com or contact the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit – South at (207) 624-7076.
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