A devastating phone call…

It was March of 1965 and Effie’s youngest sister, Avis, heard the phone ringing in an upstairs neighbor’s apartment.  She heard the murmur of a few spoken words and footsteps rushing down the stairs to her door.  She didn’t have a phone in her apartment, and the call was for her.  Her neighbor could tell something was wrong by the tone of the caller, and hurried her upstairs.

When she picked up the receiver she was crushed by the weight of the news.  Her sister had been found dead — murdered — that afternoon at her work.

Only 2 hours of time unaccounted for

On the morning of Thursday, March 18, 1965, 54-year-old Effie went through her normal morning routine, leaving her apartment around 8:30AM to walk the downtown Bangor streets to her work at the opulent Bangor House Hotel.  It was a cold winter morning, just 25 degrees, and she had a brisk 1/2 mile walk from her home at 3 Boynton Street to the hotel, 7 blocks away.

She worked as a housekeeper, and her shift started at 9AM. 

Something happened just after lunch that may never be fully understood.  She was last seen by her coworkers around 1:15PM talking to a man in the hotel corridors, and just an hour and a half later, at 2:45PM, her body was discovered in a 3rd floor hotel room, strangled, partially disrobed, and still warm to the touch.  She had been killed. 

Strangled with her own stockings

Effie (Terrill) MacDonald, a long-time worker at the Bangor House hotel in the heart of Bangor, Maine, was isolated by the killer in an unoccupied room on the 3rd floor  where she was raped and killed.  The killer used her own nylons stockings, wrapped four times tightly around her neck, to rob her of oxygen.

Possible link to the Boston Strangler

By the time of Effie’s death, there were 13 Boston victims attributed to the same killer, most of whom were middle aged or elderly women. From 1962 to 1964, an unknown assailant stalked women in the safety of their home, leaving the unlucky ones sexually assaulted and killed with their own stockings.  The Massachusetts state police sent up their “strangler squad” to assist police at the crime scene in Bangor.

Dogged lead investigator

Even after his retirement, Detective Cliff Sloane still leafed through old case files and his notes from Effie’s murder. He “had built his reputation as a methodical, tireless machine of a man whose patience and bulldog tenacity literally wore down his opponents.” He told the Bangor Daily News with a practical confidence about his person of interest, saying “It’s just a matter of keeping on the pressure. One of these days one of us will crack and it won’t be me.”

Interview with the family

Dale Mower, nephew of Effie Terrill MacDonald (son of Effie’s sister, Avis Mower), explains what he remembers about the case, the family’s reaction to the news, and the lasting impact her death has had on the family.

Special thanks to Effie’s nephew, Dale Mower for sharing his personal family stories with me.

If you’re holding onto any information or think you might know something about the murder of Effie MacDonald, I urge you to submit a tip to the Maine State cold case unit.

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Sources For This Episode

Newspaper articles

Bangor Daily News, various articles, 1965 - 2010, see attached source listing here

Other written sources

“Bangor House Murder”, blog by Dale Mower

“Bangor House”, article featured on BangorInfo.com

“Boston Strangler”, article on Wikipedia

Submit a tip to the Maine State Cold Case Unit

Media and Credits

Photos of Effie from Dale Mower

Photos of Cliff, suspect composite, and police from Bangor Daily News

Photo of Bangor House from Maine Memory

Research, writing, audio and editing by Kristen Seavey

Writing support by Byron Willis

Research support by Pauline Parkhurst

Murder, She Told was created by Kristen Seavey

This episode was co-produced by AKA Studio Productions.