Ludger Belanger: Missing in Maine
Ludger Belanger, senior portrait
Ludger Belanger: A salt of the earth Mainer
Ludger was born November 5, 1950 in Poland, Maine. His father was born in the province of Québec and French was his father’s first language. His mother was a Mainer who grew up in small-town Somerville, Maine. He grew up on Elm Street in Mechanic Falls, and had a huge family—Ludger was one of eight kids (4 sisters and 3 brothers). His family called him “Loudge” or “Loudgie”.
He got to know his younger sister’s best-friend, Linda, and they started dating. She, too, hailed from a big family—she was one of 7 kids. Soon after they started dating, while he was in high school, his family moved to rural Washington, ME.
Ludger finished his senior year at Medomak Valley High School in Waldoboro, graduating in 1970. He was described as shy and quiet. He was kind. He loved to hunt and fish. And he loved Maine.
Ludger and Linda’s romance continued, and on September 25th, 1971, after two years of dating, they married. Ludger was 20, and Linda was 16. Linda moved in with Ludger and his family. Ludger was in the middle, age-wise, of his siblings, and his four older sisters had all moved out. Ludger’s parents gave him some adjacent land “on the other side of the cow fence,” and he bought it from them for $1.00. Ludger and Linda lived in the basement while they worked on building their own home.
After about a year of living with his family, in the summer of 1972, the newlyweds had made enough progress on the house to move in, shortly after their first baby, Michelle, was born. Linda told us that “Ludger was a great father, a great husband. He was just a good guy.”
Two more children would soon arrive—Angel in 1973, and Traci in 1975. They were a very busy family—caring for three young children at the same time that they were finishing their home—all on modest means.
Ludger would often hunt in the fall, and he had purchased a .30-30 rifle from Sears in Augusta, and would use it to hunt deer, which helped save money on grocery bills.
November 25th, 1975 — Ludger Belanger disappears
The sun rose on Tuesday, November 25th, 1975, at 6:45AM, and the Belangers were up at the crack of dawn. Ludger, his brother John, and Linda left to go hunting. John was driving them in his vehicle, and he headed to a spot about a mile-and-a-half south of their home—near Day Cemetery in Washington, Maine. It was a chilly 22 degrees, and the high that day was only expected to reach the mid-30s. It had snowed overnight and it was a perfect time to look for some fresh tracks.
Linda was working as a waitress, and she had to be in Augusta at noon to start her shift at Ho Ho Chinese Restaurant. They only had a few hours that morning to hunt. John parked the vehicle near the cemetery, and from about 7:00AM to 9:00AM the three of them scattered and waited. They each had a gun, but nothing appeared. Linda and John wanted to head home. Ludger wanted to continue hunting before he had to drive Linda to work, so they dropped him off at Billings Field, which was about a mile and a half south of their home at the top of a hill.
As 11:00AM approached, Linda got ready to go to work. She was expecting Ludger through the door any minute, but 11:00AM came and went. The hours ticked by and Linda’s annoyance turned into concern. As the sun’s light faded, the family’s fears grew. They needed reinforcements, and that’s when they decided to call the authorities. In short order, the Maine Warden Service became involved. Linda had become increasingly distraught as the day went on, and in the evening her family called an ambulance for her to be taken to a hospital in Augusta. Linda later said that she has little-to-no memory of the rest of that day into the next morning.
The wardens search on Wednesday
Early Wednesday morning, Game Wardens John Marsh and Dick Hennessey got started, checking the main roads and the little cow paths that led into the rural Maine woods in the area of Ludger and Linda’s home.
The wardens, with the help of a man named Clifton who lived nearby, went off into the woods together, following snowmobile tracks across Billings Field, and moving into the woods. They got to a ridge that afforded some good firing lanes, and it was there that Dick found 30-40 boot prints. There was more snow that had accumulated since Ludger’s disappearance. The new snow was light and fluffy. The snow beneath was dense and packed. These prints were in the dense snow below—some of which were obscured by the new-fallen snow.
The wardens followed the boot prints and found two spent .30-30 cartridges. This was the type of ammunition that Ludger’s rifle took. It appeared that Ludger had found a deer and taken some shots. They kept following the barely-visible boot prints and made it to a spot in the forest where the deer had been struck. Some of the blood from the deer was visible through the snow, but the deer’s body was gone. They found where Ludger had likely field-dressed the deer.
Based on the multiple sets of backtracking footprints that continued from the site of the killing, it appeared that Ludger had walked a ways with his gun, set it down, and then doubled back, dragging the deer to his gun. He kept repeating this, leapfrogging, slowly moving south, toward a gravel pit and a small road called Creamer Lot Road.
Eager to preserve whatever tracks had been made in the snow, one of the wardens (John) took off immediately to rope off the entrance to Creamer Lot Road. They noticed right away that there were partially snow-covered tire tracks that indicated a vehicle had come and gone at some point the previous day. They walked alongside the road to see where the tracks went. The men met about a quarter-mile into the woods on Creamer Lot Road, and it was here that they made their biggest discoveries.
They determined that the vehicle had come down the dead-end road, turned around, and started heading back the way it came, toward the main road. It had stopped and two occupants had gotten out—one from the driver’s door and one from the front passenger’s door. They had stopped to take a leak. The passenger had an abnormal gait—he was dragging his left foot sideways and small circular impressions in the snow suggested that he was using a cane. They found an empty Budweiser can and a cigarette butt that had been smoked down the filter discarded in the snow.
The two men had returned to the car and had driven another 100 yards back toward the main road when the car stopped again.
This is where Ludger’s tracks and the car’s tracks intersected.
It appeared that the driver had gotten out to help Ludger load the deer into the car’s trunk and then Ludger got into the back seat. This made sense, as Ludger had been making his way toward a main road to get help with bringing the large deer home. Another cigarette, smoked down to the filter, was discarded here. It seemed the driver and his sidekick were taking their time. The vehicle appeared to have stopped a third time. The driver got out to retrieve Ludger’s gun which had been resting against a tree.
While the wardens were doing their work, Clifton had moved to the side of the road and stumbled upon a yellow piece of paper that was buried in the snow. He picked it up and learned that it was a receipt. It was a work order from Walker’s Garage in Union, ME, describing the work done on a 1965 Buick Special, and it was dated Tuesday—the day of Ludger’s disappearance.
And then he saw it—a credit card slip with a name—David Svenningsen of Camden, Maine.
There was convincing evidence that Ludger had shot a buck in the woods, dragged it to nearby Creamer Lot Road, and been picked up by two people. They were likely driving a 1965 Buick Special, which is a land yacht of a car. It’s a 4-door sedan with a great big trunk—certainly big enough to stuff a deer. And one of the men was likely David Svenningsen.
The search at David Svenningsen’s home
After the wardens stopped by the car repair shop and David’s house on Wednesday to learn what they could and put the story together, they got the Maine State Police involved who issued a search warrant. Sometime between 4:00PM and 6:00PM on Thursday, two state police officers and the two wardens were back at David Svenningsen’s home.
They were stunned to find the place overrun with people. David was having a big party. Dick and John went downstairs and found it packed with people. There was the haze of pot smoke in the air. David was in a corner, seated on a folding chair. When he noticed the wardens, he quickly popped several pills into his mouth, swallowing them with a sip from his beer. “When asked about what he had just taken, David said that they were his ‘happy pills.’”
Upstairs, the two staties were announcing to the crowd that the party was over. As people filed out, the wardens could see that the hunting clothes, the hacksaw, and the shotgun were all gone. Warden John returned downstairs where he found Dick cutting the padlock off of the door to the locked room that they had been unable to enter the day prior. The padlock had been facing out, but now it was the other way around. It appeared that David, who “couldn’t remember the combination” and “never opened it,” had just opened it in the past 24 hours.
On the counter they found the faint imprint in the dust of something that looked like an outline of a gun. Perhaps a rifle like Ludger’s Sears and Roebuck .30-30. But more importantly, they found a small, flat piece of steel. They collected it as evidence. They couldn’t be sure, but they thought it looked a lot like a component to a V-notch sight that goes on a rifle.
According to an article from the Bangor Daily News, police took from David’s home guns, ammo, frozen deer meat, knives, sweepings from the floor, the contents of a vacuum cleaner bag, and hair.
Simultaneously the state police were conducting a search at the home of Daniel Collins. During the interview the day prior, David admitted that he was with Daniel in the Buick Special on Tuesday. Daniel Collins had been shot in Vietnam and walked with a cane.
There is a discrepancy between two of our sources about the timing of this search. One source (a report produced by the Maine State Police in 2001) indicates that David and Daniel were simultaneously questioned by the police on Thursday, but that a search was not conducted until a week later. Another source (Open Season) indicates that they were questioned and searched on Thursday. It’s unclear which is accurate.
What likely happened to Ludger
On Tuesday, November 25th, 1975, the day of Ludger’s disappearance, David and Daniel were soused and driving around in Washington toward the end of Maine’s deer hunting season. That morning at 9:00AM, David went alone to Walker’s Garage in Union looking for help with his car’s leaking radiator. He was driving his buddy, Daniel’s, vehicle—a 10-year-old Buick Special that was described by the shop owner as a beater. At his insistence, the garage tried to make a temporary repair, and he was on his way.
He picked up Daniel Collins, and at some point, between 9:00AM and 11:00AM, and they made their way to Washington. There was a single-barrel shotgun in the vehicle and a five-pack of ammo designed for hunting deer—Federal 12-gauge 00 Buck Shot.
They turned off the main drag—Route 105, also known as Razorville Road—and onto a tiny one called Creamer Lot Road.
A hunter emerged from the tree line carrying his rifle. He rested it against a tree and then disappeared back into the woods. A short time later the man reappeared, this time dragging a good-sized buck that had already been field-dressed—just the sort of thing that they wanted to score themselves.
From this point, we can only speculate exactly what happened, but based on the source material and interviews, this is how I imagine it played out.
The man waved to them and asked if they could help him out. He lived just a short distance down the road and was in a hurry to get his kill home so that he could take his wife to work in Augusta. They said, “Sure, no problem.”
They helped the hunter load up the deer in their spacious trunk and invited him to sit down in the back and take a moment’s rest. They got back in the car’s driver and passenger seats. After chatting for a few minutes, they decided they had had enough pleasantries. They leveled their loaded shotgun at the hunter and told him, “Thank you very much” for the deer and instructed him to get out of the vehicle. The hunter protested. He went to grapple for the gun, and the gun went off. The hunter was killed in seconds—a close-range 12-gauge shotgun round can instantly kill a human.
After retrieving the hunter’s rifle, they acted quickly, taking the car back to one of their homes and doing a rough clean-up. They removed the deer and the hunter’s body from the vehicle. The car was barely operable—the radiator was still acting up, and they returned to the shop, where another temporary fix was done. They stayed in the vehicle as the repairs were undertaken and steamed up the cabin to deter the mechanics from taking too close of a look inside.
They stayed in constant motion, cleaning, cutting out the headliner, removing the rear seats, stripping the trunk, removing all signs that a crime had happened in that vehicle. They then abandoned the car in a parking lot and dealt with the remains—butchering the deer, scrapping the car parts, and disposing of the body.
They had only made three mistakes: the receipt for their repairs had fluttered out of the car and been left on the side of the road which placed them at the crime scene and brought the police to their door. Some deer hair had been left on the rear trunk ornament establishing that there was a deer involved. And a single BB of buckshot was left in the rim of the spare tire in the trunk with potentially human hair attached.
That was not enough to support a murder charge.
David Svenningsen’s death
On a Thursday night in July of 1976—the 29th—about 8 months after Ludger’s disappearance—David’s home blew up.
David himself was blown through the front door and was found 10-13 feet from the house by firefighters. His wife, Susan had escaped through a 2nd floor window suffering only minor burns. David had second and third-degree burns covering 60% of his body. The following week, the state fire marshal’s office told the press that they had reason to believe that the fire was a result of foul play. It appeared that the motive was to collect on an insurance policy and to kill his wife.
On Monday, August 9th, David Svenningsen died at 2:30PM in San Antonio. He succumbed to his burn injuries. No autopsy was performed. The investigation into the arson ended with his passing.
Many things died with David—for many, hope that he would one day confess.
Justice for Ludger Belanger
In 2000, Linda sought to have Ludger officially declared dead so that she could finalize his estate and so that she could remarry. As a part of this process, the authorities produced a report that included a detailed summary of the case. The report concluded, “It is the opinion of the Maine State Police that Ludger Belanger was most likely the victim of a homicide.”
On June 20th, 2001, a probate judge declared Ludger legally deceased as of the day that he was last seen alive—November 25th, 1975.
Ludger is survived today by his siblings, his wife, Life, and his daughters, Michelle, Angel, and Tracy. Between the three of them he would have 18 grandchildren today. At least two of those kids bear “Ludger” as their middle names.
His daughter, Angel, has been active on Facebook, creating the page, “Justice For Ludger Belanger,” in 2017. Linda has continued to fight for justice for Ludger. She’s involved with the Maine Cold Case Alliance, which has lobbied for legislation and brought awareness to Ludger’s case alongside many other unsolved murdered and missing victims in the state of Maine.
If Ludger was alive today, he would have just turned 74 years old on November 5th. November 25th, 2024, which this year falls on a Monday—the Monday just before Thanksgiving—will be the 49th anniversary of his disappearance.
If you have information on the disappearance of Ludger Belanger, please contact the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit Central at (207) 624-7143 or toll free at 1800-452-4664. You can also leave a tip here.
This text has been adapted from the Murder, She Told podcast episode, Ludger Belanger: Missing in Maine. To hear the rest of Ludger’s story, find Murder, She Told on your favorite podcast platform.
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Raymond “Frenchy” Belanger, Ludger’s father, on right (findagrave.com)
Ludger Belanger, ~6 years old (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, teenager (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, ~8 years old, leftmost, with siblings; also in headshot (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, ~10 years old (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, senior portraits (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, senior portraits (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, 20, with his bride, Linda, 16 (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger at his wedding (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, with his bride, Linda,(facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, with his bride, Linda,(facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, on left (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger with his wife, Linda (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger, left, their oldest daughter, and Linda Belanger, right (facebook.com)
Ludger Belanger with his daughter (facebook.com)
Linda Belanger, left, Ludger Belanger, right (facebook.com)
Linda with one of her daughters (facebook.com)
Ludger and Linda’s three daughters, Angel, Michelle, and Traci (facebook.com)
Ludger and Linda’s three daughters, Angel, Michelle, and Traci (facebook.com)
Ludger and Linda’s three daughters, Angel, Michelle, and Traci (facebook.com)
Ludger and Linda’s three daughters, Angel, Michelle, and Traci (facebook.com)
David Svenningsen, leftmost (classmates.com)
David Svenningsen
David Svenningsen’s house fire in 1974 (Bangor Daily News)
David Svenningsen’s house fire in 1976 (Courier Gazette)
David Svenningsen’s house fire in 1976 (Bangor Daily News)
Ludger Belanger’s sisters Roseanna and Pauline (Courier Gazette)
Ludger and Linda’s daughters; Angel, Michelle, Traci (Facebook)
Linda (Belanger) Perkins with her late husband’s gravestone, Ludger Belanger (Kennebec Journal)
Sources For This Episode
Newspaper articles
Various articles from Bangor Daily News, Courier Gazette, Evening Express, Kennebec Journal, Lincoln County News, Morning Sentinel, and the Portland Press Herald, here.
Written by various authors including Betty Adams, Emmett Meara, Gene L. Letourneau, Jack Bell, Nancy Dykstra, Paul Betit, Steve Collins, Ted Cohen, and Ted Sylvester.
Online written sources
'Family of Washington man seeks justice 43 years after his apparent murder' (Courier Gazette), 12/10/2018, by Stephen Betts
'MVHS Graduate's 1975 Disappearance Remains Unsolved' (Lincoln County News), 10/9/2020, by Lee Emmons
'Justice for Ludger Belanger' (Facebook), created in 2017, by Belanger Family
'David Brackenridge Svenningsen' (Find a Grave),
'Ludger R. Belanger' (Find a Grave)
'Ludger Belanger' (Doe Network)
'Edna Mae Dyer Belanger' (Find a Grave)
'Raymond N. “Frenchy” Belanger' (Find a Grave)
'Raymond N. “Frenchy” Belanger' (Lincoln County News), 8/31/2011
'Hunter’s disappearance decades ago haunts family' (Portland Press Herald), 11/21/2015, by Betty Adams
Books
“Open Season: True Stories of the Maine Warden Service” by Daren Worcester, published in 2017
Official documents
“Maine State Police letter,” 4/13/2001, regarding Linda’s petition to declare Ludger legally deceased
“Order by probate judge declaring Ludger deceased,” 6/20/2001
“Summons to David Svenningsen” (regarding aggravated assault, from Rockland District Court), 3/6/1973
“Medical record of David Svenningsen” (while at burn hospital) 8/17/1976
NOAA historical weather reports, various
Interviews
Many thanks to Linda (Belanger) Perkins, who spoke with us in detail on background for this story.
Podcasts
“S1 E1 Missing Ludger Belanger,” Locating the Lost, released 11/25/2019
“The Disappearance of Ludger Belanger | Missing in Washington Maine,” The Misery Machine, released 12/7/2020
“S4 E7 Keep Searching for Ludger Belanger,” Locating the Lost, released 11/20/2023
Photos
Photos as credited above
Credits
Research, vocal performance, and audio editing by Kristen Seavey
Research, photo editing, and writing by Byron Willis
Additional research by Samantha Coltart
Additional research courtesy of The Misery Machine
Murder, She Told is created by Kristen Seavey.