Missing woman sighted in Millinocket

MILLINOCKET – Two more sightings of a Massachusetts woman missing since March 16 have been reported in the Katahdin region, but the woman still has not turned up or responded to media appeals to phone home, police said Wednesday.

An employee at Millinocket Regional Hospital told police that she saw a white 2005 Subaru Legacy station wagon with Massachusetts plates and a Brown University sticker on the back window as she left work late last week, Officer Kevin Ingersoll said.

She reported the sighting to police at about 3 p.m. Friday, shortly after the women’s disappearance started making local TV news. If genuine, the sighting matches the description Newburyport, Mass., police provided of the vehicle driven by Michelle Harrison, 53, of Newburyport, Millinocket Police Chief Donald Bolduc said.

The hospital worker remembered the car because she drives the same type of vehicle, Bolduc said.

“You know how people notice the same cars that they drive? It was one of those deals,” he said.

Another sighting was reported by workers at the Blue Ox Saloon on Penobscot Avenue, Bolduc said.

Ingersoll’s was the first reported sighting of the woman. He was off-duty in Miller’s Department Store buying a pair of pants on March 23 when he saw her. He said hello to her and she walked away with out saying anything, he said.

The woman remains missing, with only the town sightings providing any clue as to her whereabouts, Newburyport police said Wednesday.

As far as investigators can determine, Harrison is not a crime victim. Nor is she suffering from any ailment or personal problem that would explain her absence, Newburyport police have said.

She is a special education teacher at a private institution. She seldom misses work, has three adult children and enjoys a healthy family life. Harrison has no ties to the Katahdin region that anyone, including her grief-stricken family, is aware of.

Harrison apparently left her home on March 16 carrying a house key and a car key, Gagnon said. She left some money behind. EZ Pass hits traced her car along Interstate 95 north to the Hampton, N.H., tolls, where she was last tagged heading south at 10:44 p.m. that day. She was reported missing the next day.

Anyone who might have seen her or her car, which carries Massachusetts license plate 7644PA, is asked to contact Newburyport police at (978) 462-4411 or Millinocket police at 723-9731.