Naman Shrestha
Although the episode titled ‘Hiding Beneath the Surface: The Putnam County School Girls’ of ABC’s ’20/20′ primarily focuses on the 1994 disappearance and death of 12-year-old Josette Wright, it also delves deep into the mysterious vanishing of 17-year-old Robin Murphy in Carmel, New York. Due to a lack of evidence, the case went cold for several years before a few breaks led the detectives to a potential suspect, who was already incarcerated for an unrelated crime.
Robin Murphy Had a Lot to Look Forward to When She Vanished From a Shopping Center
Born around 1978, Robin Frances Murphy was the beloved daughter of Judi and Brian Murphy, an elevator mechanic in New York City. Growing up in Carmel, New York, Robin was accompanied by the love and care of her parents, two brothers — Jamie and Thomas — and a sister named Judie. She developed a passion for music, loving to play the guitar and write songs and poetry in her free time. Robin reportedly dropped out of high school and landed a job at the ShopRite supermarket. However, she soon decided to complete high school and pursue her dream of becoming a journalist by enrolling in college. The 17-year-old girl was looking forward to attending the Ramones concert in Poughkeepsie on April 10, 1995. By then, she had also bought presents and candy for her siblings for Easter.
On the evening of April 9, 1995, Robin took her mother’s red Oldsmobile and went to have dinner with her boyfriend, Matt Esposito, who worked at a Burger King in the ShopRite Plaza Shopping Center on Route 52 in Carmel, New York. However, she never made it to dinner and was last seen walking near the shopping center’s parking lot. Later that night, the red Oldsmobile was found abandoned in the parking lot near the Burger King. As for her other belongings, including keys, checkbook, and wallet, they were found in a grassy area behind the shopping center a few days after Robin’s sudden disappearance.
Robin Murphy’s Disappearance Was Linked to Her Friend Howard Gombert
As part of the investigation, the detectives spoke with Robin Murphy’s family and friends to piece together the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. First and foremost, they interviewed her boyfriend, Matt Esposito, who was cleared as a potential suspect, given his concrete alibi and lack of motive. Her mother told the police that Robin told her that she was going to meet Howard J. Gombert, her friend’s boyfriend. At the time, he was 31 years old and worked at the local coin-operated laundromat in the shopping center. As per reports, Howard attempted to take his own life five days after Robin’s disappearance by overdosing on sleeping pills outside his father’s house. While he was recovering in Danbury hospital, the authorities contacted him by telephone.
He claimed he had spoken with Robin for a few minutes and asked her to meet him to get advice about his relationship with her friend. “I thought Robin could talk to my girlfriend for me. We talked for 5 or 10 minutes. Then she said she was going to visit her boyfriend, make a phone call to someone named James, and then come back. I never saw her again,” he added. Due to a lack of evidence, the case soon went cold. A few years later, in 2000, Howard was arrested on charges of sexual assault and child endangerment in connection with his girlfriend and an 8-year-old girl. It is reported that he had previously been charged with first-degree rape twice. One of them was in 1991, but the case was dismissed after the alleged survivor recanted her story.
Following his arrest, the detectives searched his girlfriend’s house in New Milford, Connecticut. Hidden in a suitcase, they found Robin Murphy’s underwear, linking him to her disappearance yet again. In late March 2001, the authorities finally revealed to the public that they had found the “most significant break in this case to date.” When Howard was asked about the underwear during the interrogation, he claimed that he didn’t know how it got to his girlfriend’s home. He had hardly any explanation for the detectives’ questions, and he allegedly tried to lie his way out of it. He was later convicted of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Robin Murphy’s Case Remains Unsolved More Than Three Decades Later
While incarcerated, Howard Gombert allegedly told a fellow inmate about having shared an intimate moment with Josette Wright, a 12-year-old girl who went missing in October 1994 and was found dead in November 1995. The inmate also alleged that Howard talked about Robin Murphy, claiming that the authorities could never find her. Thus, he was also considered a possible suspect in Josette’s homicide case. In April 2024, when unidentified human remains were discovered in Putnam County, many believed that it could be Robin’s.
However, a couple of months later, it was confirmed that they didn’t belong to her. Three decades after Robin’s disappearance, in April 2025, the Carmel Police Chief Anthony Hoffmann claimed that the authorities were still investigating the cold case and following new leads. He also asked the public to help them get to the bottom of the case.
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