Live To Tell: The Year We Disappeared

POLLY BUSBY: When John became aware in the recovery room, his eyes fluttered some and then he started going from tube to tube. And then he realized he couldn't talk. And I saw a look in his eyes, almost of, you know, "I -- I can't talk."

And then he saw me sitting there. And he wrote, Don't leave me like this.

He didn't want to be on a respirator or be an invalid like that and if the choice came I needed to let him go. I needed to let him die. I said, "You can't leave me here. You can't leave me with these three kids. I can't be left alone. You have to stay. You have to come back. We'll make it."

CYLIN BUSBY: He couldn't speak, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't eat, he couldn't even drink water. I mean, he couldn't do anything because they had wired shut what was left of his face.

Once I saw him, I thought, "Wow, they really meant to kill him." And I remember going to bed some nights and I would just lay in bed and think, "My dad? Everybody likes my dad. Who could wanna kill my dad?"

My father knew the instant that he was shot who was trying to kill him. And he was able to communicate that to the officers who were on the scene.

RICK SMITH: When I first saw him, he was shaking, shaking like a -- a dog and he was holding the towels up to his face and I asked him, "Who did this, John?"

CYLIN: And he got out a pen and a notebook that he always carried with him and he wrote: not an accident. Mel Reine.

POLLY: John did not see who shot him. But he knew exactly who would want him dead.

RICK SMITH: Melvin Reine was in the trash-hauling business.

POLLY: He had contracts all over Cape Cod and it was very lucrative.

RICK SMITH: He was a convicted arsonist. He had a reputation of getting even with individuals by sneaking in the night and burning properties. His favorite saying was "I smell smoke."

CYLIN: "I smell smoke." Which meant, you know -- without directly threatening -- it meant "there's going to be a fire in your future. Your house, your car, whatever. I'm going to burn something of yours."

Melvin Reine was also suspected of murder. He was suspected of killing three people and in two of those cases the bodies have never been recovered. Melvin Reine was married to a woman named Wanda Medeiros Reine and in 1971, she went missing. He claims that he dropped her off at the bus station and she was never seen again.

About a year later, a teenage boy in Falmouth, named Jeff Flanagan, went missing. He was dating a 17-year-old girl who had been babysitting for the Reine family who Melvin was also interested in.

RICK SMITH: Jeff Flanagan was found shot to death. His body was recovered in a cranberry bog directly across the street from Melvin Reine's home.

CYLIN: And then, a former employee of Melvin Reine's, a 17-year-old boy named Paul Alwardt, was set to testify against Melvin in a grand jury arson investigation. The police promised that he would be protected. They escorted him to the Martha's Vineyard Ferry where he had some family and stay there until the trial. He got on the ferry. He didn't get off.

RICK SMITH: Melvin Reine basically walked free on all of those accounts I think, because people were afraid to prosecute him. And I'm talking about policemen afraid of him because they had families, and they'd go to bed at night and you don't know if he's gonna burn the house down with your kids in the house.

POLLY: I knew that the police chief's car had burned in his yard and everybody assumed that it was, you know, Melvin but nobody could prove it.

CYLIN: I think Melvin Reine considered himself untouchable and that extended to his immediate family. So if the police tried to give a ticket to anyone in his family he would march into the police station and have the ticket torn up and have it erased from the log book.

My dad was either brave enough to take on Melvin Reine or he was foolhardy enough to take him on. If you broke the law, he didn't care who you were, who you were connected to, you were going to get a ticket, you were going to go to court. So he definitely had run-ins with them.

My dad was conducting traffic at a road block at a fatal accident and Melvin Reine's brother, John Reine was there in his semi and instead of waiting for the scene to be cleared he just decided to drive straight through the accident scene and he actually hit my father with his truck. He went to his house and arrested him and charged him with assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

RICK SMITH: And just prior to that court hearing, John Busby was shot. I thought instantly that Melvin Reine had shot him. And that we were gonna start after Melvin.

CYLIN: I think there were a lot of cops on the force who wanted to go straight to Reine's house and just drag him out. But there were a lot of other people, people who were in positions of power who were really too scared to -- to do anything about it.

RICK SMITH: I would challenge anyone to go to any police department, and ask the question, "If one of their officers was shot in the line of duty, what would they do?" And I can tell ya the response will be they're not gonna stop investigating that crime until an arrest is made.

This did not happen in the town of Falmouth when John Busby was shot.

CYLIN: [In] the police log from that night, you know the local paper does the log of accidents -- fight in progress, disorderly group, noisy house. At the hour of my dad's shooting there was nothing. They didn't put it in. They took it out of the police log. I mean, they've got everything else in here: "dog barking, two drunks near Russell and Falmouth Heights." Every single teeny thing in town is here and for some reason the police log doesn't state, for that night, that a police officer was shot.

RICK SMITH: To my knowledge, the Falmouth Police Department never interviewed Melvin Reine regarding the John Busby shooting.

POLLY: I've often wondered just exactly how this little guy could get away with the stuff that he got away with without even being questioned.

RICK SMITH: It was clear to a lot of us that there was something behind the scenes that was much more powerful than Melvin Reine. Melvin Reine had something on someone. Whether he was paying people in envelopes, or whether he had pictures from some sort of sexual act, he had something on somebody. He clearly had so much control that the police didn't go after him.

Nobody was going to do anything about a crime involving Melvin Reine.

KELLIE COLLIER-DRISCOLL: My uncle John did not want to die. My Uncle John wanted to live and live to take care of what happened to him. Their biggest mistake was they didn't kill him. That was their biggest mistake.

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[tahanto1]

Did I read that the toen selectmen won't move on clarifying this mess? Has anyone looked into who owned the car that was used?

[ladyelaine10]

Well shizzdaboss, Jeff Flanagan happened to be my cousin. He didn't deserve what happened to him. He was no trouble maker. He happened to fall in love with the wrong girl.(Reine's young babysitter). Remember the one Reine done away with his wife for? Jeff never caused anyone harm. He give you his last dollar. He didn't deserve to die the way he did. I remember my Aunt Verna Collins sitting at my mom's kitchen table telling the story 30 plus years ago. She's dead, but I'm not. AND there is NO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS for murder in the state of Mass. Heard of DNA? Heard of reopening of COLD CASES? I personally would love a front row seat to watch Melvin Reine in the chair. He doesn't deserve to breath the same air as a law abiding citizen. Thant's what I think and know to be true. In fact, there is money on this being reopened. Aunt Verna and Jeff deserve this much.

[jtschau]

I've read the book 'The Year We Disappeared" after watching this and it answer many of the questions that's been posted here, especially why it was 'allowed'. John Busby stated quite clearly that he knew when he was shot, that there were members of the Falmouth PD who must had helped Reines and could not be trusted. Even so, he knew several he did trust and they guarded his family at home, and him when his was in the hospital. The book also revealed that one of the FPD did in fact give the Reines the duty roster so they would know when and where to ambush John Busby. Corruption of this scale could not have been perpetrated without the knowledge of the Chief of Police and from the book, it is apparent that this corruption had occurred long before Busby joined the force. This brings back memories of what happened in the '70s to NYPD Frank Serpico. Sad how little has change.

[tahanto1]

And the beat goes on...My family and I have experienced a Reine type character and the injustice rings throughout the court system in Barnstable County. So who's to say what a person should do or not do and "be greatful"? Really?

[Buckeye Barbie]

Okay, I am so steamed right now! shizzydaboss has to be related to this Satanistic Killer! Talk about lives being ruined? My Aunt refused to leave Falmouth until Reine and his Evil Family were brought to justice over my Cousin, Jeff's death. She ended up dying in Falmouth. The pain this Family has put not only my Family, but numerous others through. Jeff was only 17! And finding out that Shirley May (Souza) Reine's Sister put up a Memorial Site on Virtual Memorials in honor of Shirley and Melvin just plain sickens me. Shirley was with Melvin when he killed Jeff and had the odasity to show up at Jeff's Funeral start telling my Aunt Verna the vial things they made Jeff do before they killed him. Give me a break when you expect Sympathy for Evilness! I want to see a Movie made of all of this and am praying that Falmouth cleans up it's Town and compensates the Busby Family, which would not be enough in my opinion.

[novitz]

Thank you to Cylin and John Busby for writing this book, for sharing with the world the evil that can be caused by fear, cowardly non-action and blatant corruption. Thank you also for showing us (quietly; without any great drama) how you overcame your devastating trauma, and for giving us some insight into the people you are today. Amazing. The picture of John Busby sitting awake night after night, gun resting on his knee - just waiting - will not ever leave me. My admiration for all of you knows no bounds. You are remarkable people who deserve only happiness. It would be good to know how Eric and Shawn are now; whether they are happy and well. Thank you again, Busby family. Sheila McLaren

[cliffps]

In 1967, a Federal jury in Meridian, Miss., convicted 7 Klansmen of conspiracy in the deaths of the 3 civil rights workers. I'm just wondering if SOMEhow, in this particular case, a Federal authority could possibly intervene here, leading maybe to some acceptable level of compensation for the family at the expense of Mel Reine's estate, regardless of whether or not he's turned it over by now to another family member. I mean if the business was so lucrative, I'm sure some legal entity can attach and lien to his estate somehow? I certainly hope all avenues of pay-back under the law have not yet been exhausted! And to think, nobody else in this Reine family has enough common decency to help compensate these poor folks in any way after what their own relatives have done. I imagine they all just looked away and laughed at this poor family back then, too sad. How in hell do they live with themselves?

[susiedaversa]

We NEVER NEVER miss 48HRS, we watch it as a family. I have to say that this particular one scared me to death. I felt the pain and fear of this family. It was so well done. I never thought that your producers could top yourselfs, but you did. I had to actually walk away and watch it later after I had prepared myself for this incredible story. Hats of to the staff of 48hrs. May God Bless this incredible family.
Susan

[andrew_693]

that town sure sounds like a bunch of pussssssies and hicks.

[scoobydoopat]

cosmoCA, I have to agree with you. I taped this program on my DVR. While it was an interesting story, it could have been told in 10 minutes. The producers really stretched out this story. I skipped to the end of the program just to find out the ending to the story.

[berniepeders]

What puzzles me is that NO ONE in that town, whether a cop or a civilian, had the brains and/or guts to just wait somewhere and ambush that sOn oF a *** (Reine). I doubt if the police dept. would have spent much time on that investigation either.
Peace

[cbsblogger]

In the old west when a bully came to town and harassed it and the townspeople, they and the sheriff got together and disposed of the bully. They should have done that with this Reine guy years ago.