Key facts
- Name: Katrina McVeigh (née Thibeault)
- Born: ~1965, Rhode Island
- Age at disappearance: 27
- Last seen: May 3, 1992
- Location: Near Front and Lincoln Streets, Woonsocket, Rhode Island
- Height / build: 5’1″, 90 lbs, brown hair
- Status: Still missing — Woonsocket Police cold case; treated as homicide; foul play suspected
- Investigating agency: Woonsocket Police Department — (401) 769-4444
“You will never find her”
On May 3, 1992, Katrina McVeigh got into a car near Front and Lincoln Streets in Woonsocket and was never seen again. She was 27, a mother of three trying to outrun an abusive marriage, sleeping on a friend’s couch on Second Avenue, buying a new dress for her brother’s wedding.
Nobody reported her missing for six weeks. In the world Katrina was living in — drugs, prostitution, homelessness after fleeing a husband who’d found her even in a battered women’s shelter — disappearances didn’t always get reported fast. By the time her family filed the report on June 17, the trail was already cold.
Then the phone started ringing at her mother Charlotte’s house. Anonymous calls. Distressing ones. One caller said the words that have defined the case for 34 years: “You will never find her.” Charlotte believed the voice belonged to Richard McVeigh — Katrina’s estranged husband.
Who Katrina was
Katrina Thibeault McVeigh was 27, small — five foot one, ninety pounds — with three children she didn’t have custody of and loved fiercely anyway. “She would have never ran off without them,” is how those who knew her put it. She’d tried to leave Richard by going to a shelter for battered women. That ended when he discovered where she was and made such a scene the administrators discharged her. After that: a friend’s apartment, the streets, survival however she could manage it.
She was planning to go to her brother’s wedding. She’d bought the dress.
The husband
Richard McVeigh’s record reads like a warning the system kept issuing too late. A 1989 conviction for second-degree child abuse. A domestic-assault charge in September 1991 that put him in jail for six months. Then, in July 1992 — two months after Katrina was last seen — he was arrested on eight counts of first-degree sexual assault against his own child, crimes committed over several years. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
He told police the last time he’d seen Katrina was January 1992. He denied making the phone calls to her mother. He was out of jail and on the street in the window when she vanished. Woonsocket police treated her disappearance as a homicide and identified persons of interest. No one has ever been charged.
The other women
Katrina’s case doesn’t sit alone in Woonsocket. In the years after she vanished, the small mill city accumulated a grim ledger: Audrey Harris disappeared in 2003, Christine Dumont in 2004 — serial killer Jeffrey S. Mailhot later pleaded guilty to both murders, though neither woman’s body has ever been found. Vicki Connolly was killed in 2007; Michael DuCharme pleaded guilty in 2012. The homicides of Meaghan Paul (1994) and Cindy Roberts (2001) remain unsolved.
Investigators have never proven a connection between Katrina’s disappearance and any of the later cases. But around the time Katrina was last seen, two women were attacked in separate incidents just across the state line near Blackstone, Massachusetts — one abducted at knifepoint who escaped to a police cruiser, another sexually assaulted in St. Charles Cemetery who also got away. Police considered whether Katrina’s disappearance was related. No suspect was ever identified, no connection proven.
Theories: what might have happened
Killed by her estranged husband. The threatening calls to her mother, his history of violence against her and their child, his presence on the street in May 1992, and the homicide classification all point here. What undercuts a charge: no body, no physical evidence, no witness — and Richard McVeigh, serving life for other crimes, has never been charged in Katrina’s case. He is presumed innocent of her disappearance.
Victim of a predator. The Blackstone attacks show someone was hunting women in the immediate area at the immediate time. Katrina — vulnerable, on the street, getting into cars — fit the profile of an opportunistic target. What undercuts it: the attacks’ victims escaped and no link to Katrina was ever established.
She left voluntarily. Briefly entertained, thoroughly discarded: the wedding dress, the children she adored, the total silence for 34 years. Women in Katrina’s circumstances do sometimes disappear into new lives — but they don’t usually manage it without a single phone call home.
Have information?
Contact the Woonsocket Police Department: (401) 769-4444. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- ~1965 — Katrina Thibeault is born.
- 1980s — Marries Richard McVeigh; has three children.
- 1991 — Flees to a battered women’s shelter; discharged after Richard finds her and causes a scene.
- May 3, 1992 — Last seen getting into a car near Front and Lincoln Streets, Woonsocket.
- June 17, 1992 — Family reports her missing, six weeks later.
- Summer 1992 — Charlotte McVeigh receives anonymous threatening calls, including “You will never find her.”
- July 1992 — Richard McVeigh arrested on eight counts of first-degree sexual assault against his child; later convicted, sentenced to life.
- 1992 — Two women attacked near Blackstone, MA; possible connection investigated, never proven.
- 2017 — Woonsocket Call: family still hoping for clues on the 25th anniversary.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Katrina McVeigh still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Katrina McVeigh has been missing for more than 34 years. Woonsocket police treat the case as a homicide investigation, but no one has been charged.
Was Katrina McVeigh ever found?
No. Neither Katrina nor her remains have ever been located.
Was her husband Richard McVeigh charged in her disappearance?
No. Richard McVeigh is serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting his own child — crimes uncovered after Katrina vanished — but he has never been charged in connection with her disappearance and is presumed innocent of it.
Who called her mother and said “You will never find her”?
The calls were anonymous. Katrina’s mother Charlotte believed the caller was Richard McVeigh; he denied it. The caller was never identified.
Is the Katrina McVeigh case connected to the Woonsocket serial killer?
No connection has been proven. Jeffrey Mailhot pleaded guilty to the murders of Audrey Harris (2003) and Christine Dumont (2004), but Katrina vanished a decade earlier and no link has been established.
How can I help?
Share this case file. Anyone with information should contact the Woonsocket Police Department at (401) 769-4444.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Woonsocket Police Department (401) 769-4444; The Charley Project, “Katrina Thibeault McVeigh”.
- News: Woonsocket Call, “McVeigh family still hopes for clues to 25-year-old mystery of her disappearance” (2017); Crimesolverscentral.com (updated 2026).
- Reference: Cold Case New England, “Katrina McVeigh”.
- Media: Dark Downeast, “The Disappearance of Katrina McVeigh (Rhode Island)”; M3: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem, Ep. 39.
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.