Key facts
- Name: Doreen Jane Vincent
- Born: September 30, 1975
- Age at disappearance: 12
- Last seen: June 5, 1988, between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m.
- Location: Whirlwind Hill Road, Wallingford, Connecticut (her father’s home)
- Height / build: 12-year-old girl; brown hair, brown eyes; small mole on abdomen, double-pierced ears
- Status: Still missing — Wallingford Police Department, open investigation
- Investigating agency: Wallingford Police Department
The argument
Ten days. That’s how long 12-year-old Doreen Vincent had been living with her father and stepmother on Whirlwind Hill Road in Wallingford, Connecticut, before she vanished.
Doreen had decided to move in with her father, Mark Vincent, and his wife Sharon in late May 1988. She was supposed to start eighth grade at West Woods Christian Academy that fall. But rural Wallingford wasn’t Bridgeport, where she’d lived before and where her friends were, and almost from the start she and her father argued.
On the evening of June 5, 1988, they argued again. What happened next depends entirely on whose account you believe — and there is really only one account, because the only other person in the house that evening was the man telling it.
Mark said he last saw Doreen in the kitchen at 8:00 p.m., then went into his workshop. Sharon was at church. At 9:00, Mark said, he checked Doreen’s bedroom and she was gone — walked out the front door, he said, with some money and extra clothing, after their argument. When Sharon got home at 11:30, he told her Doreen was missing.
Doreen has never been seen again. She would be 51 years old today.
The story that kept changing
Almost immediately, the father’s story started coming apart.
Mark was known for a violent temper, and he admitted to investigators that he had pushed Doreen into a window, breaking it. His wife Sharon told police she didn’t believe his version of events — and she had a specific reason. Their front door had a deadbolt that could only be opened from the inside with a key. A 12-year-old girl storming out through it in the middle of an argument, the way Mark described, didn’t fit the hardware.
Then came the silences. Mark visited his mother, Lorraine Vincent, a few days after Doreen vanished — and never mentioned that his daughter was missing. He never told Doreen’s mother, Donna Lee, either. Lee had planned to pick Doreen up on June 17; when she called Mark’s house, no one answered. He had removed the phone from the wall. On June 18, Lee drove to the house herself. Mark told her, unconcerned, that Lee herself had sent Doreen to her maternal grandparents’ house. He didn’t want to report her missing. Lee insisted.
Later that summer, Sharon and Mark separated, and Mark moved out of the Wallingford home without leaving a forwarding address with police. Investigators couldn’t find him for some time.
About a year after Doreen disappeared, police searched the Bethel home of Mark’s mother, Lorraine — a house he visited often. They found some of Doreen’s belongings there, including articles of clothing Mark had said she took with her when she walked out. The clothes she supposedly left wearing were sitting in his mother’s house.
They also found a gun, legally registered to Sharon. Mark, a convicted felon, was charged with felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to two years in prison — on charges unrelated to Doreen’s disappearance, but born directly from the investigation into it.
The investigation
Authorities initially treated Doreen as a runaway. She had run away once before, hitchhiking to her mother’s home, and she was openly unhappy in Wallingford. That classification cost the case its most critical hours and days.
But as investigators looked harder, the runaway theory collapsed. A truck matching the description of Mark’s vehicle was reportedly spotted in Huntington State Park after Doreen disappeared; Mark said he was never there and claimed he could prove it. Beyond her father, persons of interest over the years have included a family friend and, in the early 2000s, the serial killer Hadden Clark — convicted of murdering a young woman and a six-year-old girl, and claiming nine more victims along the East Coast. Police investigated Clark for Doreen’s case among others; he was never charged in connection with it, and investigators remain unsure he had anything to do with her. Another suspect named in case summaries is a family member with a history of pedophilia, who has never been charged.
Mark Vincent has never been charged with any crime related to his daughter’s disappearance. He maintains his innocence and has said publicly that he is frustrated at being the center of attention every time the case resurfaces. Others close to him have voiced doubts that he caused Doreen’s disappearance. Sharon died in the years after Doreen vanished.
What is not in doubt: authorities no longer believe Doreen ran away. The circumstances of her disappearance, the Charley Project notes, “remain unclear.” Thirty-eight years later, no one has been arrested, and no trace of Doreen has ever been found.
Theories: what might have happened
She was harmed by someone in the home that night. This is the theory the physical details point toward: the deadbolt that undermines the “walked out the front door” story, the father’s admitted violence that same period (the broken window), the clothes found where they shouldn’t be, the two weeks of silence toward her mother, the removed phone. It is also the theory with a presumption that must be stated plainly: Mark Vincent has never been charged, denies involvement, and the evidence has never reached probable cause.
She ran away and met harm elsewhere. The initial police theory, and the reason the case lost its early momentum. It has little left supporting it: Doreen’s supposed packed clothes were found at her grandmother’s, she never contacted her mother (whom she loved and had run to before), and she has never surfaced in 38 years.
A third party — Hadden Clark or another predator. Clark was in the region and has claimed other victims, but police could never connect him to Doreen. The “family friend” person of interest was never charged. These remain possibilities without evidence, and must be labeled as such.
Have information?
Contact the Wallingford Police Department at (203) 294-2800, or the Wallingford Police Investigative Services Division at (203) 294-2845. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- September 30, 1975 — Doreen Jane Vincent is born.
- Late May 1988 — Doreen moves in with her father Mark and stepmother Sharon on Whirlwind Hill Road, Wallingford, CT.
- June 5, 1988, 8:00–9:00 p.m. — Last seen at her father’s home; Mark says they argued and she walked out the front door.
- June 5, 1988, 11:30 p.m. — Sharon returns from church; Mark tells her Doreen is missing.
- Days later — Mark visits his mother without mentioning Doreen is missing; never tells Doreen’s mother.
- June 17, 1988 — Donna Lee plans to pick Doreen up; calls go unanswered — the phone has been removed from the wall.
- June 18, 1988 — Lee drives to the house, learns Doreen is missing, and insists on a police report.
- Summer 1988 — Sharon and Mark separate; Mark moves without leaving a forwarding address.
- 1989 — Police search Mark’s mother’s home in Bethel; find Doreen’s clothing Mark said she took with her, plus a gun; Mark sentenced to two years as a felon in possession.
- Early 2000s — Serial killer Hadden Clark investigated as a possible suspect; never charged.
- 2025 — Dark Downeast podcast covers Doreen’s case (January 2025).
- Today — Still missing. No arrests ever made.
FAQ
Is Doreen Vincent still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Doreen Vincent has been missing for 38 years. The Wallingford Police Department case remains open, and no one has ever been charged.
Was Doreen Vincent ever found?
No. No trace of Doreen has ever been found, and her case remains unsolved.
How old would Doreen Vincent be today?
Doreen was born September 30, 1975. She turned 51 in September 2026.
Why didn’t police investigate sooner?
Doreen was initially classified as a runaway — she had run away once before and was unhappy in Wallingford — which cost the case its critical early days. Her mother didn’t even learn she was missing until June 18, thirteen days after she was last seen, because her father never told her. Authorities no longer believe she ran away.
Was Doreen Vincent’s father ever charged?
Mark Vincent was never charged in connection with Doreen’s disappearance. He was sentenced to about two years in prison on an unrelated felon-in-possession firearms charge that arose from a search of his mother’s home during the investigation. He maintains his innocence.
Who was Hadden Clark?
Hadden Clark is a convicted serial killer who claimed to have killed nine other women and children along the U.S. East Coast. In the early 2000s, police investigated whether he was involved in Doreen’s disappearance. He was never charged in her case, and investigators are unsure he had anything to do with it.
How can I help?
Share this case file. If you have any information, contact the Wallingford Police Department at (203) 294-2800.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: The Charley Project, “Doreen Jane Vincent” (investigating agency: Wallingford Police Department, 203-294-2800).
- News: Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) coverage of the Vincent case; Connecticut Magazine cold-case coverage.
- Reference: The Doe Network, Case File for Doreen Jane Vincent; NamUs.
- Media: Dark Downeast, “The Disappearance of Doreen Vincent (Connecticut)” (January 2025); Where Are They? podcast, “ON THIS DAY: Missing Doreen Jane Vincent” (2024).
Corrections (October 2026 fact-check): minor — Dark Downeast episode corrected from 2023 to January 2025. Disclosure: three details in this article rest on limited sourcing and are presented as hedged claims, not established facts: the reported truck sighting in Huntington State Park (Mark Vincent’s denial noted), the early-2000s Hadden Clark investigation (he was never charged; police remain unsure of any connection), and the “family friend” and “family member with a pedophilia history” persons of interest (named only in case summaries, never charged). These are kept in the article as case-history context, not as evidence. Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.