She went missing in New England in 1946; 77 years later, her case remains cold
On Sunday, Dec. 1, 1946, Paul Welden left her college campus in Vermont, telling her roommate she was going for a hike. She never returned.
Nearly 80 years later, the disappearance of the 18-year-old Bennington College student, which directly led to the formation of the Vermont State Police in 1947, remains unsolved.
At the time of Welden’s disappearance, the struggle to find her showed a desperate need for a dedicated law enforcement agency to investigate missing people in Vermont. Investigators from Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York were all called in due to the limited police services available in the Green Mountain State. A year later, the Vermont State Police was formed.
“VSP was born out of tragedy, the still-unsolved disappearance of 18-year-old Bennington College student Paula Jean Welden in late 1946,” Vermont State Police wrote in a Facebook post on the 75th anniversary of the agency’s formation in 2022. “The case ultimately rallied Vermonters and their political leadership to launch the Vermont State Police after many years of hesitation and debate.”
In the decades since Welden went missing, the cold case has haunted the college and state authorities alike. The area where she went missing around Glastenbury Mountain has been called the Bennington Triangle in the wake of her and four others’ disappearances between 1945 and 1950, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.
Friday marked the 77th anniversary of Welden’s disappearance. Information on the college student continues to be submitted to Vermont State Police. However, she is still listed as a missing person, and her case remains cold.
Welden was last seen on the afternoon of Dec. 1, 1946. Several hikers reported seeing her on the Long Trail just off Route 9 near Glastenbury Mountain. She was reported missing by her roommate the following morning after she did not return to campus, according to Vermont State Police.
An extensive search of the area did not show any signs of Welden. Investigators were called from out of state, and numerous theories were explored, but no conclusive outcome was ever determined, Vermont State Police noted.
Anyone with any information about Welden’s disappearance is asked to call Vermont State Police’s Shaftsbury office at (802) 442-5421.
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