Nashua Police Still Seeking Tips, Searching For Woman Missing 3 Years

NASHUA, NH — April Jean Bailey, a Nashua mother, has been missing for three years.

Bailey was last seen leaving her basement apartment at 45 Lynn St. in the evening hours of Jan. 15, 2020, while carrying the trash outside. When she was reported missing, she was living with her boyfriend.

Bailey, 39, is white, about 5 feet, 3 inches tall, and around 130 pounds. She has long black hair and blue eyes. Bailey was wearing dark pajama bottoms or black sweatpants, slippers, and a black jacket with fur. She also has a butterfly tattoo on her right shoulder as well as the word “sister” and the names “Damien,” “Savahna,” and “Manuel.”

Bailey was reported missing by her family on Jan. 20, 2020, after family and friends had not been in contact with her for a few days. Her cell phone, purse, and other personal belongings were all left inside her apartment.

Det. Lt. Joshua Albert of the criminal investigation division for the Nashua Police Department said the Bailey case was “still an open investigation,” and she had not been found.

“We’re still working actively on the case,” he said. “We still get tips occasionally but certainly not with the frequency during the year after it happened.”

A body found on Fisherville Road in Concord in October 2020, was suspected to be Bailey but was quickly ruled out after police identified the woman.

After about a year of searching for Bailey, the FBI joined the investigation. Both agencies labeled her disappearance suspicious.

The FBI, in a Tweet in mid-March 2021, noted she had ties to both Boston, Massachusetts, and Glen Falls, New York, although no specifics were given about the other locations and how they were connected to the case.

In April 2021, the Nashua Police Dive Team and firefighters, as well as New Hampshire State Police K-9 units, searched a body of water at the end of Burke Street, the Joyce Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. The agencies, along with a police drone unit, were acting on a tip connected to the case.

The area near a parking lot next to an abandoned building was searched for several hours, but nothing connected to the investigation was found.

Albert said the search of the wildlife sanctuary “wasn’t a waste of time or a lost cause,” even though nothing was found, “because it ruled it out.” Often searches, he said, are not just a business of whodunit — they are an effort to rule things out.

In September 2021, People Magazine featured the case as part of a series of missing moms around the United States.

Past press reports have noted Bailey struggled with substance abuse. She had also been arrested by police several times. However, according to family members, Bailey was clean and sober when she disappeared. Family members also said she has never just up and disappeared as she did on Jan. 15, 2020.

Albert said he would not comment on whether any suspect officially had emerged. He said the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office was “reviewing the facts and circumstances of the case.”

Albert said the department had put a lot of resources toward this case, even if the expended resources “might not be covered or seen by the public,” and Bailey had not been found. But, he added, “it happens and it is happening,” noting the department had worked with outside agencies, dogs, boats, helicopters, and as many as 30 staffers.

“Even for a small clue or evidence,” he said, “that’s a lot of resources.”

Albert said there was a sighting report about a month ago, but “it didn’t pan out.” Tips have taken investigators not just to water bodies not far from Lynn Street, but around New Hampshire and New England.

“We have a really good agency,” he said. “We take investigations very seriously.”

Anyone with information or who knows the whereabouts of April Bailey should contact the Nashua Police Department at 603-594-3500 or they can remain anonymous by contacting the Nashua Crime Line 603-589-1665.

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