The Lobster Boat Returned Alone - Where Was Lisa Zeller?

The Lobster Boat Returned Alone - Where Was Lisa Zeller?

Fear that someone vanished in plain sight: a thirty-two-foot lobster boat returned to port with a rinsed coffee mug upside down and sixty dollars tucked beneath it, its owner nowhere to be found - and a satellite tracker that went silent fourteen nautical miles from home. Who heard nothing that night, and what did the fresh gouge on the bow hide?

In this episode, we tell the timeline of Lisa Zeller’s last trip, the instruments and people who tracked the Maren B., and the small, concrete mysteries left behind that refuse to add up. How did a routine lobstering run turn into a disappearance with a perfect return and almost no physical explanation?

Person: Lisa Zeller Age: 38 Vessel: Maren B. Date: July 16-19, 2011 Distance from home when SPOT went dark: 14 nautical miles

- The SPOT satellite device transmitted normally until 23:47 on July 18, then stopped fourteen nautical miles northeast of Portsmith. - The Maren B. was found tied to the municipal float at 05:30 on July 19 with every light off and the wheelhouse locked. - A rinsed coffee mug was found upside down on the drainer with $60 in cash beneath it. - Fuel readings: full when the boat departed; a quarter tank when checked on return, consistent with the filed trip of ~120 nautical miles. - A fresh gouge on the port bow estimated to result from a strike at 12-15 knots, showing white-edged wood with no oxidation.

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