A former Washburn police officer pushed for the Maine State Police to take over the case of missing woman Attiin Shaw, according to new details that have emerged about the case.
Shaw, a native of Indonesia, moved to Washburn with her husband, Mike, and four children in 2020 and was reportedly last seen in September 2021 at her home.
She is one of several people who have gone missing in Aroostook County. Her disappearance has drawn publicity in Indonesia and on social media, where a page is dedicated to searching for her. Investigators have shared few details, but former Washburn police officer Hunter Bellanceau is speaking out about inconsistencies that prompted her to ask state police to step in.
Bellanceau believed the original 2021 missing persons report wasn’t taken seriously enough, and in March 2023 she contacted the Maine State Police Major Crimes unit for help, she said in an interview this month.
“There has been no sign of life since her disappearance,” Bellanceau said. “Her passport has not been used or updated, she does not have any [Social Security number] attached to anything stating she’s working anywhere and every lead we got was always a dead end.”
Time is crucial in missing-persons cases, and Shaw would have had a better chance if the case had received serious attention earlier, she said.
Bellanceau was not part of the initial investigation, but became involved two years ago when several Washburn residents shared concerns with her. Some said an Indonesian family had contacted them seeking help finding Shaw, according to Bellanceau’s March 9, 2023, police report, which she shared with the Bangor Daily News and The County.
A cousin of Shaw’s told Bellanceau the family was last in contact with her in August 2021, the report stated. Usually active on social media, Shaw had stopped posting. The cousin also said Shaw’s husband, Mike Shaw, told family members he had reported her missing in October, according to the document.
However, Bellanceau learned from a state police detective that Mike Shaw did not report his wife missing until November 2021, stating he had not seen her since Sept. 8, 2021, she wrote in her report.
Former Washburn Police Sgt. Chandler Cole told Bellanceau he had talked to Mike Shaw, who said his wife was working on a cruise ship, Bellanceau’s report stated. However, Mike Shaw reported not remembering the name of the ship.
“Due to the information that has been given to me and based on my training, education and experience I find this case to be odd,” Bellanceau stated in her report. “If his wife were to be working on a cruise ship for almost three years now how could he not know the name of the ship?”
Bellanceau also contacted the Indonesian Embassy, Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security and was waiting for their replies, her report stated.
A community member also told Bellanceau that she visited the Shaw home in December 2021 and found it messy, with trash and a dark stain on the plywood floors, according to the police report.
Bellanceau attempted to meet with Mike Shaw, but he declined every interview she tried to set up, she told the BDN/The County. He and the children still live in Washburn, she said.
Cole, the sergeant who reported speaking to Mike Shaw, was also involved in the investigation of another Washburn disappearance, that of Erik Foote, who was found dead last spring. Cole was charged in 2024 with falsifying records and other charges in that case. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in September, but in a new agreement with the state on Jan. 24, he pleaded guilty to tampering with public records and unsworn falsification. Charges of forgery and falsifying evidence were dismissed.
The Maine attorney general’s office said it could not specify whether Cole was being investigated as part of the Shaw case, but there are no pending charges against him, spokesperson Danna Hayes said on Feb. 14.
More than 600,000 people of all ages go missing every year, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, which falls under the U.S. Department of Justice and is the only national database of missing, unidentified and unclaimed people.
Shaw first appeared in the national system in March 2023, where she is identified as a now-37-year-old Asian woman who is 4 feet and 7 inches tall, has black hair and eyes, weighs 110 pounds, and was last seen in Washburn on Sept. 8, 2021.
She is also on the Maine Department of Public Safety’s missing persons database.
Maine State Police are still probing Shaw’s disappearance. Few details are available since it is an active investigation, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said on Feb. 14.
“This investigation is active and ongoing and work continues to be done on this case to include following up on all leads,” she said. “If anyone has any information in regard to this case they should contact Major Crimes Unit North at the Houlton Barracks at 532-5400.”
Investigators visited Washburn in March of last year, and had not discovered any alternative addresses or information to indicate Shaw was living elsewhere.
The case has drawn attention in the Indonesian community. A Feb. 16, 2024, article in the Indonesian Lantern, an American newspaper, reported Shaw’s husband returned home from shopping in September and she was gone.
Shaw’s last contact with her family was a conversation with her sister, Anita, in August 2021, in which she said she was going to look for work, the newspaper reported.
In a letter to his wife’s father, Mike Shaw indicated she had a mental breakdown, according to the article.
Locally, the Facebook page Where is Attiin Shaw? launched a year ago to share information on the missing woman. As of Friday, the page had more than 2,200 followers.
Attempts to locate Mike Shaw for comment were not immediately successful.
In the two years since Bellanceau reported on the case, Washburn has dissolved its police department and she no longer works in law enforcement. But she hopes increased attention will help locate Shaw.
“She’s someone, and she’s missing,” she said. “Her family deserves answers, and she deserves justice.”
