Authorities: Husband of missing woman with ties to Easthampton found dead of apparent suicide

By Bob Dunn

For the Gazette

Published: 04-08-2017 5:35 PM

CLARKSBURG — The husband of a missing Clarksburg woman with ties to Easthampton was found dead Friday in what investigators are calling an apparent suicide.

A family member of 42-year-old Charles “Chad” Reidy had asked police to conduct a well-being check Friday at his Halls Ground Road home.

Reidy was found dead in his garage.

“Based on the circumstances discovered at the scene, investigators believe Reidy took his own life,” according to a statement released Friday evening by the Berkshire district attorney’s office.

The statement did not divulge any details about those circumstances nor the manner in which Reidy is believed to have ended his life.

Reidy is the husband of 39-year-old Joanne “Jo” Ringer, who has been missing since March 2.

Reidy gave an interview, which was published in the Gazette on March 30.

In that interview, Reidy said he believed he was the last person to see Ringer alive before she went missing.

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Ringer was expected to start her first shift as a taxi driver in Easthampton the night she disappeared.

Her abandoned car was found in Easthampton on March 6.

In his interview, Reidy said the last time he saw his wife was the day of her disappearance. They had finished their morning chores and breakfast when Ringer got a phone call and left the house to visit someone, Reidy said.

Reidy left to visit friends in Worthington, and when he returned to the house around 1 p.m., he said Ringer wasn’t there. Her phone provider had shut off her cellphone service because of an unpaid bill she disputed, so she could only be contacted when connected to Wi-Fi, according to her family.

Reidy said that when Ringer didn’t come home, he worriedly called her and sent messages. Eventually he drove to Easthampton to look for her, only to learn that she had never come in to work. The next day, he called police to report her missing.

There was no mention from the DA’s office whether Reidy was considered a suspect in his wife’s disappearance.

Ringer’s daughter, Savanah, 19, was interviewed by The Eagle and the Gazette about three weeks after her mother was reported missing.

Savanah Ringer said it is out of character for her mother to be out of contact with family and friends for such an extended period of time and that she was upbeat and excited about starting her new job after a period of unemployment.

“She always keeps in touch and if she takes off it’s for a night or two, to go hang out with a friend or something. She always tells someone where she’s going. She always keeps in touch with her friends,” Savanah Ringer said.

She said she last spoke to her mother two days before she was reported missing.

Contacted by telephone Friday evening, Savanah Ringer said she didn’t know any more at that point than authorities had already released and had only found out about Reidy’s death about 6 p.m.

Since Ringer went missing, a Facebook page was established for people to post and share information and nonprofit organization Halos Investigations has gotten involved in the case and is collecting tips on an anonymous hotline.

Anyone with information regarding Ringer’s disappearance can contact Halos’ tip line at 1-803-599-HALO (4256) or State Police Detective Michelle Mason at 413-499-1112.

Reidy’s death and the disappearance of his wife are being investigated by Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office, the Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services section and the Berkshire Sheriff’s Department with the assistance of the Clarksburg, North Adams and Easthampton Police Departments.

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