Bear Brook, Season 3: A Private Matter
A Christmas tree farmer with dementia disappears. His wife never reports him missing. Can anyone find out why?
A Private Matter is a five-part series from Bear Brook about what happens when family estrangement and the growing dementia crisis conspire to create an epic tragedy of humble proportions, spawning a criminal investigation and a supernatural search for answers.
New episodes on Wednesdays starting October 21, 2026.
Listen to the trailer
S3, Episode 1
Jay Hickey's home and Christmas tree farm on McCoy Mountain in Epsom, N.H. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
A Christmas tree farmer with dementia named Jay Hickey vanishes from his small town in rural New Hampshire. Jay's wife Patty never reports him missing. A tipster claims "a lot of strangeness is starting to emerge" – and they're right.
S3, Episode 2
Jay Hickey, center, with two of his children, Emily, right, and Jon, left, in 2000. (Courtesy of Emily Hickey)
Jay's daughter explains how she finally realized her father was missing and shares another side to Patty most people don't know. Police make a new discovery about the timing of Jay's disappearance.
Resources for dementia caregivers:
This story by my colleague Olivia Richardson, NHPR's health and equity reporter, includes a list of resources for caregivers looking for support in New Hampshire.
Here's another list of tips from PBS' Independent Lens documentary series on Alzheimer's, "Matter of the Mind."
—Jason Moon
Jay Hickey, right, dances with his daughter Emily at a wedding in 1990. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
Jay Hickey, right, and his daughter Emily in 2014. (Courtesy of Emily Hickey)
The Epsom, N.H. police department. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
The Epsom, N.H. town offices where Patty and Jay Hickey both worked. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
S3, Episode 3
Joe Murphy drives past Jay Hickey's home in Epsom, N.H. (Jason Moon)
A volunteer sleuth digs into Jay's case and reveals a surprising connection to a major figure in the world of astrology, a "Spiritual Sparkplug" named Isabel Hickey.
A photo of Jay Hickey his wife Patty gave to police for the missing persons report. (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System)
Volunteer sleuth Joe Murphy at his home in Deerfield, N.H. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
Joe Murphy gazes at the grave of his mentor, the astrologer Isabel Hickey, in Nottingham, N.H. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
Astrologer Amy Shapiro at her home in Gloucester, M.A. (Jason Moon)
Amy Shapiro's shrine to her mentor, Isabel Hickey. (Jason Moon)
WATCH: Jay Hickey was interviewed about his grandmother, Isabel, on Manchester Public Television's "Turn to the Stars" in the fall of 2013, about 10 years before he disappeared.
S3, Episode 4
Cathy O'Mara's notes from a phone call she had with Patty Hickey. "I found him, but he was dead," it reads, in part. (Jason Moon)
More than three years after Jay's last known sighting, some in the family suspect foul play. Police explain why they haven't charged Patty with a crime. Then, a strange phone call leads to a new search. Could Jay still be found? The science of search and rescue offers some clues.
Cathy O'Mara, the Hickey family's longtime former babysitter. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
Cathy O'Mara holds up an older photo of one of the Hickey children standing near the old foundation on their Epsom, N.H. property. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
Cathy O'Mara looks at pictures of her wedding party, which included some of the Hickey children. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
A photo of Kay Danko as a bridesmaid in Cathy O'Mara's wedding. (Raquel C. Zaldívar/New England News Collaborative)
The remains of an old foundation on the Hickey property in Epsom, N.H. where Patty Hickey allegedly told Cathy O'Mara she had found her husband Jay's body. (Jason Moon)
Lost Person Behavior by Robert J. Koester
This book is written as a kind of field-manual for search and rescue planners. (In charge of the effort to locate a missing mountain biker? Turn to page 214.) But even as a non-professional, it still made for a fascinating read. It starts with a discussion of what it means, exactly, to be lost, then drills into the sometimes surprising behaviors that make each type of lost person unique.
—Jason Moon