Chartier, 17 years old at the time of her disappearance, was believed to have been last seen at 2 a.m. shortly after driving her then fiancee home from a party in Billerica.
Her disappearance is classfied as a "nonfamily abduction" according to websites that track missing "cold case" files such as the Charley Project.
Some neighbors like the area like Joanne Graziano were unsure about what was happening as the search was underway.