Two Brutal Slayings in 1973 Still Remain Unsolved
It was the sound of a three month old baby crying that alerted a neighbor to call police to a second floor apartment at 58 Intervale Road in the small city of Fitchburg around 9pm on the Sunday of the 30th of September in 1973. Inside Police found the slain bodies of Joanne Muldoon and her roommate Debra Johnson. The two were both twenty years old and the baby who was found unharmed was the son of Muldoon. They had died from stab wounds to the neck and upper body. They were not sexually assaulted.
The murder weapon was never found and at the time, police were interested in talking to a young white male with long blond hair who had been see near the scene of the crime on Saturday. That person was eventually identified as a suspect but there was never enough evidence to charge him. He was eventually convicted of stabbing a woman in the western part of Massachusetts. He served his time and was released from prison.
Several other murders that involved a knife took place in the area that went unsolved. Some of those cases have strong suspects but not enough evidence for a conviction. If you have any information about this case, please call 978-353-2307.
(Sources: Viewer submitted information and archived newspapers)
Horrific Murder of Au Pair Haunts Those That Knew Her
Every decade there is always a murder that stands out in Boston. In the 1990s, it was the brutal death of 20 year old Karina Holmer that caused fear in the minds of young clubgoers. The 20 year old was from Sweden and had come to America to work as an au pair (nanny). The last moments of her life remain a mystery. She was seen by friends at the Zanzibar Nightclub in Downtown Boston on an early Saturday morning of June 22, 1996. Within 2 days, some of her remains were found and it was determined that she was strangled and her body cut in half. The top half of her remains had been found in a trash bin by a homeless person behind a Boston apartment building on Boylston Street in Boston. The lower half of Holmer’s body has never been located.
The case has baffled Law Enforcement. Many people were interviewed, including the family that employed her and people she had met during her short stay here. A twice convicted murderer was also questioned but the case remains cold.
She had last been seen trying to get into the Zanzibar nightclub at 3am shortly before it was closed. She and several of her friends (other au pairs) had consumed a substantial amount of alcohol that evening. There is also speculation about a letter Horner had sent to a friend in Sweden that she may have been in trouble. However, Horner never got the chance to write that friend another letter to explain “the bad thing that had happened.”
Was she killed by a random stranger or someone she knew? Was the mutilation a sadistic act by the killer or a means of disposal?
Anyone with information in this cold case is urged to call the Boston Police Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470. You can remain anonymous.
(Sources: Boston.com)
Slaying of Airport Employee Tied to Criminal Ring?
Susan Taraskiewicz was a Northwest Airlines ramp supervisor who had a difficult job. She endured sexual harrassment and threats by co-workers at Logan Airport. On September 12, 1992 around 1AM, she left work to get food for her co-workers and suddenly disappeared. Days later, on September 14, her body was found stuffed in the trunk of her car (a blue Toyota Tercel) in front of an autobody shop in the town of Revere on Route 1A. Taraskiewicz who was from the town of Saugus, had been beaten and stabbed to death. Around the time of the murder, several of her co-workers were arrested and convicted for an illegal stolen credit card ring. It is believed that at least two of those that were convicted may be responsible for the 27 year old woman’s murder. One of the men plead guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the murder investigation. To date, there has been no arrests in this homicide. For more information about this case visits these links. Boston.com article .
There is a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible for this murder. You can call the Massachusetts State Police at (617)660-4600.
Man Found Murdered in Basement of own Home
Murder of Khemrith Sok It was April 23rd, 2001 when 41 year old Khemrith Sok was a victim of homicide in the basement of his home in Lowell. Police arrived at 43 Sutherland Street near the Dracut town line around 4 pm after Law Enforcement received a telephone call reporting an attempted abduction and robbery at the house. Sok’s wife had been bound by the home invaders. A family member told police that Sok was violently robbed, hit with a gun, and put into his own car where he was kidnapped. Few details are available in Khemrith Sok’s murder and some just don’t add up.
If you have any information about this case, please call the Lowell Police Department at (978) 937-3200.
Two Friends and Foul Play, Is there a Connection?
It was in the early morning hours of May 16th, 1982, when 19-year-old Brenda Lacombe left her grandmother’s apartment in Lowell and seemingly vanished. The single mother of a nine month old boy, her body would be found deceased weeks later behind a stone wall on the side of Littleton County road in Harvard. She was partially naked, badly beaten though no cause of death of was actually determined. Police believe that after she left the Francis Gatehouse Elderly Housing Project on Moody Street in Lowell, she may have been picked up or abducted. Police believe that she was murdered outside of Lowell. She did have a checkered past as was rumored though not confirmed to have used illegal drugs and possibly engaged in prostitution. Authorities believe that she may have also been a topless dancer at a strip club nearby.
In a bizarre twist, a friend of LAcombe’s, 17 year old Judith Chartier would disappear on June 5, 1982 (a day or two after Lacombe was found) after she attended a party in the town of Bilerica. She was last seen driving a Black 1970’s model Dodge dart. She and her vehicle have never been found. There are several suspects in this case, to read more visit http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/chartier_judith.html
If you have any information about the murder of Brenda Lacombe, contact them at (978) 937-3200. If you have any information about the disappearance/murder of Judith Chariter, contact the Chelmsford Police Department at 978-256-2521. All calls can be confidential.
Death of Teenager Overshadowed by Other Well Known Cases
The Cold Case murders of Molly Bish, Holly Piirainen and Lisa Ziegert are still remembered by many people despite decades going by. Unlike their cases, the case of Tammy Marie Lynds seems to be forgotten. The fifteen year old was last seen the evening of July 21, 1994, when she left her house in Springfield. Three months later on November 4, her remains were found in a forested area which was several feet from the east side of Fox Road. A cause or manner of death has never been determined. What happened remains a mystery. But there are other things that her family and police want to know. When she was last seen, Lynds told her younger sister that she was going out to meet a boyfriend. According to her sister (who was the last to see her) Lynds was very nervous about going out. In the months after her death, a personal diary revealed that she had been harassed by some patrons at some nearby bars when she went out to meet the same boyfriend. What happened and who did it continues to elude Law Enforcement.
For more information about this case please visit http://hellsacres.blogspot.com/2012/06/18-year-old-fox-road-murder-mystery_18.html .
If you have information about this case please contact the Massachusetts State Police at (413) 505-5993 or call the Springfield Police Department at (413) 787-6355.
Cold Case of Woman’s Murder Leaving Bar Escapes Justice
On February 28, 1978, 23 year old Julie Campbell was stabbed to death as she walked towards her residence on 25 Ellery Street in Cambridge. She had just left a bar called Plough & Stars, which was located at 912 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge. There were two other unsolved murders in the area three years prior that could be related. Twenty-five year old Paul Pschick was stabbed to death by two would be thieves by his residence at 29 Lee Street on March 25, 1975. Within a week of his homicide, a forty-eight year old woman named Carol Peterson was stabbed to death in her apartment at 13A Ware Street. She had been a victim of robbery. In Campbell’s murder, nothing was stolen from her.
If you have any information about this case you are urged ti contact Tom Shamshak at 1-800-422-0944 or reach him via email at TShamshak@aol.com. For more details about this case please visit a website dedicated to her http://juliecampbellmurder.com/ . Her family wants justice and answers.
What Happened to Young Boston Boy?
On May 9, 1983, nine year old Wilfredo Torres was last seen at the 500 block of Columbia Road in the Upham Corners are of the Dorcehster neighborhood of Boston. According to the child’s mother, he was outside looking for bottles. He was described at the time as being four feet tall and seventy pounds. He was a hispanic (racially mixed) male with brown hair and eyes. Prior to his disappearance, he had told someone that he was going to buy candy from a local man. This same person was previously arrested and tried for the crimes and sexual assault and murder. He was never charged with Wilfredo’s disappearance but the connection is disturbing. For more information about this case visit http://charleyproject.org/case/wilfredo-torres
If you have any information about this case please contact the Boston Police Department at (617)343-4200. You can remain anonymous.
Connecticut River Dumping Ground For Organized Crime?
Every year in both Connecticut and Massachusetts, bodies are found in or alongside the Connecticut River. Some of those found are suicides, others are accidental drownings and falls. But for decades, the river has been a convenient way for organized crime to leave grim messages to those that deal with them. The Connecticut 1989 solved murder of New England Mafia underboss William “The Wild Man” Grasso is perhaps the most famous of these homicides.
In 1972, two homicide victims were found in the river within a month of each other. On June 23rd, the corpse of 25 year old Gary Dube of Agawam, Massachusetts was found near the ferry dock in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. He was stuffed in a plastic laundry bag with his feet tied together and he was wearing an empty gun holster on his hip. The cause of death was two gunshots to the back of the head. It is a gruesome killing and it looks like it’s a gangland killing. An arrest is made and Francisco Soffen is convicted of Dube’s murder as well as that of another man named Stephen Perrot. He is sentenced to 2 life sentences in prison.
But it is the murder of 28 year old Victor De Caro that still is the talk decades later. DeCaro of Longmeadow, Massachusetts was the former host of the “Living Room Lounge” in Agawam. He was also the son-in-law of former Springfield Mafia boss, Francisco “Skyball” Scibelli. DeCaro was no stranger to the law, he had served a few years in prison for committing manslaughter. He was last seen alive on May 22 but his bullet riddled body was found in the Connecticut River near Windsor, Connecticut just weeks later on July 3rd. His body was found wrapped in a tarp and soon rumors persisted that he ran afoul of a powerful mobster. To date his murder is unsolved.
Murder Still Haunts Family Members Decades Later
It was the morning of June 27, 1974, when 22 year old Lois Centofanti was last seen alive. That is other than the person(s) that brutally took her life.
At time she had been staying at a Charlestown YMCA while she looked for employment so she could move into her own place. Later that day at 4 p.m., here severely beaten body was found floating in Lynn Harbor near the General Edwards Bridge and the public fishing pier. She was fully clothed and an autopsy determined that despite trauma to her face, she was strangled to death.
Her brother is still traumatized by the case and wants justice. Years later it was reported that friends of Lori Centofanti had received notes telling them to “Keep your mouths shut.”
It is possible that she may have known her killer. It is also possible it could be random. IF you have any information about this case please call the Lynn Police Department at 781-595-2000. You can also leave an anonymous tip at the website http://www.lynnpolice.org/
Retired Police Officer Slain
It wasn’t easy for Gail Miles. She was the first black woman in the Watertown Police department. She was an officer for twenty years. Towards the end of her career she sued the police department for discrimination, as well as sexual and racial harassment. After filing a complaint with the state commission against discrimination in 1997, Miles financially settled a civil suit in 2001, she would retire years later in 2004.
The 60 year old was beaten to death in her apartment on 8 Wardman Road in the Roxbury section of Boston in early December of 2011. Police found her body after a wellness check was requested on her by a friend. She was found in the second floor apartment in her kitchen. The beating that she had taken was brutal, some could say that it was personal.
To date, no suspects have been named. But the possibility arises that it could have been someone that took issue with her when she was a police officer. That someone could have been an individual that she may have arrested and sent to prison.
If you have information about this case, please contact the Boston Police Department at (617) 343-4470.
For additional information about this case please listen to a WBUR Radio report by Bruce Gellerman at this link https://www.wbur.org/2015/05/04/watertown-gail-miles-boston-murder
Murder of Woman Has Persons of Interest But No Arrest
On March 3, 1999 thirty-six year-old Mary Morales disappeared after leaving her work place in Springfield. The next day she was found murdered next to a guardrail at Exit 4 of Interstate 91 in Vermont. Her body was stripped naked.
Law Enforcement in both Vermont and Massachusetts believe Morales was killed in Massachusetts. They also theorize that she may have been slain as an act of retaliatory violence against her then boyfriend. The boyfriend was known to be involved the illegal drug world and this may have been done to send him a message.
However, Departments from both states continue to investigate the decades old homicide. If you have any information about this case please contact the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit at (413) 747-4809 or the Vermont State Police: (802) 244-8781. You can remain anonymous.
Sixteen Year Old Disappears Two Decades Ago
James Lusher Jr. had planned to take a bike ride to the town of Blandford, Massachusetts on November 6, 1992. The teenager from Westfield was going to watch a bicycle race that day. HE never made it. Days later his bike was found near a pond in a wooded area of Westfield. A search turned up nothing. At first it was believed that Lusher may have run away. He had some behavioral issues as well as having the mental capacity of a twelve year old child. However, as time has passed, it is likely that he was a victim of foul play. One such suspect could have been Louis Lent. Lent was convicted of killing 12 year old Jimmy Bernardo from Pittsfield. Lent was eventually caught when a passerby thwarted his attempt to kidnap a young girl. Lent is a suspect in the disappearance of several boys and girls in the New York/New England area. There are other people of interest that may have harmed Lusher as well. However, their names have not been made public. Please contact the Westfield police department at 413-562-5411 if you have information about this case.
Double Murder Still Leaves Wealthy Town Uneasy
Up until 2011, the town of Andover had gone twenty years without a homicide. On the Wednesday morning of December 14, 2011, the peace and tranquility of the town were shattered. John Magee who was 69 year old and his 67 year old wife, Geraldine were found shot to death in their million dollar mansion located on 7 Orchard Crossing. Their bodies had been found by their grandchildren and daughter. Caroline had died of a single shot to the head, her husband suffered wound to his head, neck and chest. The couple’s SUV Vehicle had been found in Boston’s North End the night before, it was lit on fire. It is possible that the car being lit on fire could have been a diversion. Magee was a real estate developer, his wife a retired teacher and Realtor. Police have been very tight lipped about the investigation and very little is known about the case. However, it does look like a very planned out crime and will not be easy to solve. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Andover Police Department at 978-470-3864. You can remain anonymous.
No Answers In Bizarre Traffic Death Just North of Connecticut
November 9th 1998 at 8am, 16 year old Ashley Turniak was found dead on the breakdown lane of I-91 south in Longmeadow, Massachusetts just 1½ mile from the Connecticut border. The well liked teenager from Agawam had been seen in her high school parking lot before her first class started at 7:25 that morning. Less than an hour later, witnesses reported that she went feet-first from the passenger window of a car heading south towards Connecticut. Her backpack was found on Woodlawn Avenue in Enfield, Connecticut not far from a highway exit. At the time of her death witnesses reported that she was in a tan or light brown mid-size vehicle, possibly a late 80s model Ford Tempo or a vehicle similar to that. After Turniak’s fall, the car was seen leaving I-91 at Exit 49 in Connecticut. More than two decades later many questions persist, was she pushed or did she fall? Who was the driver? A still grieving family and Massachusetts State Police want to know. If you have any information about this case please call (413) 747-4809.
(picture: courtesy of Hampden District Attorney Office)
More than 25 Years Later Young Boy is Still Missing
Nine year old, Taj Narbonne was petrified of his stepfather Clarence Dean. The two did not get along. On March 31, 1981, he left his on Naples Street in Leominster home after an alleged argument with Clarence. He has not been seen since. He was last seen wearing a yellow jacket with blue sleeves, and a yellow sweatshirt with a picture of Donald Duck on it. There are conflicting reports as to whether he had shoes and socks on. Years later, his stepfather was convicted of kidnapping Taj’s mother. Years later he was convicted of another crime as he shot at a police officer and took two hostages. Taj’s disappearance has been classified as a non-family abduction and is possible that he could have been abducted by someone other than Dean. If you have any information about the whereabouts of Taj Narbonne, please call contact the Leominster Police Department at 978-537-0741.
Wife Still Missing Years After Argument with Husband
Thirty year old Debra Marie Melo was last seen by her husband Luis Melo on June 20, 2000 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Around the time of 3 to 4 pm that day, Luis Melo claimed that the two had an argument and that she demanded to leave the vehicle which was on route 18 south of the Weymouth Naval Air Station. Luis claimed that he later drove by the same road but she was nowhere to be found. The couple is alleged to have a rocky marriage and at one time she filed a restraining order against Luis. Debra’s family insists that that she didn’t just wander off. They claim she wouldn’t have left behind her two children. For more information about this case please visit The Charley Project Website. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Massachusetts State Police 781-830-4800.
Murder of Married Mother of Three A Cold Case Three Decades Later
It was a cold day during December 1989, when married mom of three, Susan Simoni left her job as a medical secretary to do some errands. She was set to retrieve the family dog from a groomer and then pick up her daughter Alicia from a dance class. The dog was picked up at 5:20pm that day and that was the last anyone saw of Simoni alive with the exception of her killer.
The Thirty Seven year old’s body would be found the next day inside the family’s Jeep Grand Wagoneer which had been parked behind The Mall at Walpole. A victim of homicide, Simoni had been shot twice in her chest by someone wielding a.38- caliber firearm.
Attention would soon turn to her husband and twice there were attempts to indict him for murder but charges were not brought. Investigators in the case stated that Susan had planned to divorce her husband and that her husband had owned a firearm similar to the one that killed Susan. An article years seventeen years later in the Boston Globe quoted Simoni’s children stating that their father was innocent of killing their mother. It is not known if there are other suspects in this murder but if you have information in this case please contact the Worcester District Attorney’s office at 508-755-8601.
Dorchester Man Murdered Yet Thousand Dollars in his Possession Is Not Touched
Dorchester Murder VictimIt was around 11:30 pm on August 14, 1985, thirty-two year old James Filbert was fatally shot in an apartment he was renovating at 176 Minot Street in the Dorchester section of Boston. The married father of two succumbed to a wound to his abdomen and the Boston Police at the time could not find a motive for the slaying. Robbery has been ruled out because a thousand dollars in his pocket was still there. Another troubling point is that despite a witness hearing gunshots, no perpetrator was seen. Filbert often spent his time working on the apartment which was only a few streets from where he lived on Westglow Street. Decades later, the case is cold as ice.
However, there are blood relatives of Filbert who have suspects of their own. They believe that James Filbert may have known who killed him.
If you have any information about this case please call the Boston Police Department at (617) 343-4470.
To see an autopsy of this case click here Filbert autopsy Boston
Released From Prison A Month Prior, A Father of Two is Gunned Down
After serving a lengthy prison term for drug trafficking, 41 year old Jermaine Taylor was freed from prison only to fall victim to an unsolved murder. The father of an 11 year old daughter and a then unborn child, he was found murdered on the side of General Patton Drive in Hyannis. He had died as a result of gun violence. According to newspaper articles, Taylor had a difficult upbringing and rough life. He was however, dedicated to his family and was trying to live a clean life and find work after serving his prison term. Law Enforcement have not said if Taylor’s prior activities may have had something to do with his homicide. If you have any information about this case please contact the Barnstable Police Department at 508-775-0387.
Stabbing Remains Unsolved
It was around 2:10am in the morning on November 22, 2006 when police were summoned to Dudley Street and Kenilworth Street in Boston for reports of a person gravely wounded. Law Enforcement would find 49 year old Deborah Douglas critically injured from a stab wound to the abdomen area. She was taken to the Boston Medical Center where she died from her injuries. Boston Police are asking the public for any information about this cold case homicide.
You can contact the Boston Police Homicide Unit at (617) 343-4470. To remain anonymous, you can call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (800)-494-TIPS. It’s been around fifteen years, and her family wants answers and justice.
Murder of Married Mother A Cold Case. Can DNA Make A Breakthrough?
Maureen Bayliss was a 21 year old mother of two daughters when her badly bludgeoned, stabbed and beaten body was found during the early morning hours of November 1st, 1976. She had been found partially clad in clothing by railroad tracks in the city/town of Chelsea by children.
Police believe that one of the weapons may have been a board but not the weapon used to stab and slash her. Hours before, the resident of Everett had gone to Boston with her husband and his friend. They had tried to go to a discotheque but did not get in. According to a newspaper article, the couple had an argument and parted ways. She had last been seen at Kenmore Square in Boston and she was supposed to take public transportation home. When she was found, she still had money on her, which led police at the time to believe that robbery was not a motive.
Her husband reported her missing at around 2am and had expected her home but Maureen never made it. Her daughters still have questions about the mother that they never got the chance to know. Maybe there is DNA that will provide answers…
If you have information about this case, please call the Chelsea Police Department at 617-466-4855.
Savagewatch - Unsolved Crime 