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.
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