Rhode Island Cases 3

Murder of Cranston Woman Still Unsolved

Donna Anthony Fisher was strangled inside her home on Edgewood on December 5th, 1986 in Cranston. She Was found barely alivein an upstairs bedroom of her house but would die in hospital care three days later on what would be her 39th birthday. She had been found by a neighbor around forty five minutes after that neighbor had talked to her on the phone. It was also reported that a telephone wire had been ripped from the wall in the bedroom. Three decades later, the Cranston Police are refusing to let the case grow cold and are looking for more leads and tips.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the detective bureau at (401) 477-5041.

Murderer of Woman Found in Warwick Eludes Law Enforcement

It was June 20, 1987, when Rhonda Lee Travers body was found about 12:40 p.m. in a wooded area next to the Leviton Manufacturing dump in Warwick by an individual walking across the site off of Kilvert Street.   She had been strangled and stabbed to death.  Despite a intensive search no weapons were found at the scene.  Newspaper articles state that Travers had been dragged by her feet from a car to where she was found.  There did not appear to be a struggle at the scene.   The 26 year old had been involved in prostitution.  Some of her belongings were eventually found at a location in another part of town.   Travers was from Providence and lived on Bridgeham Street.  There have been several unsolved murders of woman that were engaged in prostitution in Rhode Island during the time of Traver’s death.  Most of those cases have not been solved.

Several other homicides in town remain unsolved but are believed to be unrelated.  There is the murder of 70 year old Elizabeth Jonah whose deceased body was found lying face-up on her kitchen floor in her home at 4474 Post Road on July 23rd, 1981.

There are shooting deaths that also remain unsolved. On May 27th, 1991 the body of Daniel Reis, was found in the trunk of a car that was in a parking lot at T.F. Green Airport. It is believed that the 38 year old resident of Pawtucket, had been murdered several weeks earlier from being shot multiple times. Several years earlier, the body of 33 year old Robert “Rudy” Meli, was found in a wooded area right off Route 95 just south of Cowesett Road on September 15th, 1986. Meli, had died from being shot at least twice and his last known residence was at the YMCA in Providence.

If you have any information about these cases please call Sgt. Frederick Pierce at (401) 468-4261.

Who Killed Innocent Woman at Laundromat?

It was the evening of March 5th, 2006 Gladys Devillar was stabbed to death as she walked to her car from the Hartford Laundromt at 401 Hartford Avenue in Providence. She staggered back inside the laundromat according to witnesses and asked that the Police be called. She died from a single stab wound to her torso before medical personnel arrived. She was a mother of four children that lived in the Dominican Republic. Devillar who was in her early fifties made a living in the United States while working for a temporary employment agency as well as selling cosmetics to people in the nearby hispanic community. The area where she was killed was a tough area and the killing remains a mystery. If you have any information about this case please call the Providence Police at 401-243-6276.

An Execution and A Grisly Scene

It was a horrible crime scene in front of 169 Pavillion Avenue around 12:40 am in South Providence on June 14, 1989. Police got to the scene of a truck that was on fire. Inside in the passenger seat of the cabin was the horribly charred body of an adult female. According to early media reports, the truck had been abandoned for a year and the victim was found to have been shot in the head. One witness reported seeing a white car that drove away from the area at an intense rate of speed. The victims would be identified as 19 year old Dawn Evans who lived at Holly Court. She was the mother of a young son and was taking college courses at Community College of Rhode Island to be a nurse. She also worked at the Subway Sandwich Shop on Tiogue Avenue. If you have any information about who killed Dawn Evans, please contact the Providence Police Department at (401)272-3121.

Murder of Robbery Suspect Still Unsolved

Twenty-six year old Burrillville resident Donald Abbott found himself on the wrong side of the law. He and four other men were charged with a 1.2 million dollar heist from an armored car in Pittsfield, Massachusetts back on April 9, 1991. Abbott’s luck took a turn for the worse when he was found dead, slumped at the wheel of his vehicle in August of 1993. He had been shot to death by someone from a passing vehicle. Abbott had agreed to testify against his partners in crime in exchange for a lenient prison term. It was a decision that may have cost him his life. The United States Government eventually succeeded in bringing those responsible for the armored car heist behind bars. Three men were convicted and plead guilty and helped the prosecution’s case. The masterminds of the heist, Bernard Kiley and Vincent Lattanzio are still serving time for the crime. Most of the money from the heist has never been recovered. The murder of Abbott to this day is still unsolved. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Rhode Island State Police at 401-444-1000.

A Suspicious Vehicle and then a Murder

Esscence Christal was a twenty-one year old woman from Providence and the mother of a six year old son. Tragedy took her life around 1:45 am on a Saturday morning. On November 26, 2011 she drove a car with two other individuals as passengers; Arney Hepburn and James “Smurf” Perkins. The three were on Broad Street in Providence, when a suspicious dark four door vehicle pulled up alongside the passenger side of their car and shot at them. The car that Esscence was in crashed into a tree and flipped over. She was pronounced deceased shortly after the incident. Perkins was injured in the incident and treated for minor injuries. Who targeted them remains a mystery. A family mourns their daughter and mother. If you have any information about this case you are urged to contact the Providence Police Department at (401) 272-3121 or (401) 243-6406. All calls can be confidential.
There is also a page for her memorial fund on the go fund me page. http://www.gofundme.com/9swou4

Assault Suspect Still on Loose

At 8:05am on February 19, 2009, a female living on Hope Furnace Road in the town of Scituate was assaulted by an unidentified male suspect. The perpetrator threw the woman on the ground but was soon frightened off by the victim’s dog. It is believed that he had an accomplice and that they had planned to burglarize the woman’s home.
The suspect is described as a white male around 30 to 35 years of age. He was around Five foot Nine inches tall and between 170 to 200 pounds. He had brown hair down to his shoulders and his complexion was pocked marked and full of acne. He also had an unusual reddish/purple blemish on his right cheek which could be a possible birthmark. This suspect was also described as having a strong diesel fuel odor on him. At the time of attack, he wore an olive green jacket and blue jeans. If you have any information as to who this suspect may be, please contact Lieutenant Craig W. Hawkins at the Scituate Police Department: (401) 821-5900. All calls can be confidential.

Two Homicides Remain Unsolved in North Kingstown

It was February 16, 1980 when Joanne Lee Reynolds was found murdered in her apartment at 1185 Ten Rod Road. The apartments have been torn down but the 24 year old woman’s murder still remains unsolved. If you have any information, please contact Det. Urban at joannereynoldsnk@gmail.com or by phone at 401-294-3316 ext. 8212.

On Oct. 27. 1986, 19-year-old John Phillips was found a victim of homicide in the parking lot outside of 22 Austin Road. He had been at a house party the prior night viewing Game 7 of the Boston Red Sox-New York Mets World Series. It was only hours later that he was found deceased from a gunshot wound to the head. Various guns, ammunition, and knives surrounded his body as well as tire tracks that were made around the time of the homicide. The weapons had been stolen from the house where Phillips was partying earlier. The area where Phillip’s murder took place is now Swenson Granite. If you have any information about this case please contact Sergeant MacCoy and/or Captain Flanagan via e-mail at johnphillipsnk@gmail.com or phone at 401- 294-3316 extension 8201.

Federal Hill Shooting Still Cold Forty Years Later

It was August 12th 1973 when at 9:15 that evening, 42 year old Joseph Comella was shot to death. The Johnston, Rhode Island resident was shot just moments after he parked his car on Bradford Street. He was shot several times in front of the “Old Cantina” Restaurant on Atwells Avenue. The father of two was unarmed and died hours later at Rhode Island Hospital. The fatal wound was a gunshot to his stomach. Three teenagers were seen running from the area of the homicide but it is not known if they were considered suspects. At the time of the murder, Police believe Comella may have been shot from about two feet away with a pistol of unknown caliber.

Joseph Comella was a tough guy. He was an an amateur boxer in his youth and about two years earlier had been charged with simple assault on another man (unknown if he was ever convicted). The part of the city where his murder took place (Federal Hill) has had a few high profile mafia/mob hits up until the nineteen nineties. It is unknown if Comella’s murder was an assassination.

If you have any information about this case, you are urged to call the Providence Police Department at (401) 272-3121.

Providence Man Slain

On December 30, 2005, 32 year old Johnny Jimenez was found unconscious on Cornwall Street right near the Rhode Island School For the Deaf. He ended up the 22nd homicide of 2005 year in Providence. He had been shot and his 1997 LandRover had been taken from him. Police believe he had been killed elsewhere and his body dumped there. The Providence man who lived at 17 Burnett Street had talked to family members earlier that day. Police want to know who he may have been with that Friday afternoon and evening.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Providence Police Department at (401) 272-3121 or (401) 243-6406. All calls can be confidential.