Did An Affair Cause Man To Violently Lose his Life?
The last time 33 year old Frank Cannon was seen alive was Friday evening on October 1st, 1982. He had gone to a political meeting on Hope Street on the east side of Providence. His 1976 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight was found the next day on a road near a sand pit used by Pawtucket Ready Mixed Concrete Company. The area was along the Blackstone River. Cannon’s body would be found by his sister in law. He had been shot several times.
Cannon was a counselor that worked for Urban League of Rhode Island and was involved in many community organizations and mentored many youths.He also served as a campaign aide for Republican Mayoral candidate Frederick Lippitt. Years before his murder, he and his family experience threatening phone calls and even had two of their dogs shot to death outside their home in the Roger Williams housing projects in the southern part of Providence. Nearly a year earlier, Cannon was forced into a car by two males where he was shot five times. Alive, he was dumped on the Gano Street exit ramp of Interstate 195 in Providence.
Cannon never did say who the men were that harmed him, but rumors have persisted for years that he was involved in a romantic relationship with a woman whose father disapproved of the two dating. The man in question was a businessman who is believed to have had ties to Rhode Island Organized Crime. That man in question is now deceased and police have never confirmed or denied that was a motive for murder.
There was however, a major piece of evidence from the bullets indicate that the same gun used to kill Cannon was used in the November 29th, 1980 murder of 13 year old Mary Francis “Frankie” Harvey from Providence. The troubled runaway’s body had been found in a sand pit in Wrentham, Massachusetts. She had previously lived at the Marathon House which was a shelter in Providence. Providence and Wrentham Police were investigating the murder. Both murders have many similarities and in both cases, robbery was not a motive due to money and jewelry being found on the deceased.
INFORMATION SOUGHT: There was a note found in Mary Harvey’s possession that mentioned someone named Sharon. Detectives would like to talk to this person. There is also a person (possibly white male in his 20’s) who went by the name T-Man. He is alleged to have been a sex trafficker.
If you have any information about Cannon’s case, please contact the Pawtucket Police Department at (401) 726-3911.
If you have any information about the murder Mary Francis Harvey contact the Wrentham Police Department at (508) 384-2121.
Married Father of Three Killed by Hit and Run Driver
It was 2:35 a.m on November 14th, 1986, when a vehicle moving at a high rate of speed struck and killed a 34 year old Terrence O’Reilly on Allens Avenue in Providence. The married father of three young children was standing alongside his pickup truck which was parked. He was thrown about 65 feet and pronounced Dead at the scene. He was in the process of walking across the stret to the Orient Express restaurant which is also near Toronto Avenue. O’Reilly was an HVAC Technician for the Providence School Department and lived with his family on Indiana Avenue. At one point there were persons of interest yet, no one has ever been arrested for his death.
If you know who the person is that killed Terence Reilly (also known as Terry), please contact the Providence Police Department at 401- 272-3121. If you don’t wish to talk to the police you may contact us at this website.
A Daytime Errand and then Murder
On June 17th, 1969, sixteen year old Louise McMillen left her family’s summer home in the Bonnet Shore Neighborhood in Narragansett. She went to return some clothing she had purchased at Kenyon’s Department Store in Wakefield section of South Kingstown. The Providence teenager never made it back to see he family alive. Her blue colored Buick Skylark was found abandoned on Oak Dell Street. Nearly a month later on July 8th, her remains were found off of Broad Rock Road. A knife was found at one of the crime scenes and her case is a homicide. There are several persons of interest in this case.
If you know anything about this case please call the South Kingstown Police at 401-783-3321.
A Murder Forgotten and a Killer Never Caught?
Pawtucket Murder Victim February 1st, 1947 was the date that 17 year old Rita Bouchard was found brutally murdered in the woods near a lover’s lane in the mill town of Pawtucket. The area was near the Ten Mile River about a hundred feet from the riverbank and near the Notre Dame Cemetery. She came from North Providence and even though a suspect was questioned, no arrest has ever taken place. Bouchard was brutally killed as she was stabbed around 30 times and had her throat slashed by someone with a dagger. There were no signs that Bouchard was sexually assaulted. The weapon was retrieved but forensics at the time could not find the person who used it to kill Rita Bouchard.
There is an in depth article at the Asylum Antiquarian here https://medium.com/the-asylum-antiquarian/a-fiendish-murder-the-rhode-island-cold-case-you-never-heard-of-e353771e8bcc#.9a0xlqi80
A Brutal Crime Scene and Still No Arrest
It was June 8th 1998 when a warehouse worker for Eastern Bearings Inc. made a horrible discovery behind a building at 862 Eddy Street in Providence. A body wrapped in a rug. Police would later find the naked and bloodied body of Michelle E. Hazard, 29, of 82 Sassafras Street in South Providence. Her body had been wrapped in bloody sheets found near a dumpster. Police believe that the mother of six children had her body dumped in that location hours earlier during the night.
If you have any information about this case please contact the Providence Police Department at 401-243-6276.
Who Left Baby Miriam Angel for Dead?
It was July 22, 2000, when a horrible discovery was made at a the Grappa Restaurant at 525 South Water Street in Providence. After noticing a foul odor, a police officer discovered the body of a female newborn infant in a black bag in the Providence River. Due to the decomposition of the body, the cause and manner of death were never able to be determined. In other words it is unlikely that whoever left the unidentified baby will ever be charged with homicide because it cannot be determined if the child was a stillborn or a murder victim. The deceased child’s race is not known, though she did have black curly hair. The umbilical cord of the baby was still attached to the body as well. The mother nor father has ever come forward to claim the unknown child. It is possible the body of the child was placed several miles up the river from another location. The baby was given the name, Miriam Angel even though she is also referred to as Baby Doe.
This Child deserves a name and if she was murdered. Justice. If you have any information about who this child may be. Or who her parents are. Please call the Providence Police Department at 401-272-3121. You can remain anonymous.
Did Someone Get Away with Murder?
Hillary Hellewell was a 22 year old URI (University of Rhode Island) student that was found dead on a sidewalk that was in front of 25 Anthony Street around 4:15 am on May 19th 1985. The Medical Examiner would rule that the Jamestown resident was strangled. Police did have some persons of interest, which included a man that she had been seen in company with just hours before she was found deceased. She had been seen leaving a friend’s apartment at 1 Friendship Street. At the time of her murder, she wore a a white pullover sweater with a blue design on the upper third, a pair of white painters’ pants and sneakers.
On March 22nd of 1980, the naked body of Diane Drake was found on Easton Beach of Newport. The nineteen year old had last been seen walking from Valley Road in Middletown to her job at the Photo Patio Booth the afternoon prior. She died from strangulation and blunt force trauma. For more information about this case please click here.
If you have any information about these two murders please call the Newport Detective’s Bureau at 401-847-8300.
Two years earlier in an unrelated case, 24 year old Deborah A. Stone of 157 Maton Avenue of Providence was found murdered in the Narrow River in Narragansett on September 2nd, 1984. She had been strangled and her nearly naked body was wrapped in a sleeping bag that had been weighed down by a cinder block. Her remains were found about 300 yards north of Middlebridge Road. She is described as a white female who had reddish-blonde hair and had a tattoo of a marijuana leaf on her right wrist. Around the time frame of her murder, there were many other women in Rhode Island that were murdered by strangulation, however, Law Enforcement at the time felt her case was not connected to those. If you have any information about this murder, please call the Narragansett Detective Bureau at 401-789-1093.
Professional Dancer Who Planned for Career in Beauty Industry Brutally Slain
Kim Morse was a native from York, Maine that was earning money at the Foxy Lady Gentleman’s Club in Providence. Aside from dancing, the thirty-two year old was taking classes at the Warwick Academy of Beauty Culture in the town of Warwick. In the early morning hours of January 19, 2000, police believe she was ambushed and brutally murdered. She had been stabbed numerous times and her bathroom (where her body was found ) had been set on fire using gasoline.
Morse had lived for several years at the Brick Manor Condominiums at 5 Garibaldi Road in North Providence.
According to earlier media reports, Police have struggled to find a motive and have not connected her death to her dancing at the club. A Law Enforcement official in North Providence was quoted as saying that Morse lived “a drug free” lifestyle. She also had goals and wanted to move to Florida once she graduated.
The Podcast “Murder She Told” did an excellent episode on this case which talks about some known and unknown persons of interest. https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/kimberly-morse
If you have any information about this case, you are urged to contact North Providence Police at (401) 231-4533. You can remain anonymous.
Homicide In Park Has Neighbors on Edge
Warwick City Park is a place where people go to unwind. They go biking, walking, running or sit and relax to escape the stress of everyday life. Sometime between the evening of May 16th and the early morning of Mary 17th of 2013, someone came to the park and committed a murder. Around 10:20am, Warwick Police arrived at the park to investigate the homicide of 66 year old John “Jack” Fay. He had been bludgeoned to death with a hammer and was stuffed in a trash barrel that had been covered with brush. The location where he was found was near the trails he would run daily. Fay was an avid runner who used the bike trails often at the park. Police believe there was a violent struggle and that the assailant(s) might have been injured. It is possible that there could have been more than one attacker. Fay was a retired postal worker who served in Vietnam who had a loving family. They want answers and justice.
The Fay Family are offering a $25,000 dollar reward for information that will lead to an arrest/conviction of the person(s) responsible for this homicide. If you have information about the murder of John Fay, please contact Sergeant Mark Canning at the phone number of 401-468-4236. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can call the TIPS line at 401-732-8477.
UPDATE February 12th 2019: 33 year old Michael Soares of Pawtucket has been charged with the first degree murder of John “Jack” Fay. The investigation is still active according to Warwick Police.
Small Town Murder Still Talked about in Town
The town of Warren often does not see crimes such as murder. For decades the unsolved slaying of 60 year old shopkeeper Amon Jamiel. Police were called to the residence of 33 Miller Street on March 19, 1978. Family members had just come back from a birthday party in Newport and discovered Jamiel shot eleven times in the bathtub. Police believe that the weapon that might have been used was a 32 caliber revolver that was kept in the victim’s general store that he owned. That gun has never been recovered. There were no signs of a break in. In the months prior to the homicide, Jamiel had reported that someone had stolen money from his store and that there was no forced break ins. Six days before his murder, Jamile’s store suffered severe damage from an arson fire.
For years, attention has focused on certain family members of the victim which has created major rifts amongst his relatives. For more information as to who some of the suspects might be visit http://caught.net/cases/jamiel.htm . To date the murder is still unsolved, it was nearly four decades before the town of Warren had another murder (parents killed by their adult son). The case still remains open and investigators hope to solve it. If you have any information about who gunned down Amon Jamiel, you are urged to call the Warren Police Department at 401-245-1311.
Brutal Killing of Baby Still Haunts Public
Rhode Island has had some very notorious crimes. The 1975 horrific abduction and murder of five year old Jason Foreman of South Kingstown by his 15 year old neighbor Michael Woodmansee was every parents worst nightmare. Four vicious murders in Warwick (Rebecca Spencer, Joan Heaton and her two daughters Jennifer and Melissa) by then teenaged killer Craig Price, made people believe in the boogeyman. But it is the unsolved murder of a four month old baby in Pawtucket in 1984 that made Rhode Islanders question humanity.
On November 11, 1984, Jeri-Ann Richard was reported missing from the 452 Main Street apartment she lived in with her parents Ralph and Donna Richard. The parents claimed that a possible individual had climbed through a window of their two story apartment and kidnapped their daughter as they slept in another room. The abduction garnered national news attention and then just days later, her badly beaten body was located in an alley that was less than a block from where she lived. Her skull had been fractured by several blows and she had been raped.
Police charged Ralph Richard with rape along with covering up the murder. Donna was charged with the murder. Despite numerous witnesses in a court trial, Ralph Richard was found not guilty of the charges brought against him. Charges against Donna Richard were eventually dropped. The couple moved out of state and to date this case is still unsolved. If you have any information about this case please contact the Pawtucket Police Department at (401) 727-9100 Ext. 777. Jeri-Ann deserves justice…
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.
Savagewatch - Unsolved Crime 