Friendship between Two Women takes Fatal Turn

It was September 9, 2002 when Cynthia Kane-Clark was found dead on her couch in the apartment she lived in at 306 Washington Street in West Warwick.   The 30 year old mother had been shot point blank in the head while she slept.  Police theorized that whoever killed Kane-Clark knew her.

Attention would soon focus on a friend of hers named Dawn Shippee.  Shippee was a thirty year old mother of three who lived in Coventry.  She and the Kane-Clark became friends after meeting one another in a drug treatment facility.  But things had become strained between the two.  Shippee had started dating the father of Kane-Clark’s child.

After the murder, Shippee would be questioned for the murder until she too would be found dead in the Wood River near route 165 in Exeter on December 29, 2002.  Police have not released how she died but have stated that the case is a homicide.  She had last been seen eating at the Middle of the Road Diner in Exeter and was reported missing by her father.   While no suspect has been officially named in the Shippee murder, attention has turned to a close family member who served prison time for arson.  The same individual was a suspect in the murder of an insurance salesman in Arizona in 1976.  While not convicted  his own brother was and is serving a life sentence for that crime.   This family member in question to Shippee has not been named as a suspect in the Kane-Clark murder.

If you have any information about either of these two murders please call 1-877- RI Solve (747-6583).

 

Skeleton Found Under Basement Floor

There are many secrets in Rhode Island.  In July of 2013, Construction Workers uncovered one under the basement floor of a factory located on 355 Prairie Avenue in Providence.   The building was at one time referred to as the Federated Lithographers-Printers factory.  The skeletal remains of an adult male were found at the bottom of a waiter elevator shaft.  The Medical Examiner would soon declare it a case of homicide.   Law Enforcement would soon identify the man as Philip P. Seals.

 

Seals was a West Virginia native who come to Providence to find a new life and escape the problems of alcoholism.  Seals was an Air Force Veteran and college graduate who was believed to be last seen in Providence around February 1982 around the age of 45.  Seals was described as a drifter who had minor issues with the law.  Providence Police do have some leads they are working on.

 

Murder of Pregnant Woman A Cold Case for Law Enforcement

It was a sinister act of violence when between 1:30 am and 4:30am of March 12th 1995, a killer(s) took the dead and naked body of Jocelyn S. McCready from a car and left her wrapped in a blue tarp, on a quiet portion of Grand Avenue in Pawtucket.

Police theorize it is likely that McCready who was from Boston, Massachusetts could have been murdered there and left over the state border in Rhode Island.  The 19 year old McCready lived at 252 Savin Hill Avenue in Boston.  What is even more sinister about her murder was that aside from being strangled, she was almost five months pregnant.

If you have any information about this murder, please contact the Pawtucket Police Department at (401) 727-9100.

 

Murder of Man and that of the only Witness to the Crime Remain Unsolved

It was June 24, 1994 when eighteen year old Rolando Francisco Miles of 18 Willow Street in Providence was a victim of murder after a fight on Stanwood Street in South section of the city. The gunman would shoot Miles several times and walk away while Miles lay wounded. The gunman would then return to where Miles lay on the grouns and fire several more shots causing Miles to die hours later at a local hospital. An individual would be charged with the murder but never tried due to the fact that sole witness to the crime, Brett Snowden, was murdered in front of 666 Prairie Avenue in Providence on February 19, 1996. Snowden was 21 years old and had died from being shot in the head.

Both murders remain unsolved to this day.

The suspect in the Miles murder was the son of a Christian Preacher who would go on to get arrested numerous times. This suspect has also been a victim of violent crime twice by being shot in two different incidents. It is not known if the shootings against him were retaliation for the murders he is accused of committing.

In 2018, this person of interest would be charged with causing the death of a passenger in his car after the vehicle he was driving crashed while trying to elude police.

If you have any information about these two murders, please contact the Providence Police Department at (401) 272-3121.

 

Man Goes to Bar and Found Murdered the Next Day

It was an early Saturday morning on January 21st, 1984  when 19-year-old Vernon Lomba Jr. was found deceased in a snowbank by the side of the road on Elmwood Avenue in Cranston.  He was last seen by his mother on Friday and was headed to a bar named the Sunburst Lounge which was located on Elmwood Avenue. At first, Cranston police thought he was a victim of a hit and run incident from a motor vehicle.  An autopsy though would reveal the cruel truth, Lomba had been beaten to death. He died from a blood clot due to being struck on the head and jaw. When he left his mother’s apartment he had over three hundred dollars in his wallet.  When he was found, most of that money had gone missing.

Cranston Police  theorize that Lomba may have been a victim of a robbery. It is possible that someone noticed he had some substantial money at the bar and ambushed him outside as he walked home alone.  The Sunburst Lounge is long gone and has been replaced with a bowling alley. For Vernon Lomba’s family, nothing can replace him. Someone knows a dark secret about what happened. Please call the Cranston Police Department if you have any information about this murder.  They can be reached at (401) 477-5000.  

 

Woman’s Murder Remains Unsolved Decades Later….

 

April Joann Terry was murdered on February 27th of 1990 at 62-64 Taylor Street in Providence. The 32 year old was stabbed to death in her 2nd floor apartment while her four year old daughter watched TV in another room. She was found naked with several stab wounds to her chest and neck at 5:30pm that day. There was no sign of a break in and it is possible that she may have known who her attacker was. Before she was murdered, a boyfriend of hers, violently beat her and was arrested. He was allegedly released the morning she was killed. 

According to Family members, the boyfriend was never named a suspect in April’s murder.  They believe that he is responsible for her violent death.  

It was a bad year for homicides in Providence as the number was more than two dozen that year. If you have any information about this case please the Providence Police Department at 401-243-6360.