New England 'serial killer' fears escalate as cops make another grim discovery in picturesque town
Fears of a serial killer stalking quaint New England towns have soared once again after a woman's body was found off a bike path.
Police in Springfield, Massachusetts, responded to reports of an unresponsive person on Hall of Fame Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.
A woman was pronounced dead shortly after first responders arrived, and spokesman Ryan Walsh said the homicide unit has been called in to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death.
'The SPD Homicide Unit under the direction Captain Trent Duda is conducting an unattended death investigation in conjunction with the @HampdenDA Murder Unit, pending an autopsy by the Medical Examiner,' Walsh said.
The grim discovery comes as residents across Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are on high alert about a potential serial killer living in their midst.
In total, eight bodies have now been discovered across the idyllic region, sparking community groups and rumors online about whether they're connected.
Authorities have not announced any connection between any of the eight victims, and several have insisted they are not investigating links.
Walsh said: 'Internet rumors are just that.'
On March 6, the remains of 35-year-old Paige Fannon of West Islip, New York, turned up in New Haven. Her body had been found in a fast-moving Norwalk River the night after a heavy deluge.
Then on March 21, police found another set of human remains, later confirmed to be that of missing 59-year-old mother-of-two Denise Leary.
On March 25, Rhode Island State Police found another set of remains in a wooded area of Foster, which were later identified as missing 56-year-old Michele Romano.
Several other sets of unidentified remains have also been located in New England towns during a similar time period.
A Facebook group named New England Serial Killer initially amplified community concerns, but was renamed in part after Romano's family urged them not to lump the 56-year-old in with other potential victims.
'Michele's passing is in no way related to any type of serial killer,' the family said in a statement.
'We have complete faith in the Rhode Island State Police and our Private Investigator that the person responsible will be brought to justice sooner rather than later.'
There is also no indication that the eight sets of remains all belong to people who disappeared - or died - recently.
Several were in such a state of decomposition that they're yet to be identified, suggesting they may have been exposed to the elements longer than others.
Police in Groton Connecticut on March 19 uncovered the remains of a woman they believe to be aged between 40 to 60.
They said the woman appeared to have lightly pigmented skin, and features typically associated with a person with Turner syndrome.
On April 9, another set of possible human remains were discovered in Killingly. Police did not reveal the identity of the remains but said there is no known threat to the public relating to the discovery.
The next day, firefighters in Massachusetts discovered more remains in Framingham. The decomposition of the remains suggested they had been there for at least several months.
And on Wednesday, police discovered another two bodies, both male, near a Walmart in Salem.
'There is no information at this time suggesting any connection to similar remains discoveries, and there is also no known threat to the public at this time,' Connecticut State Police said earlier this month.
New Haven police officer Christian Bruckhart told MassLive that he understands the 'mystique' and speculation surrounding a potential local serial killer.
'There's certain things that have a mystique about them, and I think serial killers are one... A serial killer is this almost mythical figure in the zeitgeist — I mean, how many Hannibal Lecter movies have been done?' he said.
He is part of the team investigating Denise Leary's death, and said that the evidence so far does not suggest she died by homicide.
'They're out there, we know that they exist,' he said, generally speaking about serial killers.
'But I can only speak to my department's investigation, in the missing person case, that there's no indication there was any homicide.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
13-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Tourist found dead floating off beauty spot beach wearing nothing but underwear
The chief lifeguard was on his morning patrol at Karon Police Station in Phuket when he spotted the body of a male floating around 65ft from shore before calling emergency responders The near-nude body of a tourist has been found floating off the coast of a beach in Thailand, wearing only his underwear. The unidentified male, believed to be a 41-year-old Australian, was reported missing by his wife on May 7 in Phuket. The chief lifeguard at Thailand's Freedom Beach, which is hugely popular with tourists, spotted the body drifting around 65ft from the shore while on his morning patrol. After raising the alarm, officers from Karon Police Station arrived and emergency responders secured the body - which was unclothed apart from a pair of black underpants - with ropes before dragging it to shore among strong surf conditions. Police Lieutenant Colonel Wiwat Chamnankit confirmed that the family's next of kin has been informed "that his body has been found". The police "believe that the sea currents were too strong for him to swim back to land". 'Tourists should not go in the sea during these conditions when there are strong waves, unless they are with an experienced guide,' he added. A formal autopsy is expected in due course after his body was transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital. It comes after another Aussie tourist died while holidaying in the same area in Thailand. Corey Walsh is thought to have died after diving from a tour boat while intoxicated. The tragic incident happened on Tuesday May 6 when Corey boarded a boat to enjoy a 45 minute to an hour tour off the coast of Phuket leaving from the island of Koh Racha Yai. During the trip Mr Walsh dived off the Marinda 2 tour boat and into the water. The young Australian tourist, who is a tradesman from Frankston, Melbourne, jumped into the water near a popular snorkelling spot. But, tragedy struck when he could no longer fight against the strong current and he is believed to have been dragged underwater. Emergency services were called at about 2.28pm local time after Mr Walsh was pulled from the water unconscious and unresponsive. Upon arrival at the port medics immediately administered CPR while Mr Walsh was still on the deck of the boat before rushing him by ambulance to Chalong Hospital in Phuket - a 15 minute car journey. Sadly despite the best efforts of medical staff at the hospital Mr Walsh was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Police Lieutenant Colonel Kanen Somrak from the Chalong Police Station said Mr Walsh was one of seven foreign tourists on the tour boat. He said: "The victim had consumed a large amount of alcohol before entering the wate. He was reportedly intoxicated and repeatedly jumped in and out of the sea before eventually drowning." He also confirmed no illegal substances were found at the scene and only empty alcohol beverage bottle was discovered, reports MailOnline.
Daily Mirror
11-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Tourist, 22, died in Thailand after holiday boat trip turned to tragedy
Corey Walsh died on holiday after he was pulled from the sea unconscious and unresponsive. In an emotional tribute his loved ones have described him as a "one of a kind gentleman" A 22-year-old man has died while on holiday in Thailand after diving from a tour boat while intoxicated. The tragic incident happened on Tuesday May 6 when Corey Walsh boarded a boat to enjoy a 45 minute to an hour tour off the coast of Phuket leaving from the island of Koh Racha Yai. During the trip Mr Walsh dived off the Marinda 2 tour boat and into the water. The young Australian tourist, who is a tradesman from Frankston, Melbourne, jumped into the water near a popular snorkelling spot. But, tragedy struck when he could no longer fight against the strong current and he is believed to have been dragged underwater. Emergency services were called at about 2.28pm local time after Mr Walsh was pulled from the water unconscious and unresponsive. Upon arrival at the port medics immediately administered CPR while Mr Walsh was still on the deck of the boat before rushing him by ambulance to Chalong Hospital in Phuket - a 15 minute car journey. Sadly despite the best efforts of medical staff at the hospital Mr Walsh was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Police Lieutenant Colonel Kanen Somrak from the Chalong Police Station said Mr Walsh was one of seven foreign tourists on the tour boat. He said: "The victim had consumed a large amount of alcohol before entering the wate. He was reportedly intoxicated and repeatedly jumped in and out of the sea before eventually drowning." He also confirmed no illegal substances were found at the scene and only empty alcohol beverage bottle was discovered, reports MailOnline. A GoFundMe was set up to help Mr Walsh's family with funeral costs and any additional expenses. A message on the page read: "This is for a Corey, a young man who struck a-lot of peoples hearts for being a kind caring and just a beautiful soul. From a stranger, to family, to friends he seemed to put a smile on anyones face. "We would like to help the family by doing this fundraiser to show support and just how much love this man bought to this world. Our condolences go out to the Walsh family and just a massive thankyou for bringing up this one of a kind gentleman." So far the GoFundMe page has received 100 donations totalling $10,725 and has a goal of raising $20,000. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said staff were supporting the family of the young man. He said: "We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who died in Thailand." It's believed his body has arrived back home in Melbourne, with his family organising funeral arrangements.
The Guardian
25-04-2025
- The Guardian
‘The file says I have a criminal record since the age of two': the not-so-extraordinary story of Uncle Larry Walsh
Taungurung man Larry Walsh has more reasons than many to be angry. When he was just two-and-a-half the state took him and his sisters from their home, a riverside hut at Mooroopna, northern Victoria, where he was being cared for by his nana while his mum was in hospital. From there he went to a series of children's homes. By the age of eight he was living with a foster family in which the father was a violent drinker. He was endlessly racially abused and bullied at school, and blamed for starting fights when he physically retaliated or defended himself. Meanwhile, he was subject to constant attention and harassment by police – alleging that, even as an eight-year-old, he was a no-good criminal responsible for crimes he hadn't committed – which both tested and confused him. For he had never at that stage committed any offence against the law. Or so he thought. Unknown to Uncle Larry Walsh, now 71, he did have a criminal record. Although it wasn't until he was in his 60s that he discovered the Kafkaesque farce that had in no small part shaped the course of his life: that the very act of state removal of an Aboriginal child from their family bequeathed to the minor a criminal record. Under 'offence' his police record says 'care/protection application' and under sentence it states 'committed to care of Child Welfare Services'. The age of the offender is stated as 'two years 6 months'. Until 1989 it was standard practice for Victorian children removed from their families purportedly for welfare reasons to be given a police record. Walsh was among thousands of Aboriginal children in the state whose traumatic experiences of removal from often functional families (there was no evidence the infant Larry Walsh or his sisters were in danger) were criminalised by the state. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads When Walsh found out in 2016 about the fallacious criminal history that had shadowed his life, Victoria was the only Australian state or territory without a scheme to expunge from the record irrelevant convictions. His white-hot anger transformed into a positive energy for social change and law reform. Walsh became a leading advocate for justice for the thousands of Aboriginal people branded criminals simply for having been removed from their families, manifesting in the passage of the Spent Convictions Act 2021. Now his long life of tragedy, sadness and triumph is about to be celebrated in a stage play, Lazarus, opening in Melbourne next week. To describe 'Uncle Larry' (as he is known in Victorian Indigenous communities) as an activist, story-teller and scion of Victoria's Indigenous communities underestimates the complexity of his life in a way that the play, written and directed by John Harding, aims to more fully illustrate. Walsh is anxious about seeing his life unfold on stage (it is based on a long series of interviews with him, although he does not appear in it), but he believes it will help people, even those who know him, to more fully understand why he is who he is. As a child and teenager the false criminal record became partly self-fulfilling for Larry Walsh. 'Because I had a police file from the age of two, the police started picking me up from the age of eight or so and blaming me … you know I'm an eight-year-old and the file says I have a criminal record since the age of two,' he says. He became anxious. Hyper-vigilant and depressed. He says his foster father tried to teach him 'hand to hand combat' manoeuvres he'd learned as a soldier. And while Walsh did learn more about how to fight and protect himself, he also received permanent damage to his shoulders by being battered about in the process. He has endured serious physical pain ever since. Walsh was the only Black child in his school, he says, and he got banned from fighting at around the age of seven or eight. 'There was a grade sixer who picked on me and I lost my temper and hurt him … so they just banned me in primary school from fighting, which left the bullies able to get me. I just wasn't permitted to fight back,' he says. This is when he started to learn about pain and the power of anger. 'When they wanted to fight me, they couldn't hurt me. That's the thing. Because I'd been hurt more than they ever had – they couldn't imagine how much I'd been hurt. So [physical] pain didn't matter to me. I had not so much an anger but a rage inside me. So I would dodge as many [punches] as I could and block as many as I could … I was trying to protect them from my rage but at the same time I already knew how to hurt people.' Walsh talks about himself analytically, as only someone who has done enormous soul-searching and psychological analysis and self-examination might. He speaks warmly, with great humour and devoid of any evident anger. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion Picked on at primary and then secondary school, subject to violence in his foster home, 'picked on by the cops' because he was essentially branded 'criminal', Walsh says he 'was trapped in a cycle of being labelled for things I'd never ever done. So then I felt I had to do them.' At 14 he was convicted of breaking into a house and sent to Turana youth training centre. As an adult his interactions with the police, due to his criminal record, continued. He became 'a loner', choosing seasonal jobs often out of the city. He still lives in rural Victoria with his partner and daughters. He is a respected elder known for his welfare and outreach work, and his cultural advocacy across Aboriginal communities. Walsh says that while he is represented in the play, he did not want to personally appear on stage. 'I felt that it would be better if I wasn't in it because part of it is to do with my memories and sometimes it gets a little bit emotional for me,' he says. 'So you know if I do it people might like it but it's, like, how am I going to feel at the end of doing it?' Even though Walsh is not on stage as part of the performance of Lazarus, the play will still be emotionally exposing for him. He knows that watching it will be challenging. Sharing his story (as he has done by working in outreach with young offenders and speaking publicly about it) and the need for self-preservation is a fine balance, as he explains. 'It's like the other day I went to a deaths in custody rally and found it difficult – I haven't spoken very often at them over the last few years because I had to bury one of my uncles and I also had to bury one of my baby brothers [who died in custody]. And so even 30 years later it's still a bit of an emotional thing for me. 'Because when he [my brother] died I was saying I'd come up and see him on the Friday night for the weekend and on Thursday night he was found dead in a police cell. That's what I mean about how it's still a bit emotional with me.' He says he relates to the title Lazarus because he 'always comes back' from life's challenges. 'I hope people come to understand my motivations so I can stop always trying to explain who I am. That is what I am hoping to get out of it – to show how it is that I used the other side of anger as the motivation for change rather than just to lash out.' Lazarus is playing at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne from 1-3 May
