MA MA/TX - John Robert Whirty, Pre-1967 and 1984-1985

believe09

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John Whirty DOB: 2/5/1945
JRW is 68 years old now.
Murder with malice (Rose Marie Martin) was committed: 3/31/1967
He started his sentence: 7/10/1967

Whirty was charged with assault on a 12 year old girl in 1966, so he fled from MA to TX. He was convicted and sentenced in 1967 to the murder of Rose Marie Martin, who was 15 years old at the time she was murdered.

Whirty served 17 years and was paroled. Once paroled in 1984, he made his way back to MA. He is a suspect in the 1985 disappearances of Catherine Malcomson and Sara Pryor. He was arrested for attempted kidnapping in 1985 and shipped back to TX for a parole violation.

Whirty is definitely a serial offender at a minimum, but it has to be worth looking at him for crimes in both MA and TX pre 1967 and from 1984-1985 when he was busted for the kidnapping of a Newton woman.

Given the pace of his crimes when he is free, I cant believe that he didnt offend between 1984 and 1985.

He is associated with Ludlow, MA and Sherborn, MA. LE states he was in the area when Cathy and Sara were kidnapped. According to the woman who was kidnapped but rescued in 1985, the interior of his vehicle was rigged to prevent escape.
 
On my way out at the moment, but wanted to drop this article here quickly. Apparently Whirty was/is? considered a suspect in the disappearance of Cathy Malcolmson also:

http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x463130843

No idea if this case was ever solved - article above is from 2003. Will look more when I'm back home.
 
Bumping my posts over from cold case thread:
[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9021376#post9021376"]http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9021376#post9021376[/ame]

I met this man. He attempted to kidnap me when I was around 15 y.o., and walking to the "T" (a subway in MA). There is no doubt in my mind that he (John Whirty) killed these girls in MA. There was no doubt in my mind as a teen that there was something so severely "off" with him. I ran as-fast-as-I-could!!! As a teen I remember being embarrassed for overreacting when I ran, yet while running I remember thinking that if the "T" did no pull up as soon as I got to the station, that I was in horrible trouble. I was shocked though when I came home that night and my Mother told me what had happened.

He then (MINUTES LATER) attempted to kidnap an English student right after. His car doors were rigged from the inside so that you could not open them, and there was rope in the back. She got away because I believe she screamed, and a cab stopped and blocked the road in one direction, and some neighbors ran out and got his license plate number.

I was scheduled to testify in court, but because he had asked me for directions to the bus stop (his alibi), they did not have me testify.

I will never forget my brief interaction with this individual. I will never forget the details; more so than any other person in my life (for that short an interaction).
 
Bumping my posts over from cold case thread:
[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9021376#post9021376"]http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9021376#post9021376[/ame]

There are not a few days that go by that I do not think of Rose Marie, Sarah, and Cathy (and who knows who else). I am lucky to be here. I wish there was something I could do to make this man confess, or help in some way besides my letters when he comes up for parole.

My Mother & I were talking about the incident I wrote about above. She was one of the "neighbors" I wrote about (above) who confronted John Whirty in his car with the English woman. My Mother did testify at this trial. She is a Southern woman, and actually leaned in the window and said: "What exactly do you think you are doing?", or something Southern sounding… That in itself alarmed him, but he resumed by explaining the woman he was attempting to kidnap was his girlfriend he was just having an argument with. Thank goodness he let her go.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Claudette
Wow. That's insane, I'm sorry you all experienced this man TWICE. I had some creepy things happen to me when I was young but thankfully it didn't get as far as someone grabbing me or chasing me.

What did the girl have to say about his "claim"? I'm assuming he said it just to your mom while she was leaning in. What a creep...
Originally Posted by SkiptomyLu
The two incidents include JW pursuing me (#1), and then afterwards (and unbeknownst to me) pursuing the English student (#2) happened within minutes of each-other. She got away because she screamed and neighbors heard her (including my Mother), and a Cab driver blocked JW car on one end of the street.

Yes, JW told my Mother the lie that the English girl was his girlfriend and that they were just having an argument. He did let her go, thankfully!

ETA - He had gotten her (the English student) in his car by stalling her and repeatedly asking directions (the same thing he did to me), then he pulled a knife out of his jacket and held her at knifepoint and got her into his car. Like I said, the doors were rigged from the inside so she could not open them from the inside or roll a window down. There was rope in the back of the car. She was brave and screamed, and that saved her life in this incident!

They got his license plate # and within days he was arrested and tried/convicted for attempted kidnapping and violation of parole in TX. He had been serving time for kidnapping a 15 y.o., tying her to a tree, raping and murdering her. Her name was Rose Marie Martin. That was in 1967. What I am writing about happened in 1985.

ETA - From 1985 forward he was serving time in MA for the attempted kidnaping charge of the English student there, then he was sent back to TX where he is still behind bars for violation of his parole. He has never confessed to having anything to do with the murders of Sarah Pryor or Cathy Malcolmson (1985) though there is strong evidence.
 
Bumping my posts over from cold case thread (edited to reduce):
[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9021376#post9021376"]http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9021376#post9021376[/ame]

Quote:
Originally Posted by believe09
Whirty murdered Ms Martin when he was 22, is that correct? Some of the media states he returned to Massachusetts after he was paroled. He served 17 years.

1.) How long was he in the Dallas area before he killed Rose Martin?
2.) Was he originally from MA?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally Posted by SkiptomyLu
John Whirty DOB: 2/5/1945
JRW is 68 years old now.
Murder with malice, rape (Rose Marie Martin) was committed: 3/31/1967
Yes, JRW was 22 (wow!) when he murdered Rose Marie Martin.
He started his sentence: 7/10/1967
Plus 17 years would mean he was paroled: 1984 (?) and 39 y.o.
He would have been 40 years old in 1985 when he was arrested in MA for parole violation and attempted kidnapping.

http://www.texastribune.org/library/...r-whirty/2027/

1.) 1) He was in the Dallas, TX area roughly 1 year before murdering Rose Marie Martin.
2.) He was born in Ludlow MA, but Sherborn MA is where he is "from" (I assume grew up there primarily). He fled MA in 1966 after being charged with assault of a 12 year old girl.

I remember being told his Mother lived there, hence his being there. I do not remember if he was living with his Mother, but is seems like he was since there was so much talk about his Mother. I do not recall any talk of anyone besides his Mother being there. So, I do not know about his Father, siblings, etc.

Quote:
In 1966, he was charged with attacking a 12-year-old girl in his hometown of Sherborn, but fled to Texas before trial. There, he was convicted of killing and raping a 15-year-old Dallas girl in 1967.

Source: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980116/NEWS/301169952&template=printart
 
Bumping my posts over from cold case thread (edited to reduce):


* Catherine Malcolmson went missing from Stow/Hudson MA line on August 13,1985

58 days, just short of 2 months later:

* Sarah Pryor went missing on October 9,1985

1 month (plus? I cannot recall the date that this happened, though from memory it seems like it was early Nov.) later:

* Attempted kidnappings in Newton in which he was eventually arrested happened in Nov (?), 1985

So there is a pretty rapid pattern here if we were to speculate he is guilty of Sarah Pryor and Cathy Malcolmson's murder/disappearance.

Here is a map of Sherborn where he lives, Holliston where his work was based (traveling around to set up play-ground equipment, like swing sets in peoples yards!), then Stow where Cathy Malcolmson disappeared (I added a pin for Hudson Ma because Cathy disappeared on the Stow/Hudson border), then Wayland where Sarah disappeared, and lastly Newton where the attempted kidnappings occurred. They are all very close knit together:

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Sherborn,+MA&daddr=Holliston,+MA+to:Stow,+MA+to:Hudson,+MA+to:Wayland,+MA+to:Newton,+MA&hl=en&ll=42.317939,-71.386414&spn=1.202276,2.469177&sll=42.298135,-71.408386&sspn=0.300665,0.617294&geocode=FamDhAId2vm--ymFeIsCI3jkiTEMjLF7Te8GGw%3BFcDrgwIdGCS--yl1EjMF0HbkiTGnXD-J-2yk8g%3BFVCJhwIdQee8-yk3eN8ViI3jiTFUmWULhjGzmQ%3BFbjYhgIdxfy7-ykBjQD45IzjiTH65znZor8CCQ%3BFYRmhgIdaBq_-ynp24AZwoXjiTFw9yXUAQswCw%3BFREDhgId-27B-ymlJQeECYLjiTF-r3CbewiSVQ&dirflg=h&mra=ls&t=m&z=9

Lastly, this article about Rose Marie Martin is heartbreaking:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-02-14/news/1991045086_1_parole-board-benton-cooper

__________________
 
Dope-slapping myself... Not sure how I missed Cathy's name in your earlier posts!
 
The link article says that Whirty worked for a company out of Holliston delivering playground equipment. :eek:hoh: on the day Malcolmson disappeared, company records show he was in Framingham, but investigators noted that that isn't too far of a drive from Stow, where Cathy disappeared from.
 
Bumping post over from cold case thread:
[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9021376#post9021376"]http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9021376#post9021376[/ame]

Quote:
Originally Posted by believe09
I wonder if he is staying quiet because he thinks he has a chance at parole in the future?
Originally posted by SkiptomyLu
<Snipped by me with respect>

YES!! He has been attempting parole since 1991. I think the date is 1991. He was described as a "model prisoner" then (insert eye-roll). He has been attempting to get parole since then:

Quote:
It was the ninth time Whirty's case for parole has been reviewed in Texas. The next will be in August 2016, criminal justice spokesman Jason Clark said yesterday.

(I think the 2016 date is incorrect.)

Source: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x633534690/Texas-board-denies-parole-for-Sarah-Pryor-murder-suspect

________________________
 
The link article says that Whirty worked for a company out of Holliston delivering playground equipment. :eek:hoh: on the day Malcolmson disappeared, company records show he was in Framingham, but investigators noted that that isn't too far of a drive from Stow, where Cathy disappeared from.

Yes. I remember being told he travelled around delivering and assembling playground equipment, like swing-sets to peoples homes. :what:

Holliston to Stow is around 45 min. Cathy was riding her bike from her house to her job which was right over the Stow border into Hudson which would make it even closer than 45 minutes.

Holliston to Newton where he attempted kidnapping in Nov.is about the same amount of time: 35 min., except going into Newton is more congested area w/ traffic.
 
My husband is from Holliston, MA and remembers the company John Whirty worked for was called "Child Life". His job was delivering and assembling their product to homes, businesses, etc.

http://childlife-inc.holliston.ma.playgrounds.tel/

My husband says Worcester Road (Rt. 9/ Rt. 30) is a heavily travelled back road that connects to main highways and other heavily travelled back roads.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Worcester+Rd,+Framingham,+MA&hl=en&ll=42.298961,-71.44392&spn=0.036186,0.077162&sll=42.182492,-71.268491&sspn=1.1601,2.469177&oq=Worcester+Rd,+Framingham,+MA&hnear=Worcester+Rd,+Framingham,+Massachusetts&t=m&z=14
 
This is a very interesting partial article from the Boston Globe. It states that John Whirty was spotted standing on the side of the road with his car pulled over, on the day of Sarah Pryor's disappearance, and WHERE she disappeared from. This mimics his *EXACT* stance, strategy/method when he attempted to kidnap the Newton woman on 11/1985 (one month later):
...was standing in Wayland near the spot where Sarah Pryor was last seen on Oct. 9, 1985, a witness has told Middlesex County authorities probing the girl's disappearance.
Sources say the witness has told authorities that John R. Whirty, 44, was standing next to a car pulled off to the side of Route 126 in Wayland
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8159730.html

Can anyone help me with information on how to access newspaper articles like this one in the Boston Globe without paying crazy fees or signing up for 7 free days, etc??
 
I created a map of where John Whirty was standing, and where his running car was pulled over on the street on Nov. 1985 when he attempted to kidnap a Newton MA woman at knifepoint. I also pinpointed where the Newton woman and I were headed (subway).
These incidents mimic JRW's precise stance, strategy/method that the witness relayed to LE in relation to Sarah Pryor's disappearance (see above post):
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=207325500379902122298.0004d7af95bef17f2a487&msa=0
 
For several years, I grew up next door to John Whirty. Or rather Johnny Whirty, as we all knew him. It was from 1950-1954, in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. It was on a quiet street in a middle class neighborhood of single family homes, and Johnny lived in the house next to ours with both his parents and his sister, who I think was maybe a year younger. We moved to another state in 1954 and I never saw him again, nor did I ever hear from him.

I think it's the same person as John Whirty, the convicted murderer. His age is exactly right (same as mine) and his Massachusetts origins match up. I googled Johnny the other day to see if he was still around and needless to say, I was stunned at what I found, the dreadful crimes he's committed and is suspected of committing.

But back then, he was a totally normal little boy, and we played with other kids in the neighborhood our own age. I combed my memories and can't come up with anything at all, not even the slightest indication of the man he would become. He was good-natured, he never got into trouble, was respectful around his parents (and mine), and got along with all the other kids, playing normal games.

I could find no photograph, however, not even a mug shot on the Texas prison website, so there is still a very tiny sliver of doubt that the two Whirtys are one and the same. But I'm nearly 100% positive they are.
 
Welcome to Websleuths, Key West Mike! That's quite a story. Makes me think twice about looking up old friends. :)

I'll dig around a bit. There must be a photo of Whirty somewhere.

Hope we'll hear more from you.

:welcome5:
 
You weren't kidding, Key West. This was the only image I could find. No mugshots, no pictures in any news articles. I hope this will help you out.

johnrobertwhirty353x366.jpg
 
key west - do you mind telling me the street you grew up on in wellesley? i grew up on edge hill road. in 1984 or 1985 (i was in first grade) i had a scary experience while waiting at the bus stop by myself. a man drove by me very slowly and was staring at me. i was only 7, but it made me very uncomfortable and i knew something was not right. i ran across the street to tell my parents.... wellesley is nice town and my parents told me not to worry and they would keep an eye on me out the window. i don't think they took me seriously at first and thought i was imagining things...

the guy went around the block again and pulled over his car at the end of the street (out of direct view of all the houses on the street). he left his car running and got out and started walking towards me a bit and motioned/waved for me to go and talk to him. i started to walk across the street towards my house and my dad came out the front door and walked down the driveway towards the guy... the creep jumped in his car and sped off, literally peeling down the street. my dad ran after him, but he drove off too fast and my dad couldn't get the license plate.

it was 30 years ago, but i remember it like yesterday. my dad called the police, but i don't think anything ever came of it... i didn't know about sara then because i was so young, but i wonder if the guy that approached me could have been whirty...

i was in first grade in 84 / 85 and wellesley is right near wayland (and apparently he grew up in wellesley as well). scary stuff.

do we know what his car looked like? i would like to see a picture to see if i recognized it.
 
It gives a 404 error message- really no one can find a photo? would you min reposting what you did find?

cache.php
[/QUOTE]
 
key west - do you mind telling me the street you grew up on in wellesley?
The name of the street is Dunedin Road, and it's in Wellesley Hills, not Wellesley. Johnny and I lived right next door to each other. Hope this helps.
--Key West Mike
 

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