Found Deceased MA - Henry Bedard, 15, found murdered, Swampscott, 16 Dec 1974

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If Henry lived he would have graduated in 1977. He was in 10th grade at the time of his murder in December 1974. His senior class would be 1976 to 1977.
 
Was the bat the only piece of physical evidence? I'm sort of assuming this was about Henry's car fund - did that money remain unaccounted for? In a modern investigation the details of the bat would have been kept secret. Police would have asked the community to be aware of anyone recently coming into money or/and especially someone who had owned a bat with carvings on it. The carvings could have been specifically described as a way of recognizing credible tips and boom you have a suspect.

Still, just the "1" stamped under the carving should have narrowed down the investigation. That was something done by an adult as a part of organized sport and somewhere there were bats with 2 and 3 etc similarly stamped onto them.

Now, 47 years later, I can't imagine what we could do in this thread to further the case. Cases this cold only get solved by deathbed confessions or possibly by hearsay. Just maybe someone was vaguely confessed to at some point and they might happen across our discussion to find corroboration in the details that they could then report to law enforcement. That's about the best we can hope for.

I personally don't understand how a cold case this old goes viral, from something that hasn't had nearly enough press when it was more likely to have been solvable to being so hot you have people passionately lobbing unsubstantiated accusations and reopening decades old wounds on elderly family members. Why can't we just have a healthy medium?
 
evilwise said:
Was the bat the only piece of physical evidence? I'm sort of assuming this was about Henry's car fund - did that money remain unaccounted for? In a modern investigation the details of the bat would have been kept secret. Police would have asked the community to be aware of anyone recently coming into money or/and especially someone who had owned a bat with carvings on it. The carvings could have been specifically described as a way of recognizing credible tips and boom you have a suspect.

Still, just the "1" stamped under the carving should have narrowed down the investigation. That was something done by an adult as a part of organized sport and somewhere there were bats with 2 and 3 etc similarly stamped onto them.

Now, 47 years later, I can't imagine what we could do in this thread to further the case. Cases this cold only get solved by deathbed confessions or possibly by hearsay. Just maybe someone was vaguely confessed to at some point and they might happen across our discussion to find corroboration in the details that they could then report to law enforcement. That's about the best we can hope for.

I personally don't understand how a cold case this old goes viral, from something that hasn't had nearly enough press when it was more likely to have been solvable to being so hot you have people passionately lobbing unsubstantiated accusations and reopening decades old wounds on elderly family members. Why can't we just have a healthy medium?
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Was the bat the only piece of physical evidence? That is pretty much what was reported as the physical evidence but I would imagine they had Henry's clothing, the wallet that was found and items such as that. The bat, as the murder weapon, was certainly the main piece of evidence. Unfortunately the bat has never produced any known clues or usable evidence including useful fingerprints or DNA.
I'm sort of assuming this was about Henry's car fund - did that money remain unaccounted for? My thinking was that this was not a robbery and not about Henry's car money. He had money to go shopping though I would think that he would not bring extra savings like car money to school.
Still, just the "1" stamped under the carving should have narrowed down the investigation. That was something done by an adult as a part of organized sport and somewhere there were bats with 2 and 3 etc similarly stamped onto them. Agree-I would've thought someone would have recognized the bat though no one did or no one came forward despite the description of the bat being well known and publicized in town.
Cases this cold only get solved by deathbed confessions or possibly by hearsay. Just maybe someone was vaguely confessed to at some point and they might happen across our discussion to find corroboration in the details that they could then report to law enforcement. I think that you are correct. That is the most likely way this will ever get solved.
 
WSFalcon said:
_________________________
Was the bat the only piece of physical evidence? That is pretty much what was reported as the physical evidence but I would imagine they had Henry's clothing, the wallet that was found and items such as that. The bat, as the murder weapon, was certainly the main piece of evidence. Unfortunately the bat has never produced any known clues or usable evidence including useful fingerprints or DNA.
I'm sort of assuming this was about Henry's car fund - did that money remain unaccounted for? My thinking was that this was not a robbery and not about Henry's car money. He had money to go shopping though I would think that he would not bring extra savings like car money to school.
Still, just the "1" stamped under the carving should have narrowed down the investigation. That was something done by an adult as a part of organized sport and somewhere there were bats with 2 and 3 etc similarly stamped onto them. Agree-I would've thought someone would have recognized the bat though no one did or no one came forward despite the description of the bat being well known and publicized in town.
Cases this cold only get solved by deathbed confessions or possibly by hearsay. Just maybe someone was vaguely confessed to at some point and they might happen across our discussion to find corroboration in the details that they could then report to law enforcement. I think that you are correct. That is the most likely way this will ever get solved.
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I think it's very likely that a 15 year old boy would flash a wad of cash at school to impress people with a flimsy rationalization like going Christmas shopping on his way home from school. I sure did. That's why I'd like to know if the money was accounted for or not. That seems pretty important.
 
evilwise said:
I think it's very likely that a 15 year old boy would flash a wad of cash at school to impress people with a flimsy rationalization like going Christmas shopping on his way home from school. I sure did. That's why I'd like to know if the money was accounted for or not. That seems pretty important.
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It seems there is not too much mentioned about the money so at this point we will probably never know.
I take the saving to buy a car as a description to show Henry was a good hard working kid. It was mentioned that he had a paper route and caddied to earn money (many of us did this back then) and worked at his Dad's gas station.
I've never seen much reported about the money that he took shopping being accounted for, or if his car savings was missing. I don't recall if the boy that found that wallet found any money as well. I have also not heard any of his friends mention that he was flashing a wad of cash at school. He could have been, but I have not heard anyone in his friend group mention that.
I don't believe his family, whether in the press or on the Chronicle episode, has said much about the money or that they felt this was a robbery.
It would seem very likely that he was lured up there by someone(s) as it was not a normal route or a shortcut home, or he may have been cutting thru to get somewhere other than home, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My feeling is that is was not a robbery set-up. That's just my take from growing up in the area at the time.
 
WSFalcon said:
It seems there is not too much mentioned about the money so at this point we will probably never know.
I take the saving to buy a car as a loopdescription to show Henry was a good hard working kid. It was mentioned that he had a paper route and caddied to earn money (many of us did this back then) and worked at his Dad's gas station.
I've never seen much reported about the money that he took shopping being accounted for, or if his car savings was missing. I don't recall if the boy that found that wallet found any money as well. I have also not heard any of his friends mention that he was flashing a wad of cash at school. He could have been, but I have not heard anyone in his friend group mention that.
I don't believe his family, whether in the press or on the Chronicle episode, has said much about the money or that they felt this was a robbery.
It would seem very likely that he was lured up there by someone(s) as it was not a normal route or a shortcut home, or he may have been cutting thru to get somewhere other than home, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My feeling is that is was not a robbery set-up. That's just my take from growing up in the area at the time.
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I definitely find local perspectives contribute to speculation but speculation is no more or less than it is and I appreciate Websleuths' decision to not verify locals. I see that whoever derailed the thread to begin with never even applied for insider status but what would be great is if we had actual friends of Henry that could be verified as insiders maybe through yearbooks combined with photos of the two together.

The case feels like the investigators just expected the bat to be identified and that when they put the case away they still believed that was how it would be solved and that good pictures of the bat were enough to eventually solve it.
 
evilwise said:
I definitely find local perspectives contribute to speculation but speculation is no more or less than it is and I appreciate Websleuths' decision to not verify locals. I see that whoever derailed the thread to begin with never even applied for insider status but what would be great is if we had actual friends of Henry that could be verified as insiders maybe through yearbooks combined with photos of the two together.

The case feels like the investigators just expected the bat to be identified and that when they put the case away they still believed that was how it would be solved and that good pictures of the bat were enough to eventually solve it.
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JMO, someone saw and recognized the photos of that bat, but they chose to be dishonest and remain quiet. They've continued to make a conscious choice to allow the killer to remain free from being held accountable for his actions.

As for case insiders, as long as I've followed this thread, I haven't seen anyone post here who was an actual "insider", just locals who grew up in the area. That said, Henry's friends and family have done an admirable job over the years of keeping his case in the public eye and sharing as much information as possible about Henry and the murder.
 
Betty P said:
JMO, someone saw and recognized the photos of that bat, but they chose to be dishonest and remain quiet. They've continued to make a conscious choice to allow the killer to remain free from being held accountable for his actions.

As for case insiders, as long as I've followed this thread, I haven't seen anyone post here who was an actual "insider", just locals who grew up in the area. That said, Henry's friends and family have done an admirable job over the years of keeping his case in the public eye and sharing as much information as possible about Henry and the murder.
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Betty P-good input as usual. The bat is certainly a big clue and even bigger mystery. I've had that same thought on the bat, though I also go around in a circle on did someone recognize the bat as I think that it would likely be more than 1-person that recognized the bat and then wonder how can multiple people keep it quiet all these years. Especially as I can recall how the town felt when this tragedy happened and the outpouring of support to the family.
So I guess thinking about the bat some more, you are most likely correct that someone probably recognized it and kept quiet to protect someone, though I think that on a whole, the community, coaches, parents, Henry's family & close friends did not recognize the bat or it would have been brought up. I have never heard any rumors that someone recognized the bat and the bat description was well publicized and discussed even back then.
 
WSFalcon said:
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Betty P-good input as usual. The bat is certainly a big clue and even bigger mystery. I've had that same thought on the bat, though I also go around in a circle on did someone recognize the bat as I think that it would likely be more than 1-person that recognized the bat and then wonder how can multiple people keep it quiet all these years. Especially as I can recall how the town felt when this tragedy happened and the outpouring of support to the family.
So I guess thinking about the bat some more, you are most likely correct that someone probably recognized it and kept quiet to protect someone, though I think that on a whole, the community, coaches, parents, Henry's family & close friends did not recognize the bat or it would have been brought up. I have never heard any rumors that someone recognized the bat and the bat description was well publicized and discussed even back then.
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Good points. If anyone recognized the bat, it's probably an individual or small group. Most likely family members as the markings appear to be done by the bat owner.
 
Seems like a lot of focus was on the bat, with the assumption the bat belonged to someone in town. There's every possibility no one recognized the bat because it had been brought from outside of town. The attacker could have been someone in town, but the bat may have been obtained from out of town.

ETA, I wonder if that carving on the handle is the Roman number 6 or if it's someone's initials. KL or KV?
 
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evilwise said:
I definitely find local perspectives contribute to speculation but speculation is no more or less than it is and I appreciate Websleuths' decision to not verify locals. I see that whoever derailed the thread to begin with never even applied for insider status but what would be great is if we had actual friends of Henry that could be verified as insiders maybe through yearbooks combined with photos of the two together.

The case feels like the investigators just expected the bat to be identified and that when they put the case away they still believed that was how it would be solved and that good pictures of the bat were enough to eventually solve it.
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Did Websleuths decline someone who applied to be recognized as am insider? It was my understanding an individual suspected someone in the community but did not wish to be identified. It is my opinion the poster gave too much identifying information resulting in the thread being shut down. I do think the poster was sincere. It is possible he was being misled by others around him or he could have accurate information to identify the murderer. The conversation ended up being shut down. Henry was not believed to have a large sum of money on him. I don't know how much he had saved for a car. I suspect it was not a lot because his sister previously mentioned him saving for a new bike the previous summer.
 
Sneaker33 said:
Did Websleuths decline someone who applied to be recognized as am insider? It was my understanding an individual suspected someone in the community but did not wish to be identified. It is my opinion the poster gave too much identifying information resulting in the thread being shut down. I do think the poster was sincere. It is possible he was being misled by others around him or he could have accurate information to identify the murderer. The conversation ended up being shut down. Henry was not believed to have a large sum of money on him. I don't know how much he had saved for a car. I suspect it was not a lot because his sister previously mentioned him saving for a new bike the previous summer.
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Websleuths is the perfect site on which to anonymously contribute information to cold cases. The moderators can verify a poster's identity and keep it private. Perhaps not quite as perfectly anonymous as Crimestoppers but good for information that may or may not be useful. If I recall it was said that in this case no one even applied so we can assume that whatever information was being thrown out was baseless.

I personally think that robbery was likely the motive considering he was killed immediately after buying a gift, where he might have peeled money off a roll that tempted someone in the store - or that someone from school saw it. I also personally think that the stamped number on the bat is more important than the carving since it was clearly done with a tool as part of some kind of official organization. Unfortunately, my speculation is worth exactly zero on a case this old and what it really really needs is a real verified insider who was actually a peer of Henry's. It's not too late for these people to come forward and I doubt very much that a brutal murderer would stay both dangerous and alive/free for this long. The truth is nothing for normal people to fear.
 
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I don't think money was the motive. The perfume was found by the police. Henry's father had an estimate of how much money his son had. I cannot rule out the information of the poster who declined insider status. I don't think he initiallty intended to reveal as many hints. I never knew who he was referring to but I could figure out the identities of others discussed.
 
Sneaker33 said:
I don't think money was the motive. The perfume was found by the police. Henry's father had an estimate of how much money his son had. I cannot rule out the information of the poster who declined insider status. I don't think he initiallty intended to reveal as many hints. I never knew who he was referring to but I could figure out the identities of others discussed.
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Do you have a mainstream or verified source that the car savings money was accounted for? Because I've been looking for that information. The perfume itself is irrelevant, it was the purchasing of the perfume that would have given observers a glimpse of cash being carried.
 
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