"A one-time suspect in the unsolved serial killings of nine Massachusetts women has died. "Kenneth Ponte was found dead in his New Bedford home Tuesday." Death is not believed to be suspicious. Rest of story here: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/22353908/detail.html
Here is another link from my local news station http://www2.turnto10.com/jar/news/local/article/former_suspect_in_highway_killings_found_dead/30411/
I wonder if they can take samples from him and run them since they are going to do an autopsy....he was looked at for a number of disappearances IIRC....I wonder if the Jane Doe in Hadley can be tied to him in anyway??? If you believe there is a chance he was guilty, of course.
You raise an interesting question. I would think they'd need permission from the family but I would also would hope there's an overriding statute somewhere so that crimes could be solved. Civil liberties vs. best interests of the public. I'd also think that if I were the family member, I would concede to the sample so that he could be cleared if I thought he was innocent or put it to rest if I thought he was guilty. Either way, it would help provide some peace of mind ... for the victim's families especially. Is there a lawyer in the house?
The New Bedford Highway Killer was an unidentified serial killer authorities believe responsible for the deaths of nine women and the disappearances of two additional women in New Bedford, Massachusetts, between July 1988 and June 1989. All of the killer's victims were known prostitutes or substance abusers. Victims and suspects listed at link: [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bedford_Highway_Killer"]New Bedford Highway Killer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
Police charge man in 1988 Fall River murder He was never a prime suspect in Gayle's murder, strange as that may seem.http://archive.is/0QO1A He bragged about other murders, it seems, and in 2008 was considered a suspect for the highway killings, but nothing has come from it since it seems. more
Were either or both of the Scesny brothers from MA ruled out in this case? They lived an hour away from the dump sites. Joseph Scesny was convicted of one rape but he'd been accused of a string of extremely violent and sadistic rapes and attempted rapes over a number of years. http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2008/05/pols_duked_it_out_1988_over_rapist_bro He was convicted for an attack in Georgia, but he's been back in MA before then. He'd been arrested for burglary in MA. I wonder if his whereabouts were accounted for over the time period that the victims started turning up along the highway. Alex Scesny was convicted of just one murder of a prostitute in 2012, but all circumstantial evidence points to him being The Woodsman serial killer responsible for a number of other murdered women from the Worcester area who were involved in prostitution and/or had drug addictions. He was definitely in MA during 1988/89 http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20120403/News/304039338 although unlike the NB serial killer he did seem to have a very narrow "type" (short, latino, dark skin) http://masscops.com/threads/possible-break-in-serial-murder-case.52725/ From the little I was able to find online about his brother Joseph it doesn't seem as if his he was as particular about type. His rape victims came from all walks of like and ranged in age. I believe one woman was 58 years old. Then again, it appears that Alex had a history of attacking women and not all of them may have fallen into the narrow profile that his located murder victims did: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/x1976989074/Expert-can-see-why-police-are-eying-Scesny-in-murders A site with collected articles, many that give profiles of the victims and their families: http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkiller_news/H/HUDSON_MARLBORO_serial_killer.php I'm sure any link between the NB murders and these two brothers has already been investigated by LE, but who knows? It appears there isn't any DNA available to link Alex to the additional victims he's assumed to have been responsible for and now that he's in prison for life already it's not looking likely authorities think it's worth bringing those other charges against him without more evidence. But I am very curious as to whether or not there's DNA from the NB Highway Killer crime scene.
Another possible serial killer in the same general corridor? http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...he-vanished/yF1ATIu53lgRMjmxn5O3XI/story.html via this thread: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...ins-Dec-14-Ashley-Mylett-amp-Linda-Schufeldt/
I don't think they ever exactly said, but Bristol County officials did request DNA from Alex Scesny during the investigation. So it appears there is DNA in at least some of the New Bedford killings, and since no charges were ever brought or anything, AS was probably not implicated by it. I can't give a link, though, because all the articles have aged out
Suspect Daniel Tavares has been found guilty of killing Gayle Botelho. www.abc6.com/story/30640856/tavares-found-guilty-of-1988-murder-of-fall-river-mother
No word as to whether he knew the victim personally but if this is an attempted stranger abduction, than Robert Brum needs to be seriously looked at in connection to these crimes. http://www.abc6.com/story/35749541/...ing-attempting-to-kidnap-woman-in-new-bedford
That would put him at about 24 or 25 years old at the time. Only time will tell. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
I found this , it was posted in 2000. Trying to go back and see if he was even in the area back in 88-89 Robert Brum, 36, 479 Belleville Ave., New Bedford, driving while under the influence of alcohol, March 6. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
I found his facebook page, he was. (goes by bobby) He grew up in New Bedford and has lived in the area in the intervening years. He's a big guy. Has lots of Portuguese friends (tho most everyone who grew up in that southeastern MA area does, it's historically heavily Portuguese). For some reason I suspect this may have been domestic, and not an attempted stranger abduction, *but* I hope the cops check him out thoroughly if it wasn't a DA issue. You just never know.
I wonder if he had connections to some of them, based on if he was from the area and his age at the time. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
