Unsolved mysteries in Mass.

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Cold cases are unsolved crimes. Here in Massachusetts there have been many people who went missing for years with no answers. Some 20 years after 16-year-old James Lusher disappeared while biking to a relative’s house, admitted killer Lewis S. Lent confessed to killing Lusher, but will not be prosecuted because he has given authorites the chance to recover Lusher’s remains. Take a look through the gallery to see some of the state’s remaining famous cold cases.


Cold cases of Massachusetts



ADVANCE FOR SATURDAY MARCH 6 - Forensic pathologists perform an autopsy at Carlow University on Thurs., Mar. 21 in Pittsburgh. Autopsies can sometimes provide information that may lead to an arrest in a cold case, including the distance from where a gun was shot to the victim, as well as the direction a knife entered the body, and whether or not a body may have been moved from the original crime scene. (AP Photo/Herald-Standard, Amanda Steen)


Cold cases are unsolved crimes. Here in Massachusetts there have been many people who went missing for years with no answers. Some 20 years after 16-year-old James Lusher disappeared while biking to a relative’s house, admitted killer Lewis S. Lent confessed to killing Lusher, but will not be prosecuted because he has given authorites the chance to recover Lusher’s remains. Take a look through the gallery to see some of the state’s remaining famous cold cases.


Cold cases of Massachusetts


Amanda Steen/Herald-Standard via Associated Press


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Lewis Lent Jr., 44, stands during his sentencing by Judge Daniel Ford in Berkshire Court in Pittsfield, Mass., Friday, Jan. 13, 1995. Lent was found guilty Thursday for the Jan. 7, 1994 kidnapping of Rebecca Savarese, of Pittsfield, and three other charges and sentenced Friday to 17 to 20 years in prison. (AP Photo/Pool, Alan Solomon)

Lewis Lent Jr., 44, stood trial during his sentencing in Berkshire Court in Pittsfield on Jan. 13, 1995. Lent was found guilty for the Jan. 7, 1994, kidnapping of Rebecca Savarese of Pittsfield and three other charges and sentenced to 17 to 20 years in prison.


On July 15, 2013, authorities announced an agreement with Lent, who admitted to killing 16-year-old James “Jamie” Lusher in 1992 and identified Greenwater Pond in Beckett as the place where he dumped Lusher’s body.


Lusher was riding his bike to a relative’s house when he disappeared from Westfield and was never found.


ALAN SOLOMON/Associated Press


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Mary Sullivan



Mary Sullivan (left) was 19 years old when she was killed in her Boston apartment in 1964. She was believed to be one of 13 victims of the Boston Strangler between June 14, 1962, and Jan. 4, 1964.


On July 11, 2013, Boston police said new forensic tests linked Albert DeSalvo (left) to Sullivan’s murder. DeSalvo, who died in 1973, confessed to being the Boston Strangler but was never prosecuted for the crimes after negotiating a deal with his attorney F. Lee Bailey and Attorney General Edward Brooke.


Tom Landers/Globe Staff/File


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FILE - An undated family handout photo showing Gayle Botelho who had been missing for twelve years and whose remains were found Monday, Oct. 23, 2000 in a shallow grave in a backyard in Fall River, Mass., across the street from the apartment where Botelho lived. Police unearthed the 32-year-old Botelho's body after a tip from a confidential source. (AP Photo/ho) Library Tag 10272000 METRO

Gayle Botelho



Gayle Botelho, of Fall River, disappeared in 1988 and remained missing until 2000 when Daniel T. Tavares Jr. led authorities to her grave in the backyard of his former home. At the time of her disappearance in October 1988, Botelho lived across the street from Tavares, who stabbed his mother, Ann, to death in 1991. Tavares pleaded guilty to manslaughter in that case. In 2000, Tavares told then-Bristol district attorney Paul F. Walsh’s office where Botelho’s body could be found.


Triple killer Daniel T. Tavares Jr. charged with a fourth murder, 1988 death of Gayle Botelho


Associated Press


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3/29/05 Deanna Cremin(center picure) 17, was murdered ten years ago in Somerville. The case is still remains unsolved. Library Tag 03302005 Metro

Deanna Cremin



Deanna Cremin was 17 years old when she was murdered on her way home in March 1995. Her autopsy revealed that she had been strangled and sexually assaulted.


A look back: The case of Deanna Cremin


Dominic Chavez/Globe Staff


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FILE--This is an undated family handout photo of Holly Piirainen, a 10-year-old Grafton, Mass., girl who had been missing and then was found dead over two years ago. No arrests have been made.(AP Photo/Family Photo) Library Tag 08032008 Metro

Holly Piirainen



Holly was 10 years old when she disappeared after she and her brother went to a neighbor’s house in Sturbridge to play with puppies. Her brother returned without her, and all that was found that summer afternoon was one of the girl’s red shoes. Three months later on Oct. 23, 1993, hunters found her skeletal remains in Brimfield, 5 miles from where she was last seen. On January 3, 2012, Forensics linked a dead Springfield man to scene of Piirainen killing.


Piirainen Family via Associated Press


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Molly Bish



Molly Bish, 16, disappeared the morning of June 27, 2000, from her job as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren. In May 2003, Bish’s bathing suit was found 5 miles from the pond. Investigators found her remains nearby in June 2003.


A timeline of the Molly Bish case


Globe Photo


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James Cassidy



On May 12, 2003, gunmen shot James H. Cassidy, 21, in his Hemenway Street apartment, in an attack that appeared to be drug-related.


The Huntington News: Homicide on Hemenway


Associated Press


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Marlon Devine Santos



Five-month-old Marlon Santos disappeared from his foster home in November 1998. The foster parents waited 48 hours to report a missing persons report.


Nov. 5, 1999: Missing foster baby likely was suffocated, prosecutor says


Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff


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Deborah Bates



Deborah Bates was 23 years old when she disappeared from Lowell on Feb. 23, 1993. On March 16, 2004, authorities identified human remains found along Route 3 in Chelmsford as those of Bates and her unborn baby.


Associated Press


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‘The Lady of the Dunes’



In July 1974, a woman’s remains were found in the National Seashore in Provincetown. Her hands were amputated, and she had been nearly decapitated.


May 5, 2010: Police launch new effort to identify ‘The Lady Of The Dunes’


Stephen Rose/Globe Staff


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Danny Croteau



Danny Croteau was 13 years old in 1972, an altar boy, when his body was fished out of the Chicopee River, his head bashed in. The chief suspect was a local priest, Richard Lavigne, but no one was ever charged with Croteau’s death.


Jan. 17, 2008: A boy's death revisited


Associated Press


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New Bedford serial ‘highway’ killings



Between July 1988 and April 1989, the bodies of nine women were found along New Bedford area highways. Two women are still missing. All 11 abused drugs and some were prostitutes. Eight of the victims are pictured (clockwise from top left): Rochelle Clifford Dopierla, Dawn Mendes, Debroh McConnell, Robbin Rhodes, Nancy Paiva, Debra Perry Greenlaw DeMello, Mary Rose Santos, and Sandra Botelho


The boston Globe


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Henry Bedard Jr.



In December 1974, police found the body of Henry Bedard Jr. in a shallow grave on a cliff overlooking one of the busiest streets in Swampscott. More than 38 years after the 15-year-old was discovered under a pile of leaves — just yards away from the murder weapon, a baseball bat — the case remains unsolved.


January 30, 2011: Dead-end case turns to Facebook


Suzanne kreiter/Globe Staff


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Robert Rasmussen and Gerald Montrio



On the night of Sept. 9, 1957, the clothes of Robert Rasmussen,13, and Gerald Montrio,15, were found on rocks lining Plymouth Harbor. No bodies were ever found, and neither was heard from again. Pictured above are the sisters of the two boys honored their brothers at “Flat Rock” in Plymouth in 2003.


the Boston Globe


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