'Complacency kills': Worcester DA puts focus on unresolved murders via revamped website

WORCESTER - On Aug. 31, 1951, Trooper Alje Savela was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop on Route 122 in Barre. His killer was never found.

On June 17, 1968, the body of 7-year-old David Larochelle was found in the Carpenter Pond area in Southbridge. His death was ruled a homicide. His killer was never found.

On June 6, 1973, the remains of Maureen Moynihan and her 4-year-old daughter Jennifer were located in a wooded area off Route 122A Rutland. Their killer was never brought to justice.

On April 6, 1979, John Donaldson was killed in his vehicle outside of his Harvard residence. His killer was never found.

On June 27, 2000, Molly Bish, a 16-year-old lifeguard, went missing from her post at Comins Pond in Warren. Molly’s remains were located three years later in a wooded area in Palmer. Her killer was never brought to justice.

Those are just some of the unresolved homicide cases that Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. and his teams of investigators have made a pledge not rest or to forget until the victim’s families find justice.

With this in mind, Early unveiled a revamped website, worcesterda.com/prosecution/unresolved-cases/that includes a database of unresolved murder cases in Worcester County.

Representing victims who include men, women and children, young and old, the unresolved homicide cases accessible on the website include one dating back to the 1950s, three from the 1960s, 10 from the 1970s, 16 from the 1980s, two from the 1990s and 13 since 2000.

The unresolved homicides occurred in 22 different cities and towns.

“Complacency kills. You never want to be complacent,” Early said. “You always got to fight against complacency, thinking you’ve done enough and you can do more. That’s some of the reasons that we’re changing the website. Are we perfect? No. Can we get better? Always.”

When he got elected district attorney in 2007, Massachusetts State Police Superintendent Col. Marian J. McGovern called Early and said, “Joe, I want you to start an unresolved homicide unit.” So he did.

“It was called the Cold Case Unit,” Early recalled. “And, I said, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.' ”

A month into the job, Early was approached by John Bish, father of Molly Bish.

“John Bish, in a very strong tone, said, ‘Don’t you dare call these cold cases, because they are not cold cases. Cold cases, the notes are filed, sitting on a desk somewhere, in a filing cabinet, on top of a filing cabinet, collecting dust. And that’s not what these are. These are unresolved cases. … We would like all of you to call these unresolved cases, because those words give hope to the family. It lets the family know that you are working on them,’ ” Early said. “So we switched the name to Unresolved Homicide Unit. We talked to Worcester about their unit, which they also called the Cold Case Unit. … They switched theirs as well, to the Worcester Unresolved Homicide Unit.”

When they started the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office Unresolved Homicide Unit, Early said the team had a couple of breakthroughs right away.

“We started going through different boxes,” Early said. “There were a lot of boxes that were in the attic in the Holden barracks. And we started sifting through boxes and it led us to get a couple of convictions.”

Keeping these unresolved cases open and active is important, Early said.

“People say, 'Well, it’s been a while. Is there still an expediency to it? Is there still an importance to it?’ Yeah, big-time. For these families, they want some type of justice. They want some type of closure,” Early said. “The thing they want, we can’t give them. That’s their loved one. … What they really want then, they want justice. They want their son, daughter, brother, sister’s killer put behind bars so it doesn’t happen again to another family and they don’t have to go through that.”

The newly revamped Worcester County District Attorney’s website has added narratives, and pictures when they are available, of the unresolved murder cases in Worcester County.

“We are regularly going to call the families and let them know this is what we’re doing. Even if we have nothing to give them,” Early said. “And, oftentimes, they get a little frustrated because you got information in the case file but you can’t share it with them because it can compromise the case.”

Early said a prosecutor and victim witness advocate is assigned to each unresolved murder case.

“We want people to know that none of these cases have been forgotten,” Early said. “We had two that just recently led to arrests: Jeremiah Oliver, the young child that was killed out in Fitchburg and found by the side of the highway on 190; and Franklin Mane, from Worcester, who was found out in Leominster in a parking lot. And getting information has led to a couple of these arrests.”

In addition, recently solved murder cases are also posted on the website.

“We’re showing the ones we’ve solved to give people hope,” Early said. “The unfortunate dynamic is when we do solve a case, the families are happy. But now you get the other families asking, 'What about us? Are they still working on the case?' That’s where the communication comes into play is we let them know we’re still working on your case. Nothing take a backseat to these murders.”

Anyone with information on an unresolved case can call (508) 453-7589 or email WorcesterDAunresolved@mass.gov

While DNA tests has been instrumental in solving cases and bringing killers to justice, Early stresses that eyewitness testimony, identifications, investigations and even guilty consciences can lead to important breaks in a case.

“It’s not always DNA. It’s old-fashioned, boots-on-the-ground, police doing work, shoe-leather, leading to tips and further information,” Early said. “That’s why tips are so important.”

While 35 unsolved homicide cases are highlighted, Early said you won’t see a case like that of Brittany Tee, the 35-year-old Brookfield woman missing since Jan. 10, on the list.

“Brittany Tee is still one of those things they are working hard on,” Early said. “There are a couple of different possibilities we got on the case but we can’t conclusively say it’s anything yet. But they’re still working hard on it and they’re still taking tips.”

The DA list does not include unresolved cases in Worcester. Those are on the Worcester Police Department website: https://www.worcesterma.gov/police/investigations/unresolved-cases

Another high-profile case, the death of Holly Piirainen of Grafton, also remains unresolved. The remains of the 10-year-old girl were found in Brimfield on Oct. 23, 1993, 11 weeks after she was last seen in Sturbridge. The case is handled by the Hampden County district attorney.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester County unsolved murders DA Joseph Early revamps website