Trial of man accused of murdering woman found in burning car in cemetery set for Monday
WORCESTER - The man accused of murdering Cynthia L. Webb, the Sterling woman whose body was found inside the trunk of her burning car in a city cemetery in 2017, is slated to go on trial Monday.
Steven M. Foley, who was arrested shortly after the body of Webb, 59, was found Dec. 12, 2017 at Hope Cemetery, faces charges of murder and causing malicious damage to a motor vehicle.
A jury was seated this week in Worcester Superior Court, records show, and opening statements are expected Monday morning.
Foley, a Level 3 sex offender whose record includes a nearly 20-year prison sentence for raping a college student, has been in jail since police tracked him to a Peabody hotel a week after firefighters extinguished the blaze.
Foley allegedly met Webb at a Webster strip club where she worked Dec. 11, took her to his fiancee’s Northborough home and set her car on fire with her body in the trunk the following morning.
Webb, who has been described by co-workers and her son as a generous person who had overcome many struggles in life, was identified by dental records, authorities have said.
An autopsy determined her death was caused by "homicidal violence of unknown etiology," and that the manner of death was homicide by assault, prosecutors have said.
Authorities have said that evidence in the case includes video surveillance of Webb and Foley driving in the same car Dec. 11, cellphone and cab driver evidence linking Foley to the cemetery the next morning and evidence of Webb’s blood underneath the floorboards of the Northborough home.
Foley was arrested Dec. 19, 2017, a week after Webb’s body was found in the burning car, at a Peabody hotel.
He had checked in with a false name, police have said, and was found with more than $30,000 in cash and money orders.
Prosecutors have in past court proceedings said that Foley had told multiple people he was present when Webb died, but maintained that he did not kill her and merely disposed of her body.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Steven Foley on trial Monday in 2017 murder of Cynthia Webb
