The first body turned up in July of , about 30 feet from the road on northbound Route in Freetown, Massachusetts. A motorist who had stopped to relieve herself on the Sunday of the July Fourth weekend came upon the partially clothed, unrecognizable corpse, a bra around its neck β and investigators who soon arrived on the scene could tell the body had been there for months.
That body, identified five months later in December as Debra Medeiros, marked the first in a series of killings that would come to be attributed to the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer. Nine women were found, two remain missing to this day β and the murderer has never been caught. The deaths are the subject of a new book by journalist Maureen Boyle β who covered the cases nearly three decades ago β titled Shallow Graves : The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer, which forensically lays out the lives of the victims, the investigation and the suspects.
It began fading from memory. Debra Medeiros, left and Nancy Paiva, right, were the first two women discovered strangled and dumped near highways circling New Bedford, Massachusetts.
The nine victims were found near highways around New Bedford between July 3, and April 24, - though two other women remain missing who are also believed dead.
Robbin Rhodes, left went missing some time in March or April of , while Debroh Lynn McConnell was last seen by her family in May; both their bodies were found by search dogs. Dawn Mendes, left, went missing on September 4, , and her body was found in December off Interstate ; Rochelle Clifford Dopierala was found the same month in a gravel pit about two miles from the interstate.
