Edward Mayrand was convicted once of murder. In Rhode Island he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the death of Patricia Paquette, 46, in Providence in December 1994, and he received a sentence of about 35 to 60 years. He died in prison in 2011. Three years after his death, authorities in New Hampshire announced that the evidence had convinced them he was also responsible for two earlier deaths, those of Kathleen Daneault in Massachusetts in 1983 and Judith Whitney in New Hampshire in 1987. He was never charged with either, and neither is a conviction.
Mayrand's record with the courts began in Massachusetts. In December 1975 he was convicted of rape in Warwick, Massachusetts. He went to prison and, by the fall of 1983, had been released on parole.
Kathleen Daneault was 25 and lived in Gardner, Massachusetts. She died on November 17, 1983. Her case stayed open for more than three decades. After the announcement of 2014 her family said that the answer "does not erase the 31 years" the son had been without his mother.
In 2014, DNA evidence led investigators to name Mayrand. New Hampshire authorities announced on December 23, 2014 that the evidence "convinced authorities that Edward Mayrand murdered Kathleen Daneault." The Worcester County District Attorney, Joseph Early Jr., said he wanted the family "to know with some certainty that Mayrand was in fact Kathleen's killer." No court has made a finding about the 1983 death, and Mayrand was not charged.
Judith Whitney was 43 and came from Amherst, Massachusetts. She died in July 1987 in New Hampshire. At the time Mayrand was 40 and was on parole from Massachusetts for the 1975 conviction. Police in New Hampshire regarded him as a suspect in 1987, but the evidence then was not enough to support an arrest, and the case became inactive. He was later described as "the prime suspect in Judith's murder."
The case was reopened in 2010 by the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit, which worked with the Massachusetts State Police and the Worcester District Attorney's Office. The unit linked Whitney's death to Daneault's, and the authorities said the evidence "also convinced authorities that Edward Mayrand murdered Judith Whitney." Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Agati led the New Hampshire investigation. The case was administratively closed as solved.
Patricia Paquette was 46. She died in Providence in December 1994. Mayrand was arrested in February 1995. He made several admissions to the murder of Paquette and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. His sentence "essentially resulted in 35 to 60 years in prison." The sentencing court, the date of the plea and the date of sentencing are not on record.
Mayrand died in a Rhode Island prison on June 29, 2011. The New Hampshire authorities later set out the legal result: "no arrest will be made and no prosecution commenced because the perpetrator of the murder died in 2011."
The New Hampshire Attorney General, Joseph A. Foster, and Colonel Robert Quinn of the New Hampshire State Police announced the findings on Tuesday, December 23, 2014. The Worcester County District Attorney's office released the Daneault family's statement. One line from it reads: "Our one solace is that Edward Mayrand passed away in prison alone without loved ones around him to comfort him." Agati said that no other active cold cases were believed to be linked to Mayrand. Judith Whitney's name came off the New Hampshire unsolved list as a result.
One death, that of Patricia Paquette, rests on a conviction by guilty plea. Two deaths, those of Kathleen Daneault and Judith Whitney, rest on the conclusions of New Hampshire and Massachusetts authorities, stated after the subject had died. They were not tested in a trial, and Mayrand had no opportunity to answer them in court. Whether he was responsible for any other deaths is not on record; the New Hampshire investigator said none of the other active cold cases was believed to be linked to him.
December 1975: convicted of rape in Warwick, Massachusetts.
Fall 1983: released on parole.
November 17, 1983: Kathleen Daneault, 25, dies in Gardner, Massachusetts (attributed to Mayrand in 2014).
July 1987: Judith Whitney, 43, of Amherst, Massachusetts, dies in New Hampshire (attributed to Mayrand in 2014); Mayrand, 40, is a suspect but is not arrested; the case becomes inactive.
December 1994: Patricia Paquette, 46, dies in Providence, Rhode Island.
February 1995: Mayrand is arrested.
Date not on record: pleads guilty to second-degree murder; sentence of about 35 to 60 years.
2010: the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit reopens the Whitney case.
June 29, 2011: Mayrand dies in prison in Rhode Island.
December 23, 2014: New Hampshire authorities announce that evidence convinced them he was responsible for both deaths; no arrest or prosecution.