Stewart Weldon of Springfield, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in Hampden County Superior Court in September 2021 to three counts of first-degree murder and to other charges. The three women he was convicted of killing were Ernestine Ryans, America Lyden and Kayla Escalante. The plea covered 39 charges in all, out of more than 50 that a grand jury had returned against him three years earlier.
The case began in May 2018 and took more than three years to resolve. It involved eleven alleged victims in total, and three of them were dead. Much of Weldon's life before the arrests, and of the three women's lives, remains unknown.
Weldon was 40 years old when he was arraigned in August 2018 and 44 when he entered his plea in September 2021. He lived in Springfield, in western Massachusetts. His date of birth, his childhood and his schooling are not on record.
He had served earlier prison terms in Massachusetts, from which he was released in 2008 and in 2012. He had been expected to put forward an insanity defense before he pleaded guilty.
The three women were Ernestine Ryans, 47, of Springfield; America Lyden, 34, of Springfield; and Kayla Escalante, 27, of Ludlow.
Who the women were outside the case, and what their families have said of them, is not on record.
Weldon was arrested in Springfield on May 27, 2018, on charges involving a surviving woman, who is not named.
Within days the inquiry had widened to the deaths of three women in Springfield. On June 4, 2018, Weldon was arraigned on kidnapping and assault-to-rape charges involving the surviving woman. Bail was set at $1 million on each kidnapping case, and bail was revoked on earlier charges. At that stage he had not been charged in connection with the three deaths, and the Hampden County District Attorney, Anthony Gulluni, described the deaths as suspicious.
On August 16, 2018, a Hampden County grand jury indicted Weldon on 52 counts. They included three counts of Murder, nine counts of Aggravated Rape, two counts of Rape, five counts of Aggravated Kidnapping, four counts of Kidnapping and two counts of Assault to Rape, together with further counts. The conduct charged spread over about a year and involved eleven victims, the three dead women among them. The other alleged victims were identified in the indictment by initials.
The three killings were charged as separate counts of murder, and the period given for them ran from August 2017 to May 30, 2018.
At his arraignment on August 27, 2018, Weldon said little beyond "not guilty" to the three murder charges, and not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf to the remaining 49 charges, for 52 in all. He was held without bail. His lawyer said outside the court that his client was looking forward to defending himself.
The trial was first set for April 2020. The pandemic pushed it back. By the autumn of 2021 it had been scheduled again, for about a month after the day Weldon went into court and changed his pleas.
In September 2021, in Hampden County Superior Court in Springfield, Weldon changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on 39 charges. These included three counts of first-degree murder, with other charges. The exact wording of the counts to which he pleaded, and which of the 52 indicted counts were dropped, is not on record. He told the court, "I just want to close this case." Sentencing was set for the Thursday of that week.
Weldon was facing life in prison when he pleaded. The exact wording of the sentence imposed after the plea is not on record. Where Weldon is held now, and whether he has sought any appeal or other relief, is not on record.
Eleven alleged victims were named in the indictment by initials, but the plea covered 39 charges, and which of the indicted counts concerning the other women were resolved by the plea and which were dropped is not on record. The cause of death of each of the three women is not on record.
2008 and 2012: Released from earlier Massachusetts prison terms.
August 2017 to May 30, 2018: Period covered by the three murder counts.
May 27, 2018: Arrested in Springfield.
June 4, 2018: Weldon arraigned on kidnapping and assault-to-rape charges.
August 16, 2018: Hampden County grand jury returns a 52-count indictment.
August 27, 2018: Not guilty pleas to all 52 counts at arraignment; held without bail.
April 2020: Original trial date, postponed because of the pandemic.
September 2021: Pleads guilty in Hampden County Superior Court to 39 charges, including three counts of first-degree murder; sentencing set for that Thursday.