By Chris Bartholomew
From April to September of 1988 there was a working serial killer in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He dumped his victims alongside the highways outside of the city. The murdered women were prostitutes and drug addicts, the last of which was not found until April of 1989. Eleven women dead, two of which are still missing.
Interesting to note that a lot of the victims were friends, and some even had the same lawyer who was a suspect at one time. This can be explained by the work the women did and the fact of drug addiction, still, it is interesting. Most of the women also frequented the same bars, which is also not unusual if they were all prostitutes, but only half were prostitutes though they all used heroin or cocaine.
Robin Rhodes, age 28, last seen in April 1988. She had a history of drug abuse involving cocaine. Her body was found 3/28/89, off of southbound Rt. 140, about half way between where McConnell and Madeiros's bodies were found on the opposite side of highway. She was 25' from the shoulder. She was a friend of Debroh McConnell, and had worked with Mary Rose and husband Donald Santos at a fish-processing plant. She was a friend of Nancy Paiva and Sandra Botelho. She was a frequent patron at Whispers Pub.
Rochelle Clifford Dopierala, age 28, last seen on late April 27, 1988 by police with Frankie Pina. She had a history of prostitution and cocaine abuse. Her body was found 12/10/1988 in a former gravel quarry turned illegal refuse dump 1/2 mile north of Reed Rd. exit from I-195, under a grove of trees, partially clothed and strangled. Her killer had to travel down 2 different lesser traveled roads to reach the site. Gave a local lawyer, Kenneth Ponte's phone number as a contact for dentist office shortly before she disappeared. Prosecutors formally dropped a murder charge against a lawyer who had been named as a suspect in a slaying believed to be the work of a serial killer.
Deborah (Debroh) McConnell, age 25, last seen in May of 1988. She had a history of drug abuse. Body found 12/1/1988 2 miles south of 7/2 discovery on Rt. 140N, east side of the road when search dogs alerted. She was fully clothed with a sack of clothing nearby, and her body was in a fetal position (which could mean the killer stored her body in a space such as the trunk of a car or storage chest before disposing of the body). She was a friend of Robin Rhodes, Nancy Paiva, and possibly Dawn Mendes and Mary Santos. Worked with Paiva at the Town Tavern in 1986 or '87, and frequented the Homeward Bound tavern, both owned by Faith Alameida.
Christine Monteiro, age 19, was last seen in late May 1988. She had a history of prostitution and drug abuse. Her remains were not found. She was the next door neighbor of victim Sandy Botelho.
Marilyn Roberts, age 34, had a history of drug abuse. First reported missing in April, but later she is said to have been seen in the city in June of '88. Her remains were not found.
Nancy Paiva, age 36, last seen on July 7, 1988 walking home from Whispers Pub around 7 pm after an argument with boyfriend Frankie Pina. Pina reported her missing on 7/9. Nancy was known to have a heroin addiction. Her nude body was found on July 30, 1988 by a male motorist 6 miles west of New Bedford, on the westbound side of I-195, just past the tree line, on her back with her feet toward the highway. After her disappearance, there were signs of someone living in her apt. while Pina was in jail. Evidence later showed at least 2 other victims were in her apt. shortly before their deaths. At one time, she worked for atty. Kenneth Ponte. She was a friend of Robin Rhodes and Debroh McConnell. She worked at Town Tavern with McConnell in 1986 or 1987.
Deborah DeMello, age 35, was last seen on July 11, 1988, and had a history of both prostitution and drug addiction. Her nude body was found by a Public Works crew on Nov. 8, 1988 concealed within trees inside the circle of the on-ramp from southbound Reed Rd to eastbound I-195. There was clothing strewn in tree branches, some of which, along with jewelry, was later identified as belonging to Nancy Paiva.
Mary Rose Santos, age 26, was last seen on July 16, 1988. She had a history of cocaine abuse. Dropped off at the Quarterback Lounge on 7/15 by her husband, she was seen leaving around 1 am on the 16th to visit a friend. Police assumed she was heading for local red-light district, but there is no evidence that she ever practiced prostitution. Her nude body was found on March 30, 1989 about 20-25' off side of Rt. 88. Two weeks earlier, a letter was received by District Attorney Ron Pina suggesting LE search that area. The writer had seen a white pick up truck, with an adult male who appeared to be struggling with a female. The letter-writer was unable to identify either person later. Mary Rose frequented the Homeward Bound tavern. Homeward Bound and Quarterback Lounge taverns were both owned by Faith Alameida, along with the Town Tavern.
Sandra Botelho, age 24, was last seen on August 11, 1988, and had a history of both prostitution and cocaine addiction. Her nude remains were found folded into a fetal position on April 24, 1989, 8 miles east of New Bedford along I-195 in Plymouth Co., inside the township of Marion (which made it a different jurisdiction from other victims). She was the next door neighbor of victim Christine Montiero, friend of Robin Rhodes, and a frequent patron at Whispers Pub.
Dawn Mendes, age 25, was last seen on Sept. 4, 1988. She had a history of prostitution and cocaine addiction. On Nov. 29, 1988 search dogs alerted along the north side of the westbound I-195 on-ramp from Reed Rd. and LE found her nude body. She had left home that day to attend a relative's baby shower, and would have had to have passed through the local red-light district. She frequented the Homeward Bound tavern.
Since the victims were all known prostitutes and/or drug abusers, the families of the murdered women are angry over the low priority given the crimes, 11 victims of a serial killer over a 5 month period, and he's never been found. He may have died, been incarcerated for something else, or left the country. He may still be out there raping, beating, strangling, and killing.
Because the victims were prostitutes or drug abusers, the still-unknown killer or killers in the New Bedford highway slayings thought no one would miss the women who were brutally murdered. All of the victims were petite, standing no taller than 5 feet, 4 inches.
There have been suspects in the case. One was a local lawyer and is mentioned several times and was actually indicted for one of the murders (charges were later dropped), but he was cleared by DNA. He had been indicted in 1990 in the death of Rochelle Clifford Dopierala, but the charge was dropped the following year. A special prosecutor said a grand jury did not have enough evidence to indict, and winning a conviction would have been virtually impossible. Another man, suspected of being a serial rapist and identified by several local prostitutes in that matter, was also cleared through DNA after he committed suicide. Nancy Paiva's boyfriend was in jail during some of the disappearances, effectively clearing him as well. Another suspect was convicted of sexual assault in another matter, and served a 3-5 year prison term. He was released in '93 and was appealing the conviction; there is no information on whether his DNA was ever checked.
In 2007, a newly elected prosecutor reopened the investigation into the unsolved slayings of nine women (and two more missing) in the 1980s, and investigators dug up the driveway and patio at the former home of a onetime suspect looking for new evidence. This really got the hopes up of the victim's families, but apparently nothing was found.
Bristol District Attorney Samuel Sutter had promised to reopen the case during his successful election campaign last fall. His office confirmed that the case has indeed been reopened, but did not say whether the excavation was linked to that investigation.
There are almost fifty cold cases that are now open in the area, (all are not related to the New Bedford Highway Killings.)
Now there is a new suspect in town. Meet the Main South Woodsman.
September 24, 2003. Skeletal remains of Betzaida Montalvo, a 29-year-old single woman, were found on the grounds of Hillside School in Marlboro. She was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area.
September 29, 2003. Skeletal remains of Carmen Rudy, a 29-year-old single woman, were found on the grounds of Hillside School in Marlboro. Her body was approximately 100 yards from Montalvo's body.
March 3, 2004. Skeletal remains of Dinelia Torres was found on Brigham Street in Hudson. She was 33 years old. This location is just over a mile from the location of the other two women. Her body was discovered 40 yards from the road; close to the school where the first two bodies were found.
September 13, 2004. 40 year-old Wendy A. Morello's body was discovered in a 35-gallon trash can in York, Maine. She was found by a man walking in the woods near a residential area.
September 4, 2007. A hunter found the skeletal remains of 34-year-old Ms. Olivera of Worcester on state-owned land next to Rutland State Forest. Her remains were discovered about 200 yards into the woods off Route 122, near the Oakham town line. Autopsy reports on Ms. Olivera, a mother of 11, indicate she was a homicide victim. The reports do not specify what led to that conclusion. Homicidal violence and homicide were listed as the causes of death of Ms. Rudy and Ms. Montalvo, both 29 at the time of their disappearance. All the deaths were ruled as homicides by the coroner.
They were all petite, with dark eyes, hair, and complexion. The women also were known to have drug problems. They had a history of prostitution, working on the streets of Worchester's Main South area.
All of the woodsman victims were found in wooded areas, near a body of water. Massachusetts, Bristol County investigators are sharing information with Worcester County authorities to see whether the woodsman suspect could be linked to a string of deaths in the New Bedford Highway killings. In these cases, the victims were displayed in an unusual way, but those officials would not elaborate what the 'display' was. This is apparently something that only the killer and the police know and they aren't telling.
A man from central Massachusetts became a person of interest sometime after the skeletal remains of Betzaida Montalvo, 29, Carmen Rudy, 29, and Dinelia Torres, 33, were discovered in Marlboro and Hudson in 2003 and 2004. The deaths of two other women, Wendy A. Morello, 40, whose body was found stuffed in a trash can in the woods of York, Maine, in 2004, and Lineida Olivera, 34, whose skeletal remains were found on land abutting Rutland State Forest in 2007, also became part of the investigation because of similarities between their deaths and the other three victims. The probe has become known as the “Main South Woodsman” investigation, based on a profiling team's assessment that the crimes were linked and likely caused by a middle-aged man who was an outdoorsman and worked at a job that kept him outdoors.
The Main South Woodsman investigation appeared stymied for a lack of physical evidence until last month when DNA taken from the alleged victim of a rape last year in a West Boylston motel was matched to biological evidence recovered Oct. 23, 1996, from the body of a woman found strangled to death near Kinsman Road in Fitchburg. The 12-year-old murder of Theresa K. Stone, 39, who had prostitution convictions, had never formally been linked to the Main South Woodsman.
Authorities from at least three states, Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, are sharing information about the deaths and looking to solve other cold cases. The man now described as a person of interest in a series of unsolved murders in central Massachusetts once used an address on the grounds of a private school where the remains of two of the victims were found. He is also a person of interest in a string of Worcester murders during the mid-1990s, and Manchester, N.H., police were looking at him in connection with two murders there.
In prison, his DNA was linked to evidence recovered from the remains of the Fitchburg woman strangled 12 years ago. Now, authorities are looking at him in connection with the slayings of at least five prostitutes in the area in recent years.
The authorities from Worcester, New Bedford and Middlesex counties are all working on a timeline to determine where he has lived and worked since 1988. His driving history is being scrutinized by detectives. It shows numerous stops in areas where bodies were found, and a record pocked with more than 120 entries from drunken driving to chronic speeding, according to state records.
A review of his criminal records for the past 10 years shows charges of choking a woman with a necktie and attempting to rape her, attacking another woman, and raping a young girl. He has resided throughout Central Massachusetts during that period and has worked for his family's construction business.
Outside of Central Massachusetts, he was accused of choking a woman and trying to rape her in Harwich six years ago. The case was set for trial, but dropped in Orleans District Court after the woman failed to appear in court. According to Harwich police reports, officers interviewed the woman on March 3, 2002, at Cape Cod Hospital. Police said she told them that she had met him in a local Chinese restaurant and he allegedly made sexual advances toward her. She told police that the two ended up at his home in Harwich, where he became aggressive and tried to have sex with her. The woman rejected his advances, according to the police report, at which point he allegedly grabbed a necktie, tied it around the woman's neck and choked her. The woman told police she blacked out, then came to and found him on top of her. He allegedly struck her several times, but the woman managed to stop him and convince him to take her home in his white pickup truck, the police report said. He was arrested and charged with assault with intent to rape and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
At the time of the New Bedford murders, he would have been 18 or 19 years old.
Editor's note: this article was written in 2008 and named the central Massachusetts person of interest in full. This site does not. He has never been charged over the New Bedford killings, over the Main South Woodsman deaths, or over the disappearances described in the first half of this article, and the allegations recited above are drawn from police reports and from charges that were dropped or tried separately. Naming him here would put the archive ahead of the record. The New Bedford case itself remains unsolved: Kenneth Ponte, the lawyer indicted in 1990 and cleared the following year, died in 2010, and evidence from the case was submitted for modern DNA testing in a 2019 review that has not reported.