1984 slaying remains unsolved
Martin Luttrell, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
WORCESTER - A
black-and-white photograph of Patricia Ann Gonyea and a bouquet of roses and
balloons hang clipped to a chain-link fence separating the Conrail train tracks
from Walpole Street. A few feet away the fence lies on the ground where
residents use the tracks as a shortcut.
It was that shortcut that investigators believe Ms. Gonyea was using to walk
home on a rainy night 20 years ago. She never arrived. Her body was found the
next day at the rear of the former Crompton & Knowles factory, next to the
tracks.
The 17-year-old South
High Community School student died from multiple blunt trauma to the head. Her
naked body, discovered in a window well of the factory building covered with
cardboard, was less than two blocks from her home on Southgate Street.
Although no arrest has been made, police are still working on the case, said
Police Department spokesman Sgt. Gary J. Quitadamo.
Ms. Gonyea worked at Abdow's Big Boy Restaurant in Auburn, liked rock guitarist
Rick Springfield and enjoyed roller skating.
On the night of Oct. 22, 1984, she took the bus to Main Street and walked toward
home in a heavy rain. Investigators at the time surmised that she walked down
Grand Street past some factory buildings and into an alley that led to the
tracks, which she would have crossed to get to Canterbury Street.
She was the second oldest of six children. No family members could be reached
for comment.
Former detective lieutenant John J. McKiernan Jr., who retired this year and
spent years working on the case, said he is hopeful that detectives will get a
break.
"I know that this is an active investigation," he said. "We've made scientific
advances that relate to investigations at crime scenes, particularly DNA."
He said that evidence gathered at the scene could still provide a link to the
killer, and that police are active on the case. "There's no question. Before I
retired there were some things going on with this case that are interesting.
"It was particularly difficult because of the location where the body was found.
She had been missing since the night before, and there had been a torrential
downpour" that may have erased some evidence, he said.
"In 1984 we treated crime scenes differently than today in gathering evidence.
We were not looking for certain types of evidence, though they were collected.
We were thinking about blood evidence, hairs and fibers. Though we couldn't get
the same type of evidence from hairs and fiber then as we can now, we were
careful to recover as much evidence as possible."
EVIDENCE IN WORCESTER KILLING SENT TO FBI
Boston Globe
Evidence collected at the
scene of a 17-year-old's murder was sent to FBI headquarters in Washington
yesterday, Worcester Police said.
The evidence will undergo extensive laboratory tests for clues in the slaying of
Patricia A. Gonyea, whose body was found Tuesday in a window well behind a
factory complex, in the southern part of the town, Detective Lt. John J.
McKiernan said. He declined to specify the evidence gathered.
Gonyea, a senior at South
High Community School, was last seen alive at 11:15 p.m., Monday, when she got
off a bus and started to walk toward her home on Southgate street a few blocks
away. Her body was found behind the Crompton and Knowles factory complex at
12:45 p.m., Tuesday. Her purse and clothes were found nearby.
A coroner said Gonyea died of multiple head injuries, Lt. McKiernan said
Wednesday. He declined to say whether Gonyea had been sexually assaulted.
Kenneth Gonyea, the victim's brother, said police told him his sister was
sexually assaulted.
Police said yesterday that dozens of local residents have come forward with
information that could help them find Gonyea's killer, the Associated Press
reported. They declined to say if there were any suspects in the case, the wire
service also reported.
A funeral Mass will be said this morning in Holy Name of Jesus Church,
Worcester. Burial will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery.
The South Worcester Neighborhood Center established a fund Wednesday to help
Gonyea's family pay for the funeral expenses, Julie Carrigan, a spokeswoman for
the center, said yesterday.
Carrigan said donations are being sent to the First Safety Fund Bank in
Worcester. The bank has collected about $250, she added.
SLAYING PARALLELS GONYEA MURDER
Dianne Williamson; Staff Reporter, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Patricia A. Gonyea and
Nereida E. Melendez were both 17, both attractive, vibrant high school seniors
when their lives were robbed by the hands of a killer.
The bodies of both women were found in rain-soaked areas near their homes
shortly after family members grew alarmed by their disappearances and started a
search. In both instances, the victims' purses were found before their bodies.
But police are hoping the
similarities end there in both cases, for Miss Gonyea's unknown killer roams
free almost five years since her battered body was found behind an abandonded
Main South factory building.
"We hope to solve this case as soon as possible," said Detective Sgt. Robert
Lotsbom, speaking of the murder of Miss Melendez, whose body was found Tuesday
afternoon in a wooded area off Belmont Street. "We're not making any comparisons
between this case and the Patricia Gonyea case."
Though police don't believe the killings are related, the circumstances
surrounding Miss Melendez' murder are a tragic reminder of an earlier death that
stunned a community and devastated a family.
Kathleen Vivlamore, Miss Gonyea's mother, has never met the family of Nereida E.
Melendez. But Ms. Vivlamore is no stranger to the grief the family is enduring,
nor is she unacquainted with the pain of dealing with the murder of a daughter.
"It's going to be a nightmare for that girl's family, and I really feel for
them," Ms. Vivlamore said last night. "Our lives will never be the same, just
like that girl's parents and her family. I hope police catch the killer who did
that to their daughter."
Ms. Vivlamore knows something about hope. As the years pass and help dull the
pain of her loss, she still sustains faith that her daughter's killer will be
brought to justice.
She meets with police three or four times a year to discuss the case and the
tips that trickle in but lead nowhere. Lotsbom said the investigation is still
open and police "frequently" follow up on leads. At the height of the probe, 14
detectives worked on the case, interviewing hundreds of people who might have
shed some light on the murder.
"I just can't let it rest until the killer is caught," said Ms. Vivlamore, 45,
who moved from Worcester to West Brookfield shortly after her daughter was
killed in October 1984. "He could be out there somewhere, living a normal life,
while he's changed our lives forever."
Miss Gonyea was not the only victim of the killer. Mrs. Vivlamore drank heavily
for the two years after the murder; one of her sons turned to drugs and a
daughter attempted suicide, she said. Counseling eventually helped them come to
grips with Miss Gonyea's death, she said, but it still haunts them.
"I wouldn't want anyone to go through what me and my kids went through, what
we're still going through," she said. "But now that girl's family has to.
"I just hope they're strong enough."