Investigating homicides from a cubicle

Clive McFarlane, cmcfarlane@telegram.com

T&G STAFF

So, now we know what to look for in the serial killer who is preying on prostitutes working in the Main South area of the city.

According to John Kelly, president of STALK Inc., a New Jersey-based profiling group, the killer is a blue-collar worker, between the ages of 28 and 41. He works in the construction field, or is (or has been) a truck driver or maintenance worker. He drives a pickup or a large SUV.

He likes fishing, hunting and pornography (in all forms of media), and he brags about his fishing and hunting conquests.

He grew up in a very physically and sexually abusive household as a child, and blames his mother for the abusive situation. He suffers from a learning disability, and suffers from anxiety and paranoia.

But before you start looking askance at construction and maintenance workers and your fishing and hunting buddies, know this: There is no serial killer preying on prostitutes in the Main South area.

None of the district attorney offices involved in the five slayings has made such a declaration. They are not discounting the possibility of a serial killer being responsible for the deaths of the five women, but they just won’t say it.

“We don’t like to characterize investigations,” said Timothy J. Connolly, spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

“We intend to let the evidence control the direction of the case, instead of characterizing the case as this or that.”

In other words, after the remains of five Hispanic women, all of whom have been known to work as prostitutes in the Main South area of the city, have been found dumped in wooded areas around Central Massachusetts and Maine, we are still waiting for something to connect the deaths to one killer.

In the meantime, one doesn’t get the feeling that there is a sense of urgency in getting behind these killings.

Perhaps it is the multiple jurisdictions in which the remains were found, rather than social status of the women, that is preventing the cases from getting a higher investigative profile.

The Worcester district attorney’s office, for example, pointed out that the latest victim, Lineida Olivera, was the first of the five whose remains were actually found in its jurisdiction. Ms. Olivera’s skeletal remains were discovered last week in a wooded area near Rutland State Park.

The remains of the other victims were found in Hudson and Marlboro, which are under the jurisdiction of the Middlesex district attorney’s office, and in Maine.

But with all due respect to the Worcester district attorney’s office, Ms. Olivera’s case should not be treated as the first under its jurisdiction.

The fact that all five of the victims were known to operate in the Main South area of the city should have made all the cases priorities for this office.

Yes, it is true that the Worcester district attorney’s office has been sharing information with its counterparts in Middlesex County and Maine.

When Ms. Olivera’s remains were found, some 17 investigators from all three jurisdictions met to share information. But sharing information and creating a task force that is dedicated to looking at these cases as the work of a serial killer are two different things.

“You have five murdered women who apparently were abducted from Main South,” Mr. Kelly said.

“You can look at it as five different murderers, or as one serial killer. If it is the latter, are we naive to believe that somebody who is as lethal and as cunning as this predator has only killed five? We have only found five bodies. The body count could be higher.”

The Worcester district attorney’s office is not discounting Mr. Kelly’s conclusions, but the Olivera case, which it is “working aggressively,” is its major focus at the moment.

“We are not ignoring the profiler’s comments,” Mr. Connolly said.

“The DA’s office respects his point of view, but this investigation is based on forensic evidence and interviews. We are reluctant to call it (the Olivera case) anything but a murder.”

September 11, 2007

'Woodsman' profile is released

By Scott J. Croteau Telegram & Gazette Staff, scroteau@telegram.com

A New Jersey-based profiling team that helps law enforcement bring serial killers to justice released a profile yesterday of the man they believe is responsible for killing five prostitutes known in the Main South area of Worcester and dumping their bodies in wooded areas in Central Massachusetts and Maine.

Dubbing the suspected serial killer the "Main South Woodsman," the profiling team from the System To Apprehend Lethal Killers, or STALK Inc., said the man either works in construction or is a maintenance worker or truck driver, is between the ages of 28 and 41 and is a fisherman and hunter.

"He is a blue-collar worker. He is a get-his-hands-dirty kind of guy and not really professionally successful because he is so caught up in his fantasy," said STALK Inc. president John Kelly. "He is addicted to sex and serial killing and having power and control over these woman. He is playing God to where he has control and power over life and death."

The man most likely drives a pickup truck or sport utility vehicle, the profile said.

The profiling team released the profile on its Web site www.stalkinc.com yesterday.

The team includes Mr. Kelly; Frank Adamson, STALK vice president and the former chief of criminal investigations in the King County sheriff's office in Seattle; Dr. Edward Merski, the team's head psychologist; John Lewkowicz, a sex addiction specialist; and Ruth Moore, a psychiatric nurse specialist.

Mr. Kelly said the profile was released because his organization wants the killings to end and the man responsible brought to justice. He said people have to appreciate that the slain women are people even if they were prostitutes and battled drug addiction.

Authorities investigating the deaths of the five women said the cases are being probed thoroughly.

Many of the details in the profile are similar to descriptions of Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer, who admitted in 2003 to killing 48 women in the Seattle area. Mr. Kelly believes the suspected serial killer in Central Massachusetts is more refined in his choice of victim. All five women were petite, had dark hair, eyes and skin, and were Hispanic or Hispanic-looking. They all were known to work the streets of Main South as prostitutes and battled drug addiction. The physical similarities led the profilers to choose the potential professions listed in the profile. Construction workers and maintenance workers are visually hands-on people, Mr. Kelly said, adding that truck drivers have a "good eye."

The skeletal remains of Betzaida Montalvo and Carmen Rudy were found on the grounds of Hillside School in Marlboro on Sept. 24 and 29, 2003, respectively. Dinelia Torres' skeleton was found on March 3, 2004, off Brigham Street in Hudson, a little more than a mile from the other two women. Wendy A. Morello's body was found on Sept. 13, 2004, in a 35-gallon trash can in Maine.

Last week, a hunter found the skeletal remains of 34-year-old Lineida Olivera of Worcester on state-owned land abutting Rutland State Forest. Her remains were about 200 yards into the woods off Route 122, near the Oakham town line.

The locations have led the profilers to believe the suspected killer is a hunter or fisherman who is comfortable in the woods. They said he prefers outdoor sex as well.

Under the killer's psychosocial history, STALK Inc. wrote that the man: "Grew up in a very physically and sexually abusive household as a child, and blames his mother for the abusive situation. He is addicted to frequenting areas of prostitution, and he is known to prostitutes in the Main South area of Worcester. He may be known to prostitutes as being a john who prefers sex outdoors, weather permitting. He is a compulsive bragger, who brags about his fishing and hunting exploits. He would brag about, and enjoy showing pictures of, his fishing and hunting conquests."

"Not every male that is abused as a child becomes a serial killer, but it seems every serial killer has been abused either physically or sexually," Mr. Kelly said.

The killer is also picking women as his victims because he believes he is killing his mother, he added.

The profilers believe that besides a penchant for pornography, a constant in most serial killer cases, the Main South Woodsman has a history of assaulting women and most likely has assaulted some prostitutes.

"He would have charges of breaking and entering, a history of DUIs (driving under the influence of alcohol), or possession of an illegal substance," according to the profile. "He may have even been known as a drug dealer. He has a history (although maybe not legal history), of cruelty to animals, trespassing and being a peeping Tom."

The legal problems may have occurred earlier in the man's life, and drug dealing is another form of power to him, Mr. Kelly said.

"Usually serial killers start killing animals and move up to humans," he added.

The profilers also believe the suspected serial killer suffers from a learning disability and from anxiety and paranoia.

Most serial killers are addicted to central nervous system stimulants such as nicotine. That is why the profilers believe he is a smoker or cocaine user. Mr. Kelly said he could possibly use marijuana, which can act as a stimulant for some. The team said he probably has received treatment for his substance abuse.

"He should turn himself in to the authorities to end his personal torturous torment and his addiction to killing," the profile said. "He can then tell his story to the millions of people who are interested in him."