October 26, 2004

1984 slaying remains unsolved

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.

June 8, 1989

SLAYING PARALLELS GONYEA MURDER

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.

October 26, 1984

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.