Accused Attleboro child molester dead in apparent suicide

8-16-16 Massachusetts:

ATTLEBORO — Police confirmed an accused child molester was found dead Tuesday morning of an apparent suicide, the day after he was arraigned in Attleboro District Court.

The body of Selvin Perez, 42, of 140 South Main St. in Attleboro, was found by a woman around 8:30 a.m. in a parking lot behind the Gardner Terrace apartment complex off Pine Street.

Police Chief Kyle Heagney said Perez died from knife wounds, and left a suicide note. Heagney declined to comment on the details of the note.

Perez was released from court Monday afternoon after he was arraigned on charges he groped the 5-year-old daughter of a man who invited him over for beers at his South Main Street home last Friday.

Suicide suspected in death of Worcester child-killer

5-24-2014 Massachusetts:

A Worcester man convicted of beating to death his 7-year-old son on Father’s Day in 2009 died yesterday — the third suspected suicide of a Bay State prisoner in less than three months.

Leslie Schuler, 41, was pronounced dead at 5:50 a.m. at Norwood Hospital — about 90 minutes after he was found hanging in his cell at MCI Cedar Junction in Walpole, according to the 
Department of Correction. ..Source.. by Erin Smith

Neo-Nazi Rapist, Murderer Keith Luke Found Dead In Apparent Suicide

5-16-2014 Massachusetts:

A self-proclaimed neo-Nazi convicted of killing two and raping a woman was pronounced dead Monday from an apparent suicide.

Massachusetts man Keith Luke, 28, was sentenced in May of last year after confessing to his 2009 crimes, telling investigators that he raped a woman because he didn't want to be a virgin anymore after being turned down "100,000 [expletive] times,” and also wanted to kill non-whites, The Enterprise reported.

On Jan. 21, 2009, Luke knocked on the door of an unidentified woman in Brockton, Massachusetts. When she answered, he pointed a gun at her head, walked inside the residence, and handcuffed her. Luke later admitted to investigators to raping and sodomizing the woman.

When the woman's sister, 20-year-old Selma Goncalves, walked into the home and saw the sexual assault taking place, she attempted to run and find help, according to The Boston Herald.

“I knew she was going to make a huge scene, so I said [expletive] it, and I shot her three times,” Luke told police. Goncalves was killed in the attack.

The murderer-rapist then shot at the woman he had just raped before returning to his car to reload his weapon. The rape victim managed to survive the shootings.

Child sex abuse suspect dies at Boston hospital

3-7-2014 Massachusetts:

A man charged with sexually abusing 13 children through his wife’s unlicensed child care business died at a hospital Friday night after an apparent suicide attempt in jail several hours earlier, his lawyer said.

Defense attorney William Barabino said John Burbine, a convicted sex offender, apparently tried to hang himself in his cell in an approximately 20-minute period between his guards’ regular checks on him.

"We don’t know why," Barabino said. "John was a smart man and apparently took an opportune time to do what he did."

He said Burbine was receiving half-hourly checks by guards, one of whom noticed him hanging in his cell about 10 minutes before the usual 8 a.m. check.

Burbine, 50, had no pulse, but he was revived through CPR, and efforts to maintain his pulse and breathing and to stabilize him continued for hours at the hospital, the attorney said. Burbine died at 6:26 p.m. without regaining consciousness, he said.

Dartmouth man facing child pornography charges commits suicide

1-15-2014 Massachusetts:

NEW BEDFORD — A Dartmouth man charged with secretly videotaping a child in the nude committed suicide Tuesday, police said.

Carlos Fortes, 42, was found dead about 10:25 a.m. in the basement of a South End home, according to Detective Capt. Steven Vicente.

Fortes was arrested Dec. 29 by Dartmouth police and charged with secretly videotaping a person while nude, lascivious posing of a nude child and improper storage of a firearm, police said.

He was charged after a resident called police and reported he had videotaped a minor child while nude in the shower, according to Dartmouth police. ..Source.. by CURT BROWN

Authorities: Sex offender inmate commited suicide

7-12-2012 Massachusetts:

The first sex offender in the state convicted under Jessica’s Law apparently took his own life behind bars yesterday, authorities said.

A corrections officer found Robert Giglio, 49, hanging in his cell at Old Colony Correctional Center at about 4:23 p.m. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Morton Hospital, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Diane Wiffin.

Giglio had been serving 15 to 20 years after he was convicted of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14 in Middlesex County Superior Court on Oct. 26, 2009. Giglio received a minimum sentence of 15 years under Jessica’s Law because he had a previous conviction for indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old. Gov. Deval Patrick signed the law in 2008, named after a Florida girl who was raped and murdered in February 2005 by a repeat sex offender.

Wiffin said Giglio wouldn’t have been eligible for parole until 2024.

Giglio was being held in a single cell at the medium security prison away from the general population for disciplinary reasons since July 4, according to Wiffin. Corrections officials and the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the unattended death, but the case is believed to be a suicide. ..Source.. by Erin Smith

Accused molester commits suicide

12-17-2011 Massachusetts:

The former Annisquam man and Big Brother volunteer charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy is dead — having committed suicide Thursday at his Central Masachusetts home.

Lt. Kathy Auld, Gloucester's chief of detectives, confirmed Friday that Frederick Lyman, 64, had taken his own life.

Lyman, who once served on Gloucester's Historic Commission but had since moved to New Salem, faced charges of five counts of forcible child rape involving incidents both in Gloucester and elsewhere with a boy he was mentoring through the Big Brother program.

If convicted on a forcible rape charge, Lyman would have faced life in prison.

Sources close to the case said Friday that Lyman — who was facing a new court hearing on Monday — committed suicide in his house, though neither Auld nor Gloucester Detective Jeremiah Nicastro, who handled the Lyman case, would confirm that for the record.

The Northwestern Massachusetts District Attorney's office, which is based in Northampton and covers the New Salem area, declined to comment on this story

Lyman, initially charged in Gloucester District Court, was indicted on the rape charges in October and arraigned in Salem Superior Court on Nov. 15. He had been out on $100,000 cash bail awaiting a pretrial hearing on Jan. 23.

But his bail agreement, Nicastro said Friday, required him not to leave the state. And detectives had evidence that Lyman violated that at least twice, he said.

Nicastro said Lyman was up for a hearing on potential bail revocation, through Salem Superior Court had not yet scheduled one.

Massachusetts State Police arrested Lyman at his home in New Salem in September following Nicastro's two-month investigation into the child rape allegations. The charges stemmed from five separate alleged sexual offenses involving the same boy between 2005 and 2007, and beginning when the boy was 13.

At least some of the incidents occurred in Gloucester, and one on trip to Chicago, according to police.

"I feel sad for (Lyman's) two children," Nicastro said Friday. "But I'm glad the victim doesn't have to go through the stress of a trial." ..Source.. by Steven Fletcher Staff Writer

Sex assault suspect found dead at Cape camp

4-6-2011 Massachusetts:

A man accused of sexual assault at Camp Good News in Sandwich was found dead today from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

It’s the same Cape Cod camp where U.S. Sen. Scott Brown spent summers as a boy. Brown said in his memoir “Against All Odds” that he was abused at a Cape “Christian” camp and after the book came out Camp Good News confirmed he had attended the summer getaway and apologized to the senator.

The dead man was identified as Charles “Chuck” R. Devita by attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents a client allegedly molested by the longtime camp employee. Devita, who is shown on the camp’s Web site, has not been identified by law enforcement officials.

He apparently took his own life with a gunshot to the head and was found in his vehicle outside the camp, a law enforcement source told the Herald.

The Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe and Sandwich Police Chief Peter Wack said today in a joint statement that the man was found dead from an apparent “self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

The suspect was recently accused of abusing a child who is now a grown man, they said. That probe will continue, despite today’s death.

The 43-year-old man left a couple of notes indicating he was going to take his own life, the source tells the Herald. The notes indicated that he was “tired of being accused” of molestation and also said goodbyes to loved ones, the source said.

Local and state police descended on the camp earlier this morning. A flatbed truck left the camp early this afternoon with a pickup truck on it.

Garabedian tells the Herald his client was supposed to meet with a state police investigator about today’s death. Garabedian said his client alleges he was repeatedly sexually assaulted at the overnight camp in 1985 by Devita.

Garabedian said three other people have now come forward today alleging they were also sexually assaulted at the camp — two from Devita and one from another man.

“Another individual has come forward alleging that he was molested by a different individual. I am currently investigating,” Garabedian said.

The attorney, who represented dozens of victims of pedophile priests during the Catholic Church sex scandal, said if the dead man is confirmed to be the alleged molester, the criminal case would end but he said he would likely continue to pursue the case civilly.

Garabedian said he has not spoken with Brown about the case.

O’Keefe this week launched an investigation into the latest allegation.

The camp has been in the news since Brown revealed this winter in his book that a camp counselor on the Cape molested him in the 1970s.

O’Keefe’s office began a probe into the allegations in Brown’s book but the investigation has been dropped and Brown has declined to pursue any charges. Brown said on the Howie Carr show today on WRKO (AM-680) that today’s death does not relate to his case.

“I have no evidence at all that the person who did it to me 42 years ago is number one even alive or number two is doing it again,” he said. “I’m moving forward in my own way at my own pace with my support system.”

A spokesman for the camp said in a statement today: “Camp Good News has been notified about a body being found. We are awaiting identification from the medical examiner before commenting.” ..Source.. by Dave Wedge And Joe Dwinell

North Attleboro motel scene of apparent murder-suicide

Posted in Related Deaths

1-17-2010 Massachusetts:

NORTH ATTLEBORO - A man and a woman are dead after an apparent murder-suicide at a Route 1 motel this morning.

Police say they went to the Pineapple Motor Inn about 9:30 a.m. to execute an arrest warrant at Room 27 and, after knocking on the door, heard gunshots.

The Bristol County District Attorney's office says the 23-year-old man inside apparently shot the 20-year-old woman and then himself. Police had gone to the motel to arrest the man on a rape charge.

Authorities are not identifying the victims pending notification of family. They did, however, say one of the victims was a Seekonk resident. ..Source.. by STU SKERKER/FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE AND MICHAEL GELBWASSER/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF


Police release names of victims in apparent North Attleboro murder-suicide

NORTH ATTLEBORO - Police this morning released the names of the victims in what police say was an apparent murder-suicide in a room at the Pineapple Inn on Route 1 Sunday.

Investigators believe Jose Vidal Jr., 23, of Seekonk, shot his girlfriend, Ashley Purdy, 20, of Attleboro, before turning the gun on himself around 9:30 a.m. Sunday as police responded to the motel to serve an arrest warrant for Vidal, North Attleboro Police Chief Michael P. Gould Sr. said.

Gould said police heard two gun shots in quick succession from inside the room after officers knocked on the door and announced themselves.

The couple had checked into the room on Friday and both left notes to family and loved ones indicating they were despondent, according to police.

State police and a state police SWAT team arrived to assist local police. Once police were able to enter the room they found the couple in bed. Both were shot in the head, according to police. Purdy was pronounced dead at the scene and Vidal was later pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital.

Gould said police have no motive for the incident.

Vidal was wanted on a superior court warrant for a 2007 rape in Seekonk. Police responded to the motel after learning Vidal was staying there.

Vidal was classified as a Level 2 sex offender and on probation for indecent assault and battery when Seekonk police arrested him Aug. 10 for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl in Seekonk, The Sun Chronicle reported at the time.

Vidal had pleaded innocent to the charges. ..Source..

MA- Pound Ridge man who faced teen-rape charges in Mass. kills himself

7-11-2009 Massachusetts:

POUND RIDGE - A former Boy Scout leader from Pound Ridge who had arranged to turn himself in to Massachusetts police on charges he raped a teenage boy killed himself Thursday, officials said.

Dan Bathrick, 56, of 26 Lower Trinity Pass Road was to be charged with rape of a minor and conspiracy to commit rape of a minor by Northfield, Mass., police on July 23 - the date Bathrick's lawyer, Geoffrey Nathan, had arranged for him to surrender. But he sent a suicide note to his family Wednesday, left his vehicle at his office and walked 3 miles south to his home where he killed himself, Nathan said.

He was found suffocated with a plastic bag taped over his face, said the Westchester County medical examiner. Asphyxiation was the cause of death.

"I never saw this coming," said Nathan, whose office is in Boston. "I want it known that he appeared to be a very nice man, and as a lesson, that no one should do what he did. No crime is something to take your life over."

Bathrick was accused of having sex with a teenager who was between the ages of 14 and 15 at the time.

A judge in Greenfield (Mass.) District Court issued the warrant Tuesday charging Bathrick with the two felonies, the court clerk's office said. Northfield police reported the case to the District Attorney's Office on April 6, saying the abuse started about two years ago and that Bathrick, a longtime friend of the victim's family, abused the boy multiple times.

Bathrick's relationship with the family dates back 25 to 30 years, and started through the Boy Scouts, according to a report Northfield police Sgt. Robert Leighton wrote detailing Bathrick's statements to authorities.

Bathrick said he would visit the victim and his family four times a year, even vacationing with them on Cape Cod and taking them on vacation to Disney World in Florida, according to the report. Authorities released the report yesterday, redacting all of the names to protect the identity of the victim and his family.

Bathrick initially said "he never played with (the victim) below the waist line" and "that there was nothing sexual with what he was doing." But later, Bathrick's denials about touching the victim's genitals became less definitive.

"He said, 'Could it have happened, I don't believe it did.' He then said, 'If it did, it was short,'" the report said.

Bathrick also told police that when he was 9 years old, he was abused by his father's now-deceased friend, and had male oral sex on two occasions when he was 12 years old, the report said.

After interviewing him, Leighton walked Bathrick out to the parking lot.

"At this point, Bathrick turned to me and asked how much trouble he was in. I replied, 'How much trouble do you think you're in?' Bathrick said, 'Big time.' He then walked away," Leighton said in the report.

Bathrick, who never married, lived with his mother and sister, appeared to be extremely courteous and ran a successful insurance business, Nathan said. Bathrick's family could not be reached for comment.

Marc Andreo, Scout executive for the Westchester-Putnam Council, Boy Scouts of America, did not return a call seeking comment. His secretary confirmed Bathrick volunteered with the group.

Bathrick also was president of the Pound Ridge Lions Club for four years, ending his term last month. New President Andrew Brodnick would not comment on Bathrick's leadership of the organization or what he called "a tragedy for all involved." The Record Review featured Bathrick last month in an article that said he was to be honored with a past president award, and was chosen to head the local zone, which encompassed the Pound Ridge, Bedford, Bedford Hills and Mount Kisco clubs.

Nathan said he never met Bathrick in person, and communicated with him only by telephone and e-mail. Nathan said it was only in retrospect that he saw Bathrick exhibit telling behavior.

"I was trying to get the client in my office, and he had written communication that was indicative of someone who needed help," Nathan said. "I offered to fly to White Plains and meet with him, but he kept putting me off and saying, 'I don't know what the benefit would be.' "

On Wednesday, Bathrick's distraught sister called Nathan to tell him the family had received a suicide note and was having problems finding Bathrick. Nathan said he contacted police and filed a missing persons report.

The authorities were able to find Bathrick by tracing his cell phone, which he had left on, Nathan said. Bathrick's body was found in a shed on the family property. He had apparently nailed the door shut from inside, authorities said.

Cassidy-Flynn Funeral Home in Mount Kisco is handling arrangements. There are no visiting hours and services are private. ..Source.. by Hoa Nguyen and Shawn Cohen