Ex-detective points finger in long-unsolved killings

MERRIMACK, N.H. -- He has no DNA evidence, no eyewitnesses. But Joseph Horak says he knows this much: The killer of two 15-year-old Merrimack girls in 1973 lives and breathes, guilty but never charged, still a resident of this town where he is known to many.

So certain is the retired Merrimack detective that he took to the podium at the town library recently and, in a soft New England cadence, read from his newly self-published book, in which he names, on the final page, the man he believes is the killer. Horak said he has suspected the man since the high school girls went missing and were found dead in the woods 81 days later.

"I'll tell you something: If I wasn't sure he was the killer, I would never have put it in the book," Horak, 78, told the rapt crowd. "I put myself at risk, but when you spend 34 years on a case, you have an obligation to do whatever it takes to bring it to conclusion."

The naming has caused a minor sensation in this southern New Hampshire town, sparking macabre curiosity among longtime residents who recall the all-consuming grief at the time of the girls' deaths and the rampant speculation that the killer might be living among them.

Town blogs are achatter; the book, "Pride and Honor," has been checked out of the library for weeks; and the author signing session last month was filled to capacity, with some 80 audience members leaving homemade cookies and lemonade untouched as they fired questions at the detective for nearly two hours.

"Do you ever get threatening phone calls?" one woman asked.

"No," Horak said. "But I often wait."

"Do you think your involvement has stopped the suspect from committing other crimes?" another asked.

"Maybe," Horak replied.

For some, the book confirmed long-held suspicions. "There are a lot of people who know who did it, but they're afraid to come forward," said Kevin Hieken, an Anheuser- Busch Merrimack Brewery worker who said he knew the girls.

Others say the book has only raised more questions. "There has got to be more behind this than anyone knows," said Betty-Jo Overton, a native of Merrimack.

The Globe is not identifying the man named in Horak's book, because he has never been identified by police as a suspect or been charged in the case.

In a brief telephone interview, the man said, "I live in this town, I do business in this town, and I've lived in this town for 35 years and I haven't gone anywhere." He continued, "The man has committed quite a travesty naming me in a book like that . . . using my name."

A woman at the man's home who identified herself as his wife said she and her husband plan to consult lawyers regarding the book.

Legal specialists said Horak could be open to a libel lawsuit for accusing the man, as could Airleaf Publishing of Indiana, the publisher.

Some town residents say Horak is a man obsessed. He has invested untold hours on the case after leaving the police force on disability in 1977 following a car crash on the job. He has spent some $18,000 publishing three books about his police work and the case, naming the alleged killer in only the third book, in what he calls a last-ditch effort to get resolution. He has recouped only a small fraction of his investment by hawking the books wherever he goes. He is offering, along with a retired Candia police chief, a $5,000 reward for information that leads to solving the case. He has alienated some of the dead girls' relatives, who now say they would prefer he let the matter lie.

"I was a 13-year-old boy when this happened," said Mike Compagna, brother of one of the slain girls. ". . . Every time it comes out of the woodwork, it brings pain. Whether it gets solved or whatever, they're still dead."

In an interview, Horak, a widower and the father of two grown sons, said he is keeping a solemn promise he made to the girls. Standing over their graves many years ago, he said, he vowed to bring their killer to justice.

"I'd rather go down in flames than walk away," he said.

The girls, Diane Compagna and Anne Psaradelis, were last seen alive on a July day in 1973 at Hampton Beach. Each girl had told her parents that she would spend the night at the other's house. Police searched for the teenagers for nearly three months.

On Sept. 29 that year , a hunter found the body of one of the girls in the woods of nearby Candia. Police soon discovered the other girl's body not far away. No one has been arrested for the crime.

Jeffery Strelzin, senior assistant attorney general and head of the state's homicide unit, said the case is one of 96 unsolved homicides in New Hampshire since 1970 and is not closed. He added that no arrests have been made because of insufficient evidence.

"No matter what people think or their opinions, what matters to the state is to have admissible evidence that we can use in court to prove someone's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," Strelzin said.

The passage of time usually hurts an older case, but it can also help, he said. "Loyalties change, and people who wouldn't talk come forward."

Horak theorizes that the killings went this way: Compagna and Psaradelis knew their killer. On July 12, Horak says, the two girls accepted a ride home from Hampton Beach with the man. En route, they stopped at a gravel pit in Candia, and the man lured Compagna farther into the woods, where they had sex and he strangled her, Horak said.

Horak said that the man's motive for killing Compagna was that she had told him she was pregnant with his child. The man then ran back to the gravel pit and said something was wrong with Compagna. When Psaradelis followed the man into the woods, the man strangled her, as well, Horak said.

Over the years, Horak has had intermittent contact with the man he accuses. He has sent him cards at Christmas and recently, mailed him a copy of his book with an inscription: "Read about your life."

The man, he said, returned the book with the signed page ripped out.

Sarah Schweitzer can be reached at schweitzer@globe.com.