Thursday, 4:30 PM
Like a 'true crime' TV show, RI death from 1964 ruled a homicide
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent
The family of Louis James DeFusco had suspected for 42 years that he did not commit suicide in August 1964 by going for a sail on Narragansett Bay, tying an anchor around his ankles and throwing himself overboard.
The 38-year-old Cranston man's body was found 12 days after he disappeared. At the time, the medical examiner ruled DeFusco's death a suicide by drowning despite the fact that a bullet was found in his mouth. DeFusco's body was embalmed and buried, and the case was closed.
This May, the family exhumed DeFusco's remains to move him to a new grave. Before reburying the body, they asked for a second autopsy.
The Rhode Island Office of State Medical Examiners agreed. This morning, the official cause of DeFusco's death was changed to homicide from suicide after investigators announced they discovered a single bullet wound in the back of his head.
"We were very, very surprised to say the least," said Dr. Thomas Gilson, the state's chief medical examiner. "We see these things on true crime shows, but I've never seen it in my 13-year career."
The medical examiner who performed the original autopsy has died. Gilson explained, however, that the body had badly decomposed in the 12 days it floated in Narragansett Bay. The body's condition could have easily hidden the bullet wound from the original investigators, Gilson said.
The Warwick Police Department has opened a homicide investigation. Detectives did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Gilson saluted DeFusco's family for their persistence.
"They obviously had lived with this for 40 years and felt it wasn't right," he said
