Probe into Worcester, Middlesex killings broadens

Bristol DA seeks ties to '80s deaths

Alex Scesny has been named as a person of interest in the killings of six women in Worcester and Middlesex counties. (Associated Press/File 2004)

Bristol County prosecutors have joined the list of law enforcement agencies investigating a Berlin man who has been declared a person of interest in the slayings of six women in Worcester and Middlesex counties that may have been the work of a serial killer.

Alex F. Scesny, 38, is being held without bail in Worcester County Jail for allegedly raping a girlfriend in a West Boylston motel last year. He has pleaded not guilty.

In a telephone interview last night, Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said that because Scesny is under investigation in connection with killings in Worcester, he thought it prudent for his investigators to look into Scesny's movements during the late 1980s.

"We are looking at the whereabouts of this particular individual in 1988, 1989," Sutter said. "We believe we have reason to do that, so we are doing it."

Sutter said State Police detectives are checking for links between Scesny and the slayings of 11 women in the New Bedford area in 1988, a series of homicides that came to be called the Highway Killings.

A relative yesterday spoke in support of Scesny, saying he has been effectively accused of horrific crimes in the media, but has never been charged in a court of law.

"He's been tried and convicted before he's ever been charged," said Teresa Scesny, a sister-in-law who lives in Tennessee. "I think the media is blowing this way out of proportion."

In both the New Bedford cluster of homicides and the killings of five women from the Main South neighborhood of Worcester, most of the victims were substance abusers who sometimes turned to prostitution to support their drug habits.

Tim Connolly, spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., said Manchester, N.H., police have also inquired about Scesny as they investigate two unsolved killings of women in that state.

Sergeant Maureen Tessier, a Manchester police spokeswoman, said yesterday that there is no evidence linking Scesny to the strangulation deaths of two women in 1997 and 1998.

"We are sharing information to determine if there is any link between the suspect and our crimes," Tessier said.

"As far as I know, there has been no evidence establishing links between our crimes and the ones down in Massachusetts."

The Manchester victims have been identified as Rosalie J. Miller, 36, and Mindy West, 31.

According to a State Police affidavit filed in Worcester Superior Court last month, DNA testing done by State Police in connection with the rape charge against Scesny produced a match with forensic evidence recovered from the body of Theresa K. Stone, who was killed in Fitchburg in 1996.

Scesny has not been charged with Stone's killing.

Scesny's sister-in-law, while stressing she was not trying to disrespect Stone and her family, said that the woman worked as a prostitute at the time of her death.

"So, if he had sex with her it doesn't mean he killed her," she said.

Connolly said his office is investigating the deaths of Stone and that of Lineida Olivera, whose body was found last fall near Rutland State Forest. The remains of the sixth victim, Wendy Morella, was found in Maine in 2004.

Corey Welford, spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr., declined comment on the investigation by Leone's office into the deaths of three women.

Dinelia Torres's remains were found in Hudson in 2004. One year earlier, the remains of Betzaida Montalvo and Carmen Rudy were found five days apart in locations about 100 yards apart in Marlborough.

Teresa Scesny said her husband's parents once lived in a house in Marlborough near where the remains were found.

"Everybody gets mad, but I can't see Alex killing anybody," she said.

"I've never heard anybody talk bad about him."

John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.