Son charged in slaying of R.I. couple

Hoe is found near bodies in cesspool

Marian and James Soares were reported missing by relatives July 15 after they missed a family event, police said.

LINCOLN, R.I. - A Rhode Island man was charged yesterday with murdering his parents, a day after investigators discovered their bodies in a cesspool in the family's backyard.

Police did not comment yesterday on why James Soares, who lived with his parents at the Baltimore Avenue home in Warren, would have committed the killings.

On the afternoon of July 9, police allege, the 24-year-old struck James Soares, 60, and Marian Soares, 53, with the family's grub hoe, a gardening tool with a flat, metal head, then removed the cover of the backyard cesspool and dumped their bodies inside.

The family was not unknown to police; the elder James Soares had been convicted on weapons possession charges after rifles, handguns, and thousands of ammunition rounds were found in the home in 2002.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said the homicides are the first in 30 years in Warren, a coastal town of about 11,000 people.

"That can be shattering to a community, the uncertainty of where they went . . . who's done it, is there a murderer in our midst," Lynch said yesterday in a phone interview after Soares was charged at the State Police barracks in Lincoln.

Police took Soares into custody Friday after weeks of conducting interviews and examining forensic evidence, said Major Steven O'Donnell of the Rhode Island State Police.

"Everything from witnesses to family members, it just pointed in his direction. His inconsistencies to those people," O'Donnell said in an interview at the barracks.

A relative of the Warren couple filed a missing persons report July 15, after the couple missed a July 13 family gathering, which Lynch said Marian Soares had helped to plan.

Warren police began to investigate, and last week, State Police and the attorney general's office became involved, Lynch said.

O'Donnell said the grub hoe was found in the cesspool, part of the backyard septic system, along with the bodies. He said the bodies were found at least 6 feet below ground. He described the grub hoe as between 12 and 18 inches long, topped with a metal bar that has two sides: one a sharp piece of metal designed to rip out grass, and the other a blunt, sledgehammer-type head.

Police believe the younger Soares killed his parents with the sledgehammer side, the officer said.

O'Donnell did not know if the Soareses had other children, but said James Soares was the only child who lived at their home.

He said the son stayed at the house during the weeks when his parents were missing.

"You would like to think that if you did kill anybody, the remorse and guilt" would affect you, O'Donnell said. "Somebody killing his parents, leaving them on the property in a septic tank while continuing to live there, is challenging to understand."

The Providence Journal reported yesterday that in 2002, police seized 12 long rifles, three handguns, and 30,000 rounds of ammunition from the family's home. The elder James Soares pleaded guilty to a federal charge of unlawfully possessing firearms as a convicted felon. He was placed on home confinement for one year and probation for five years, the Journal reported.

In 1986, James and Marian Soares were arrested on drug possession charges after police raided their house and found cocaine, prescription tranquilizers, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, a .357 Magnum firearm, and $1,350 in cash, the Journal reported. James Soares pleaded no contest to felony charges and served a three-year suspended sentence and five years probation.

Yesterday afternoon, before the younger Soares was charged, cars crowded the driveway next to the family's squat, tan house. An American flag hung from the house next to a small welcome sign by the door. Written in purple marker on a paper tacked to a telephone pole at the end of the driveway were the words: "We will miss you both deeply. Love, your family."

Two men who said they were relatives stood in the backyard, staring at the tilled dirt that had covered the bodies for weeks. They declined to comment.

"You'll have to go to the police for information. They know as much as we do, if not more," one man said. "Actually, probably more."

After Soares was charged, most of the cars had disappeared. Baltimore Avenue, a short street lined with tall maples and pines, was quiet. Neighbors who came to the door declined to comment, saying they were tired of media attention.

The words on the telephone pole had become a purple smear, their cursive blurred by the rain.

Soares is to be arraigned today in District Court in Providence.

Maddie Hanna can be reached at mhanna@globe.com.