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Rape defendant eyed in slayings

E-Mail|Link|Comments () May 2, 2008 03:59 PM

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A man facing trial for rape charges is under investigation in the 1996 murder of a Fitchburg woman, and authorities are probing whether he's linked to the murders of several women who had ties to Worcester's Main South neighborhood, a spokesman for Worcester County District Attorney Joseph E. Early Jr. said today.

Alex F. Scesny is currently being held without bail on charges that he raped a woman last year in a West Boylston motel, said Timothy Connolly. Scesny has been linked by DNA forensics to the 1996 murder of a Fitchburg woman, Theresa K. Stone, who had periodically worked as a prostitute, according to a state police affidavit filed in Worcester Superior Court.

A DNA profile of Scesny based on forensic evidence from the 2007 rape matched the DNA profile of Stone's likely killer, the affidavit said.

Asked about a possible link between Scesny and the still-unsolved murders of at least four women who had ties to the Main South neighborhood, Connolly said, “Mr Scesny is a person of interest in the deaths of several women who sometimes worked as prostitutes in the Main South area of Worcester."

The bodies of the women were found in Marlborough, Hudson, Rutland and in York, Maine during the past several years and their deaths have been under investigation by state police assigned to Early's office and by Middlesex County District Attorney Gerard T. Leone's office.

"He is certainly someone we would like to speak with regarding the homicides in both Hudson and Marlborough,'' said Leone spokesman Corey Welford. "Are we ready to declare him a suspect? No. Are we constantly looking to follow up on any new leads in these cases? Absolutely.''