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Law enforcement agencies search for human remains in Agawam

E-mail|Link|Comments () April 9, 2010 04:11 PM

By Globe Staff

The FBI and State Police said this afternoon that they are searching for human remains in the western Massachusetts community of Agawam.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Massachusetts State Police have conducted a
dig in Agawam, Mass., as part of an ongoing investigation,'' a law enforcement statement said. "The circumstances surrounding the investigation will not be disclosed and no further comment will be made at this time.”

The statement said that prosecutors from US Attorney Carmen Ortiz's office and from Hampden District Attorney William Bennett's office are also participating in the investigation.

According to a law enforcement source who was briefed on the investigation, the search has no connection to the hunt for fugitive Boston mobster James "Whitey'' Bulger.

Masslive.com, the website for the Springfield Republican newspaper, is reporting that the remains are believed to be those of Gary D. Westerman, an organized crime figure who disappeared in 2003.