Worker charged in slaying at Dartmouth restaurant

An employee at Old Country Buffet in Dartmouth who told police that a masked man killed his boss yesterday was arrested in the slaying.

``When the officers first arrived, he misled the officers in believing that the suspect had left," said Dartmouth police Lieutenant Ken Cotta .

Police said 28-year-old Ryan Jones of New Bedford, a dishwasher at the restaurant for more than three years, told investigators a masked attacker wielding a knife and running from the bathroom killed Valerie Oranski , 39, of Middleborough.

Police arrived at the restaurant on State Road at 7:25 a.m. yesterday after receiving a 911 call that someone had been stabbed. They found Oranski, the general manager at the establishment for more than 10 years, severely wounded and lying on the bathroom floor, police said.

``She was stabbed all over, several locations on her body," said Cotta.

Oranski was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and later pronounced dead.

Cotta said investigators found the knife used in the killing at the crime scene along with a pipe that was used to hit her.

Jones told officers he had been cut on the hand by a masked man, and showed them the escape route he said the assailant used, authorities recounted.

But Jones's account did not hold up for long, Cotta said. After police interviewed other employees at the restaurant and conducted a preliminary investigation, Jones was arrested, he said.

When Oranski was attacked, there were no customers at the restaurant, and workers were just starting their shifts, Cotta said. He said there was no clear motive for the slaying, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

Old Country Buffet was closed yesterday and will reopen when investigators are finished collecting evidence from the scene, Cotta said.

Jones is scheduled to be arraigned on a charge of murder in New Bedford District Court tomorrow, police said.