NEWPORT, N.H. —
The search for physical evidence underway Tuesday in Newport is related to the investigation into multiple cold cases popularly linked to the so-called Connecticut River Valley serial killer, News 9 Investigates has learned.
Investigators began executing court-authorized search warrants on Tuesday morning in the Kelleyville neighborhood of Newport, including at a home on Ayers Street. There were more than a dozen cars parked along the dead-end street, and dozens of trash bags were seen piled up outside what appears to be a barn. It’s not known whether the trash bags are related to the search.
Officials would not say what cold case the search was related to, but sources said the search is related to a series of unsolved killings in the Connecticut River Valley in the 1970s and 1980s.
There are at least two unsolved cases with ties to Newport, including the mid-1980s killings of 17-year-old Bernice Courtemanche and 25-year-old Ellen Fried. Courtemanche’s
body was found April 19, 1986, off Cat Hole Road. Fried’s
skeletal remains, meanwhile, were found Sept. 19, 1985, in a wooded area next to the Sugar River in the Kelleyville neighborhood.
Beyond the Courtemanche and Fried cases, more have been popularly linked to a potential serial killer, but Cold Case Unit officials previously told WMUR they don’t believe the cases are connected. That possibility can’t be investigated fully, though, until one of the cases is solved, they said at the time.
Julie Murray, the sister of Maura Murray, the Massachusetts college student who went missing in New Hampshire in 2004, told WMUR her family was aware of the search and said they are in close contact with investigators. Maura Murray’s case has not typically been connected to the unsolved Connecticut River Valley killings of decades prior, but Julie Murray in 2023
helped lead a group of victims’ families in demanding change in how all cold cases are investigated by the state.
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Newport evidence search related to cases linked to so-called Connecticut River Valley serial killer
OK everyone. I'm looking at a really old case here...
