← Dark Downeast
Dark Downeast
The Murders of Rosalie Miller & Mindy West (New Hampshire)
00:41:35
When two women known to spend time in Manchester, New Hampshire’s inner city both dropped out of contact with their families in the late 1990s, it wasn’t entirely out of character from the lives they once led. But for Mindy West’s father, who had watched her working to get her life back on track, he just knew that something was wrong. Rosalie Miller’s brother, too, worried as weeks passed without contact from his sister, despite her history of disappearing. The violent predator on the streets of Manchester and surrounding communities at the time of their murders has never been caught for what they did to Rosalie and Mindy. It’s possible there’s even more than one violent predator still at large, because there’s still no conclusive connection between their cases. Yet the similarities cannot be ignored.
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- [00:01]
Kylie Lowe
Hey everyone, Kylie Lowe here, and if you love delving into mysteries from New England with me here on Dark Down East, I'd like to invite you to explore even more of the world and its haunting cases on Park Predators. Every week on Park Predators, host and my friend Delia d' Ambra takes us deep into the heart of some of the most beautiful locations across the globe to uncover the darkness that even serene landscapes can hold. Every episode approaches these cases, from murders to disappearances and mysterious deaths, with the same dedication to research and heartfelt storytelling that you appreciate here. So lace up your hiking boots and join me in listening to Park Predators wherever you listen to podcasts.
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- [02:33]
Kylie Lowe
When two women known to spend time in Manchester, New Hampshire's inner city both dropped out of contact with their families in the late 1990s, it wasn't entirely out of character for the lives they once led. But for Mindy West's father, who had watched her working to get her life back on track, he just knew that something was wrong. Rosalie Miller's brother too worried as weeks passed without contact from his sister. Despite her history of disappearing, the violent predator on the streets of Manchester and surrounding communities at the time of their murders has never been caught. For what they did to Rosalie and Mindy, it's possible there's even more than one violent predator still at large. Because there's still no conclusive connection between their cases. Yet the similarities cannot be ignored. Hi, I'm Kylie Lowe and these are the cases of Rosalie Miller and Mindy west on Dark Down east it was the afternoon of Monday, January 20, 1997, and a few kids in Auburn, New Hampshire were outside getting a little fresh air despite the below freezing temperatures you'd expect to see during peak New England winter. As they explored a wooded area near the Route 28 bypass off the Londonderry Turnpike, their playtime took an unexpected turn. There in the woods, partially covered by a pile of leaves, was the nude body of a woman, according to reporting by Dina Ferguson for the New Hampshire Union Leader. Although investigators did not specify the precise location of the remains, they did say she was found near a private home. A state police trooper blocked the long uphill driveway leading to a white house and the 60 acre property on which it sat. The home belonged to two individuals who owned and operated a land development company in Londonderry. The woman did not have any identification on her when she was found, but she had a few unique tattoos, a rose on her left forearm and one on her hip, as well as a blue circle on her ankle described as a, quote, jailhouse tattoo. Julie Huss reports for the Derry News that police photographed the tattoos and showed the Polaroids around town, hoping to locate someone who recognized the distinctive ink on the woman's body. Police received a tip from an individual who believed they recognized the roses as the same ones their friend had. That friend and the victim's family were able to identify her as 36 year old Rosalie Miller, who also went by Rose. At the time of her death, Rosalie was living in an apartment at 307 Cedar street in Manchester. With that, Manchester PD joined Auburn Police and the New Hampshire State Police to collaborate on the investigation. Early reports did not disclose Rose's cause of death, but the case was being treated as a homicide. This was Auburn, New Hampshire's first homicide in 15 years, though it wasn't confirmed that she was actually killed there, and police didn't think she got to that location on her own. Knowing who this woman was allowed for police to launch a deeper investigation into her death. But the more they learned about Rose's life, the more complicated the case became. Rose struggled with substance use. She was involved with sex work. She had a criminal history, and so did the people in her circle of friends and acquaintances. There were good times, too, moments when things were coming together for Rose. But then life dealt her another bad hand and she was knocked off course once again. Rosalie's brother, William Miller told Cissy Taylor of the New Hampshire Union Leader, rose wasn't an angel, but she wasn't a piece of trash, end quote. He believed that the difficult path his sister walked began as a child when Rosalie's own father was murdered and she was called to testify as both a prosecution and defense witness at the trial of the accused killer. According to court records, just before midnight on November 17, 1975, Rose woke to the sound of gunshots. She rushed down the stairs, rolling her ankle on the steps in the process, trying to figure out what had just happened. She found her father, 67 year old Joseph W. Miller, near the front steps of their home, calling out her name. Rose later testified that her father spoke to her in a whisper, saying, get the cops, get the ambulance. Johnny just shot me. She asked if her dad meant John, the son of the woman he was dating, and she said his last name. Her father replied yes. Greg Andruskovich reports for the New Hampshire Union Leader that Rose ran to nearby residences in a business for help, asking for someone, anyone, to call police and an ambulance before returning to her father's side with a blanket. It took nearly 20 minutes, but police and first responders finally arrived at the scene. They found Joseph covered in blood and bodily fluids, but still conscious. First responders tended to his wounds and asked him what happened. Again, Joseph identified his shooter by first and last name. As he was transported to the hospital by ambulance, Joseph told even more people that the person who shot him was John, the son of his girlfriend, calling him by his full name. He told police and EMTs that he was afraid John might be going to his mother's house to harm her too. So police dispatched officers to check on the woman. Joseph reportedly told a doctor that he was, quote, messing around with John's mother and that was why John shot him. Joseph was rushed into surgery at the hospital, but he never awoke from anesthesia. He died about 24 hours later on December 9, after 22 days on the lam, police tracked down the suspect all the way in Chicago. John was charged with first degree murder and entered a not guilty plea in January of 1976. The indictment alleged that John shot Joseph with a.30 06 rifle three times, one shot hitting him in the right side of his abdomen. That wound later resulted in his death. Joseph's then 15 year old daughter, Rose Miller, would be an important witness at John's trial. But the defense wanted her testimony suppressed before trial. They also wanted to suppress any testimony from first responders, police officers, doctors and others discussing Joseph's statements about the identity of his killer prior to his death, calling them hearsay. The motions were denied. As I mentioned, Rosalie was called as both a state and defense witness for the State. She told the jury about waking to the sound of gunshots and finding her father outside. She told them how he identified Johnny, the man at the defense table, as the shooter. When called as a defense witness, she was questioned about hearing a car leaving the scene that night. Rose testified that she did hear a car and she saw a light colored vehicle pulling away. Arthur C. Egan Jr. Reports for the Union Leader that according to previous witness testimony, the accused was known to drive a dark green vehicle, not a light colored car. John's defense team also tried to bring forth an alibi for the night of the shooting. He was supposedly with his sister. But John's sister had changed her story more than once, including key times and locations she supposedly saw John on the night the shooting. She eventually settled on a version of events that had them together at a lounge in Tingsborough, Massachusetts. It was not a straightforward, airtight alibi by any means. In closing arguments, the defense attorney suggested to the jury that it was possible Rose, who was a child, could have misheard the name her father whispered and that Johnny was just perpetuated from person to person that night. The defense also pointed out that there were no eyewitnesses, no one who could place the defendant at the scene, no murder weapon, and no proof that shells found at the scene. Because police did find some were relevant to the case, the defense suggested that there wasn't even any evidence that John owned a gun. Side note on that last part, the suspect actually had a previous conviction for robbery with a rifle and was on parole at the time of his arrest for Joseph's murder. Unclear if the jury was informed of this, but past offenses typically do not make it into trial for an unrelated crime. According to Donald Dillaby's reporting for the Nashua Telegraph, after 13 hours of deliberations, the jury was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. The judge declared a mistrial, and John faced a second trial the following year. In May of 1977, after hearing testimony in his second trial for Joseph Miller's murder, a jury found John not guilty. The testimony of the victim's own daughter, of all the first responders who heard the dying man identify his own killer, it was not enough to convince the jury of John's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The outcome of the second trial had a devastating effect on Rose. As her brother William put it, she sat in that courtroom and watched the man who shot her father walk away. End quote. In 1932, one man opened a two room business school above a nondescript storefront in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire. How did it become one of the largest universities in the country? Okay, this case isn't exactly a mystery. Southern New Hampshire University offers over 200 degrees you can earn from your couch. And with low online tuition, Southern New Hampshire University makes earning your degree affordable too. Find your degree at Snhu edudowneast. That's Snhu. Edu Downeast. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. In every crime we cover, money can be an invisible thread. Sometimes the motive, the trigger, or even the desperation that pushes someone over the edge. Financial stress can turn ordinary people into criminals, and a lack of financial literacy makes victims more vulnerable. That's why teaching kids about money isn't just smart, it's essential. Greenlight is a debit card and money app for families. It's a safe way to teach kids and teens about money, preparing them for bigger financial decisions later. Give your kids the financial education many of us didn't get. Join millions of parents already using Greenlight, the one family finance and safety app. When I was a kid, saving money meant stuffing my birthday card cash into a gold sparkly piggy bank. Now, with Greenlight, families can keep their kids savings somewhere more secure and even see how investing together can make money grow. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com downeast that's greenlight.com downeast to get started. Greenlight.com downeast after their father's death, Rosalie moved in with William, who was in his 20s at the time. He said he watched his sister struggle mentally and emotionally with their father's death. For months, she woke up from awful nightmares, the traumatic scene replaying in her head. Rosalie was once a good student. But as William explained in a 2005 article for the New Hampshire Union Leader written by Pat Grossmith, she started ditching school. She struggled with the rules her brother put in place, Rose later dropped out of high school, but she did earn her ged. Later on, Rosalie moved in with a different family member, but that didn't work out either. Rose moved out and essentially disappeared for three years. When she turned back up again, she was trying to get back on track. But life was not easy. At 21 years old, Rose had a baby, a little boy. There are two versions of the story about what happened to Rose's biological son. In a 1997 story by Cissy Taylor for the Union Leader, Williams said that when her son was just two years old, Rose found out she had cancer. As Rosalie prepared for surgery as part of her cancer treatment, she turned her son over to his biological father. She never saw him again after that. However, in a 2005 piece by Pat Grossmith for the same newspaper, Rose's brother says that the state actually removed Rose's son from her custody as she battled substance use challenges and then her son was adopted. This would have only happened if the state successfully sought the termination of Rose's parental rights in court or if Rose consented to her son's adoption. I was hoping to speak with William as part of my reporting for this episode, but I've been unable to locate him. William, if you hear this, I'd still like to speak with you to get to know Rose better through your memories of her. Whatever the circumstances were, Rose no longer had custody or contact with her son. It was hard on her, but she managed to regain her footing once again. William said that in 1995, Rosalie met someone in Laconia and got engaged. But things went downhill after her fiance reportedly bought a motorcycle from an out of state police auction. According to William, this particular motorcycle that Rose's fiance bought, a 1957 Harley Davidson, had been seized by police in either Rhode island or Connecticut as part of a drug case. William claims that his sister and her fiance started receiving threats from a motorcycle gang after they bought the bike. The gang apparently wanted the bike back. Rose's fiance actually passed away very suddenly before they were able to get married. He left a daughter behind when he died, and Rose continued to parent her late fiance's child until the biological mother fought to regain custody. The daughter eventually moved out anyway. It was another blow to Rosalie. She'd lost her father, her biological son, her fiance, and now another person she cared about was out of her life, William said. That's when Rose started hanging out at the clubs more frequently and substance use really took over. He lost contact with her again. As far as William knew at the time of his interview with the Union leader in 1997. Even after her fiance passed away, Rose still owned this cursed motorcycle. The threats continued then. Manchester Deputy Police Chief Richard o' Leary has confirmed much of what William claimed to be true as part of Pap Grossmith's Union Leader story, but also said that some of it was, quote, off the screen, end quote. He did not identify which parts were true. However, Chief o' Leary did refer to Rose's fiance as, quote, unquote, sketchy, woven into the ups and downs of her struggle to regain solid ground in her life. Amidst the loss and instability, Rose had run ins with the law herself. In 1994, Rosalie was charged with possession of crack cocaine, resisting arrest, and the crime of prostitution in a sting operation with a plainclothes officer. The prostitution charges were dropped as part of a plea deal, and she doesn't have any convictions relating to sex work. Interestingly, just a few months before her murder was discovered, Rose had helped evacuate her apartment building after the man she was living with, Wayne Martin, set his son's bedroom on fire. She was sitting in the living room watching TV when Wayne ran in and told her to get out of the house because it was on fire. Rose alerted the other tenants and yelled for someone to call the fire department. Wayne had refused to leave the building until smoke forced him out. He admitted to police that he started the fire. He was arraigned on a felony arson charge for the fire, which caused about $15,000 in damage and forced several families who lived in the building to move out. That smoke and fire damage department at 307 Cedar street in Manchester was Rose's last known address before she turned up dead a little over seven miles away in the woods of Auburn. The frozen state of Rose's body delayed the autopsy an extra few days. But even after the autopsy was complete, investigators did not immediately release a cause of death, nor did they disclose details of the crime scene. More contemporary sources do. List of cause of death for Rose, however, it's been reported that she died of strangulation. But determining exactly when and where Rose died still hasn't happened. At least it's not public information at this stage. Some source material gives only an approximation, stating that police believe Rosalie died in December of 1996, possibly before Christmas of that year. William has said that his sister was known to drop out of contact from time to time for weeks, months and even years. This time, he hadn't heard from her since before Thanksgiving in 1996, even though it wasn't the longest she'd been MIA. William still got a bad feeling. Now, it's unclear where William got this information, but as of 2005, it was his understanding that Rose was last seen alive in December of 1996 as she was leaving the Three Cousins Pizza and Lounge at 137 Wilson street on the east side of Manchester. She was supposedly getting into a van. Williams said she was with some members of a motorcycle gang. Police have publicly stated that Three Cousins Pizza and Lounge was a known hangout for members of motorcycle gangs, but have stopped short of confirming Williams statements to the media about the circumstances and timing of his sister's last known whereabouts. There were other reported sightings, too. At least one witness told police they were sure they saw Rose at a New Year's eve party in 1996, which would have been after an estimated date of death. But investigators couldn't confirm that sighting and discounted its validity. According to Mark Hayward's reporting for the Union Leader, Assistant Attorney General Patrick E. Donovan said that Rose was believed to still be involved with sex work and at the time of her death. So police were obviously exploring the possibility that this played a role in her murder. However, they did not have anything yet that led them to believe she was killed by a client. In the weeks and months before her death, Rose had stayed with various friends and was moving from one apartment to another. She didn't have one single spot to call home, meaning her belongings were left in more than one place with more than one person, making it difficult to look for clues in her personal effects. However, at least some of Rose's things were recovered during the course of the early investigation. Source material notes that her clothing was found on the side of the road near an apple orchard in Londonderry at some point. As of 1998. Investigators didn't know how or why the clothes were there, but they don't have any reason to believe that the individuals who found the clothes had anything to do with Rose's murder. In February of 1997, Manchester Crime Line offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed Rosalie, which was unusual. Typically, Manchester Crimeline rewards were only granted for crimes within Manchester. But police still had yet to determine where Rosalie died. Although the first two months of the investigation were filled with over 100 witness interviews and steady lead, police were running into challenges. Rosalie's life had led her into circles of drug use and sex, work and crime. Some potential witnesses in those circles didn't want to talk to police or get involved, but there was one witness who ran in the same circles as Rose and she spoke to police during the initial investigation. Her name was Mindy West. A little over a year and a half after Rose's body was found by children playing in the woods, Mindy herself was the subject of a similar heartbreaking discovery. Stanley west heard from his daughter every single week, without fail, even after she moved out of his home in Londonderry, New Hampshire in May of 1998. But by the first or second week of July that same year, 31 year old Mindy west stopped calling. That's when Stanley knew something had to be wrong. Stanley reported Mindy missing, but he was told that police really couldn't do anything. She was an adult and there were no obvious signs pointing to foul play. A few months later, the signs were all there. Al Nettle reports for the New Hampshire Union Leader that around 2:30pm on October 4, 1998, four children were out playing in a wooded area off Hughes Road, about a quarter mile south of Mammoth Road in Manchester, when they saw what they first believed to be a scarecrow. In reality, they'd found the badly decomposed remains of a woman. Roger Lambert reports for Dairy News that she was tied to a tree and there was a knotted rope around her neck. She was later identified as Mindy west and an autopsy determined that she had been strangled. The area where Mindy was found was dense with undergrowth, which may have been why she hadn't been discovered sooner. Because of the state of decomposition, police assumed Mindy had been there for for a while, but could not determine exactly when she died. Later source material indicates that the medical examiner estimated Mindy's approximate time of death to be at the end of July 1998, which aligns with her last phone contact with family. Life hadn't always been rough for Mindy. Mindy always loved kids and was a go to babysitter for many families. Throughout high school. She worked hard, saved money and the babysitting gigs helped her buy her first car. Her father said that she graduated from Londonderry high school in 1985 in the top 10% of her class. Mindy was accepted into the University of New Hampshire and she enrolled, but didn't stay very long. Her father said that she met a guy in Derry and moved in with him. He believes that's when she encountered the world of drugs. For about the last third of her life, Mindy struggled to overcome challenges with substance use. She racked up several convictions, including two related to sex work. In January of 1996, Mindy was arrested and charged with two counts of selling cocaine to an undercover officer from the New Hampshire Drug Task Force. She was convicted and sentenced to one and a half to three years in prison and was released on parole in January of 1998. Following her release, Mindy moved into her father's home and worked to maintain sobriety. Things were getting better and she seemed committed to improving her life, if not only for herself, for her child. She wanted to regain custody of her two year old daughter who had been with a foster family since birth. Her father said that Mindy hadn't used drugs in at least a year. Since her release, she attended substance use support group meetings three times a week. She got a job working overnights at Summit Packaging and her dad drove her there and back for every shift. With all the progress she made, Mindy was able to have her daughter two nights a week. It was a major win for Mindy until she received a court summons in June of 1998. The state wanted her to pay child support. The pressure and stress of that may have been what catapulted her back into substance use. That's what she told her father, that the expectations were too overwhelming. Stanley can't say for sure if the court summons was the only trigger, but he was certain it didn't help. Mindy moved out of her father's home around the same time as the court summons, though it's not clear if this was before or after she returned to substance use. According to reporting by Catherine Marchocki for the Union Leader, Mindy was last known to be living at what was then the Holiday Inn at Amoskeg Circle. By November of 1998, investigators had interviewed dozens of witnesses in Mindy's case. Police had even administered polygraph examinations to several men who knew Mindy, but those men were not considered suspects at the time. The Manchester Crime line offered a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment of the person responsible for Mindy's death, together with a $1,000 reward from the Crime Line of Southern New Hampshire. The same year, Manchester PD created a page on their website dedicated to unsolved crimes in the city. At the time, one third of all homicides in Manchester over a 10 year period were unsolved. Mindy's case was among the names on the site and according to Cissy Taylor's reporting, hers was one of two cases in which police didn't even have a primary suspect. What the police did have though, were two unsolved homicides with striking similarities. In less than two years. And they were actively considering the possibility of a connection between Mindy's murder and the murder of Rosalie Miller. Both Mindy and Rose had previous charges on their record relating to sex, work and drugs. Both of the women were found strangled in wooded areas, though Rose was nude. And as far as current source material shows, Mindy was fully clothed. But then there's this. According to Cissy Taylor for the New Hampshire Union Leader, when Rosalie Miller was found dead a year and a half before police actually interviewed Mindy, they knew each other, or at least knew of each other, and were in the same circles. Rose's brother William actually suggests something even more compelling. He claims that on the same night Rose was last seen supposedly getting into a van with members of a motorcycle gang, Mindy west was at the same lounge, and she watched as Rose left in that van. I have not been able to independently verify this information. Investigators have not confirmed this specific detail, but police have previously said that some of the things William has shared in previous media coverage are true. If the information is accurate, it presents not only a connection between the two cases, but. But a possible motive for Mindy's murder. If she really witnessed Rose leaving in a van and could identify the people she left with, that's a liability for the person or people responsible for Rose's death. Perhaps. If this is all true, Mindy was killed to keep her quiet. A quick scan of newspaper archives from the mid-1990s and into the early 2000s proves that motorcycle gangs and violent incidents surrounding those organizations were very real problems in Manchester around the time of Mindy and Rosalie's murders. The presence of these gangs wasn't just a rumor or urban legend. It was a visible, documented tension point in the city. Bars and restaurants in the city were instituting no colors policies. Police were monitoring biker hangouts, and community events were disrupted simply by the intimidating presence of patched members. The fear these groups inspired was undeniable. The fact that Rosalie was reportedly last seen at Three Cousins Pizza and Lounge, an establishment known to be frequented by gang members, and that her brother believed she and her fiance had been threatened over a motorcycle potentially tied to a gang suddenly feels less like an isolated, embellished detail and more like a reflection of a real risk that existed in the city at the time. It's all very heavy on speculation, of course, especially with both cases being open. But there is at least one person Manchester police have publicly confirmed they looked into, at least for Rosalie's murder. Someone who fits a very different theory of motive that doesn't appear to have anything to do with motorcycles.
- [31:33]
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- [32:56]
Kylie Lowe
Let me tell you about a guy named Jack Higgins. In 1985, Jack Higgins pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge. In 1987, he pleaded guilty to criminal mischief. Then in 1996, he pleaded no contest to a charge of carrying a weapon without a license. He was found guilty of that charge. Also in 1996, he was convicted of criminal threatening. In a separate incident that year, he pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of prostitution and related offenses and was convicted. He received suspended sentences of varying lengths from 90 days up to 12 months. But the charges that landed him on the radar of investigators looking into Rosalie Miller's murder stemmed from an attack. In late June of 1998. A 34 year old Jack Higgins was arrested on kidnapping and aggravated felonious sexual assault charges. A female sex worker reported that he threatened her with a gun and sexually assaulted her. The woman had agreed to go with Jack to his apartment on Wilson street in Manchester and consented to having sex with him. They reportedly used crack cocaine together. But then Jack turned aggressive and violent, the woman said. Jack expressed his hatred of women and particularly sex workers. The woman said. She tried to leave, but Jack Took out a gun and threatened her. He also restrained her with rope and handcuffs. She feared for her life and did not expect to make it out alive. But she said Jack later drove her away from his apartment and she got out when he came to a stop at an intersection. She told her friends what happened and they told her to report it. She didn't want other women to suffer the way she had or worse. After the women reported the attack, investigators obtained warrants to search Jack's apartment and vehicle, which was located in Braintree, Massachusetts. The evidence collected was enough for an arrest. There were other similar attacks reported in the area recently, both near Manchester and in Massachusetts, including the assault of two women in Fall River. So police were looking into the possibility that Jack was involved in those cases as well. Jack was a long haul trucker, a job that brought him across state lines and to many different locations. So police put together a profile of the crime to share with other jurisdictions. In January of 2000, a jury convicted Jack Higgins of rape, criminal restraint, and two counts of criminal threatening for the attack on the woman in Manchester. He was sentenced to 33 and a half years in prison on those charges. Then In July of 2000, Jack was back in court, this time to face charges relating to the two cases in Fall River, Massachusetts. According to an Associated Press report published in the Concord Monitor, the two women were sent to Jack's apartment by an escort service. When it became clear to the women that Jack wasn't going to pay them, they tried to leave. But that's when Jack allegedly held the women at gunpoint, tied them up, and sexually assaulted one of the women twice. Jack faced two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, two counts of kidnapping, and three counts of criminal threatening. But after five hours of deliberation, he was acquitted of all charges. It's important to note that the jury in this case was not informed of Jack's prior sexual assault and related convictions. Testimony about past crimes was not allowed. Jack appealed his conviction in the first case involving the Manchester woman. The judgment in that case was affirmed in 2003. Jack's minimum release date would have been February of 2025. But he remains in prison at the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility as of this episode's original recording. So Jack Higgins is a violent criminal with a self professed hatred of women and sex workers who in past attacks was accused of restraining victims with rope. All circumstances that align with Rose and Mindy's murders. But as of right now, Jack Higgins has not been charged with any crimes as it relates to either of their cases. He's also never been charged or convicted of homicide in any other case. There's one more person I think we need to explore though. Someone who has been convicted of murder in a case that almost perfectly mirrors Rosalie and Mindy's cases. On the morning of October 25, 1996, a passing driver slowed to a stop on Kinsman Road in a residential area of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Mike Elfland reports for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette that a co worker of the driver had mentioned that there was a strange Halloween decoration on the side of the road there. What the co worker had actually seen was a human body, a woman. The woman was laying face down on the ground and her pants were pulled down to her ankles. She'd been severely beaten. An autopsy determined her cause of death was blunt trauma and strangulation. The woman was later identified as 39 year old Teresa K. Stone. Teresa was already known to the police officers investigating her case. She had a few convictions relating to sex work in the years before she was killed. She also faced charges related to drugs, shoplifting, larceny, forgery and others. But her criminal history was not the entire story of her life. Teresa was a mother and a grandmother to a two year old girl. Her daughter was actually one of the last people to see her alive. She said that Teresa had come home from a trip to the grocery store with a guy in a pickup truck around 9:30pm on October 23, 1996, just a few days before her body was found. Teresa's story was extremely underreported in the immediate weeks and months following her murder. It wasn't until 12 years later that the case saw a major break thanks to DNA. According to reporting by Gary V. Murray for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, In April of 2008, a DNA supervisor at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab identified a case to case hit in CODIS. DNA evidence collected at the scene of an alleged 2007 sexual assault in a West Boylston motel room matched biological evidence collected in the unsolved homicide case of Teresa Stone. The suspect was 38 year old Alex Sesny of Berlin, Massachusetts. After the hit and CODIS and while awaiting trial on the 2007 case, Alex was ordered to submit a DNA sample for direct comparison to evidence collected from Teresa's body. That sample was a match, but Alex wasn't immediately arrested and charged for Teresa's murder. The suspect went to trial for the 2007 case. First. He was convicted of assault and battery but acquitted on charges of rape, assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He received an 18 month sentence with credit for time served while awaiting trial. But even before that verdict was handed down on September 12, 2008, Alex had been secretly indicted for the earlier crime. Immediately after his sentencing for the 2007 case, Alex was arraigned on charges of rape and murder in the case of Teresa Stone. In March of 2012, a Worcester Superior Court jury found Alex guilty of the murder and aggravated rape of Teresa Stone, and he was sentenced to life in prison. Alex appealed his conviction, and in 2015, the state's supreme Judicial Court affirmed the first degree murder conviction, but overturned a conviction for aggravated rape. He remains incarcerated at Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Shirley. I looked this guy up in New Hampshire, and he has one singular conviction in the granite state. On February 12, 1996, he was charged with misdemeanor possession of cannabis. So we know he spent some time in New Hampshire before. But the pot charge was a solid 10 months before Rosalie Miller was believed to have been murdered. Yet his M.O. in Teresa's case matches circumstances in the killings of Rosalie and Mindy almost to a tee. These were women known to the world of substance use and sex work. Rosalie was found nude, similar to Teresa, who was partially undressed. All three of the women were found in wooded areas. All three of the women died of strangulation. Manchester, New Hampshire, is only about an hour from where Alex was living in Berlin, Massachusetts. Certainly conceivable that he could have driven there. Teresa and Rosalie were killed roughly two months apart. Perhaps after killing Teresa, he had to stray further from home to commit the next crime to avoid getting caught. I mean, that sounds like something a serial killer might do. Alex Sesny has been considered as a person of interest in several other homicides in the greater Worcester area, including some victims with a known history of sex work or substance use. His name has even surfaced as a potential person of interest in the New Bedford highway serial killings. The guy had quite a record of speeding tickets and other motor vehicle offenses. And it seems that wherever he was pulled over for some infraction behind the wheel, a woman disappeared or was found murdered. Alex Hesney has not been charged with any crimes relating to Rosalie and Mindy's murders. But as of 2008, Manchester Police were looking into possible connections to the convicted killer. There was yet another atrocious murder in Manchester just a few years after both Rose and Mindy's deaths, that of Mary Kath Kathleen Miles Stetson. According to reporting by Sarah Plord for nhpr, Mary had been stabbed and Dismembered, her torso found in a duffel bag in a river during the summer of 1999. Prior to the arrest of the suspect, Vaclav Polak, who would ultimately be convicted of Mary's murder. Speculation of a serial killer in town had police trying to tame the rumor mill. The rumors were in part supported by reporting from a local media outlet that featured interviews with criminal justice experts who analyzed the vicious crime and suggested the perpetrator had killed before. At the time, police had no evidence or concrete information that suggested the person who killed Mary was responsible for any other murders. However, Mindy and Rose's name surfaced because Mary was known to frequent lounges in Manchester's inner city, some of the same places Mindy and Rose hung out before their deaths. Police discounted this stretch of a connection, Though sources indicate that the investigation into both Rosalie and Mindy's cases show that they were very clearly not connected to Mary Stetson's murder. It remains a possibility that Rose and Mindy's cases are not connected to any other crimes or homicides or even to each other. Over the course of my reporting for this episode, I found records of an incident that occurred in 1994 while Mindy was living with a man in Derry. In January of that year, both Mindy and the man were arrested on simple assault charges after police responded to the report of a domestic incident. Both Mindy and the man were found guilty. I looked this guy up, and the only other conviction on his record in New Hampshire was possession of a controlled substance back in 1981. So could Mindy's murder be related to violence in a relationship with that man or someone else entirely? Everything is still on the table until one or both of the cases sees an arrest. Both of the cases of Rosalie Miller and Mindy west are unsolved. It's been almost 30 years since their deaths, and their families are still waiting for the day that their questions are answered. These women were robbed of their lives. No matter the darkness they waded through and the inner battles they fought, they deserved dignity, safety and a chance to see what their lives could have become. They were daughters, sisters, mothers and friends. They were more than the headlines that summed up their lives in a single line. More than the charges on a rap sheet or the choices they made when they were hurting, the people who loved them still grieved for who they were and who they could have been had someone not ripped their futures away. Investigators wait for that one lead. A single witness. Someone who has been sitting on information to find the courage to finally speak up. If you have information relating to the unsolved homicides of Mindy west or Rosalie Miller, please contact the New Hampshire State Police using the Cold Case Unit tip form linked in the description of this episode. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case@darkdowneast.com Be sure to follow the show on Instagram arkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe and this is Dark Down East. Dark down east is a production of Kylie Media and Audio check. I think Chuck would approve. Had 30 agents ready to go with.
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