(NewsNation) — After an eighth person was killed in New England, people in some communities fear there could be a serial killer in the area, though police have said there is not.
The most recent death was a woman who was found unresponsive near a bike path in Springfield, Massachusetts. She was pronounced dead shortly after she was found, and the cause and manner of her death have not been determined.
What are the common characteristics of the victims?
All of the victims were found in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut during March and April.
A majority of the people found dead were women, but some of the remains have not been identified and the gender is unknown.
“We do have bodies that are intact, and still to this point, we don’t have a cause of death…” Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics professor at Jacksonville State University, said.
How are authorities connecting the cases?
Police say there is no reason to believe the cases are connected or that all were crimes.
Peter Valentin, chair of the forensic science department at the University of New Haven, spoke with NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas about the case. He said that all of these bodies could’ve been found due to the different police stations in the area communicating with one another.
“Normally, agencies are not engaged in random searches of wooded areas…” Valentin told Vargas. “In this situation, with multiple bodies in multiple jurisdictions, we don’t know if there even is a connection.”
Are there any suspects or persons of interest in the investigation?
Authorities have not announced any suspects or persons of interest and are not treating the cases as connected.
What is the history of similar cases in New England?
Police have not linked these cases or specified similarities between them, but New England has been home to serial killers before, including the Boston Strangler in the 1960s and the still-unidentified New Bedford Highway Killer, who is believed to be behind several deaths in 1988 and 1989.
How are communities responding to the news?
A Facebook group on the subject has attracted thousands of members, and residents have questioned how there could be so many deaths in a short time frame.
“It can help… but I urge caution here,” Morgan said of the public group. “We have to be very careful… I urge everyone to take a beat. Be very cautious about what they say and what they do.” He also said we shouldn’t know what the police know right now, since they are still working on the case.
Experts note that just because the bodies were found during a certain period of time does not mean that is when they all died.
What are the potential motives behind the killings?
There is no known motive for any of the deaths, and authorities say at least three of the cases did not involve foul play.
On March 6, for example, the remains of a woman who was reportedly identified as 35-year-old Paige Fannon were found in Norwalk, Connecticut. However, Norwalk Police Department Lt. Tomasz Podgorski told PEOPLE that there was “no indication of foul play or relation to any other death or serial killer.”
There was also a human skull found on March 6 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, according to Boston 25 News. As of now, authorities have not identified this person’s age or gender.
What other deaths are speculated to be committed by a serial killer?
Other cases that the public is speculating on include the human remains that were found on March 19 in Groton, Connecticut. According to NBC Connecticut and WTNH, the remains were found in a suitcase near the Colonel Ledyard Cemetery.
It was said by investigators that the remains were of a woman between 40 and 60 years old, and they were left in mid-February.
Groton Police Chief Louis Fusaro told WTNH, “I would tell people, ‘Don’t rush to judgment.'”
There was another case on March 21, when the body of a Connecticut woman — Denise Leary, 59 — was found in New Haven, Connecticut. Christian Bruckhart, the New Haven public information officer, told PEOPLE that Leary had been reported missing in September 2024.
“It was inconclusive what caused her death, but they were able to say that it did not appear to be any trauma. Based on the circumstances where she was found and given everything we knew about the investigation, there was nothing to indicate that she was murdered.”
He had also reportedly said that Leary had dealt with mental health issues.
There were also three other bodies found. One of Michele Romano, 56, who was reported missing in August 2024 from Warwick, Rhode Island, and found in Foster, Rhode Island, on March 26, according to PEOPLE.
There were also human remains reportedly found on April 9 in Killingly, Connecticut, as well as on April 10 in Framingham, Massachusetts.
The cause of death for many of these remains have yet to be determined.