Maggie
2004-01-14 13:31:09 UTC
From the Boston Globe:
Sexual assault suspected in slaying
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 1/14/2004
Investigators believe that Joanne C. Presti, the Woburn woman found slain with
her 12-year-old daughter last week, was sexually assaulted before she was
killed, law enforcement officials said yesterday.
Although investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the killings
occurred after a consensual encounter, they have recovered evidence of a sexual
nature and now consider it a key to identifying the killer, the sources said,
speaking on the condition of anonymity.
One theory investigators are pursuing is that the killer first had sex with
Presti, 34, killed her, then slashed 12-year-old Alyssa Presti's throat to
eliminate her as a witness, sources said.
Seth Horwitz, a spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley,
declined yesterday to comment on whether there is a sexual component to the
crime. "All I can say is that it is a very active investigation," Horwitz said.
The bodies of the two victims were discovered inside their Totman Drive home on
Jan. 7, three days after Joanne Presti was last heard from, authorities said.
Police were called by Presti's parents, who became worried after not being able
to contact her.
Police found Joanne Presti dead of a blow to the head and multiple stab wounds,
her clothing in disarray, face down on a couch on the first floor of the duplex
apartment, authorities said. Alyssa was found upstairs.
Presti's 2 1/2-year-old son, Sean, was also found in the apartment, unharmed
but undernourished, Coakley's office said. Denise Monteiro, spokeswoman for the
state Department of Social Services, said yesterday that Sean Presti remains in
foster care. His family has contact with him, she said.
Presti's 10-year-old son, Justin, was not in the apartment at the time of the
slayings. He had moved out last year to live with his father in Revere.
The three children were fathered by different men, and the fathers have been
questioned by authorities.
The law enforcement sources said yesterday that investigators believe the case
is leading away from the fathers as suspects. Thomas Pollak, Sean's father;
former Boston Bruins winger John Carter, Alyssa's father; and Frank Martineau,
Justin's father, have denied any involvement in the crime, officials said.
Neighbors said Presti and her daughter were popular among the residents of
Totman Drive, a quiet street dominated by duplexes. Presti, a licensed optician
who had mostly stayed home since the birth of her youngest son, often sat
outside and watched over the neighborhood children, Satnam Singh, a nurse and
Presti's landlord, said recently.
Singh said she last talked to Presti on Sunday night, and became concerned a
few days later because no one had come out of the house and Presti's blue
minivan had remained parked in the same spot. She said she and her husband were
about to call the police when they saw Woburn officers arrive with Presti's
mother.
Singh said Presti had moved into one side of the duplex from up the street a
few months earlier.
A lawyer for the Martineau family said this week that they were in a "state of
shock" and asked for privacy from the media.
"The Martineau and Presti families have lost a daughter and granddaughter,
mother and sister, aunt and niece, cousin and friend," lawyer Elisabeth H.
Loukas said on behalf of Frank Martineau and his family. "They are focusing
their immediate attention on Joanne's surviving children, Justin and Sean."
Family and friends gathered at a wake for Joanne and Alyssa Presti last night
at McLaughlin-Dello Russo Funeral Home in Woburn, with visiting hours
continuing tonight.
A funeral Mass for the mother and daughter is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow
in St. Barbara Church, 138 Cambridge Road, in Woburn. Burial will be in Fox
Hill Cemetery in Billerica.
Maggie
"Here’s a quick note from the estate of the late Senator Strom Thurmond –
Happy Kwanzaa!" -- Jay Leno
Sexual assault suspected in slaying
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 1/14/2004
Investigators believe that Joanne C. Presti, the Woburn woman found slain with
her 12-year-old daughter last week, was sexually assaulted before she was
killed, law enforcement officials said yesterday.
Although investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the killings
occurred after a consensual encounter, they have recovered evidence of a sexual
nature and now consider it a key to identifying the killer, the sources said,
speaking on the condition of anonymity.
One theory investigators are pursuing is that the killer first had sex with
Presti, 34, killed her, then slashed 12-year-old Alyssa Presti's throat to
eliminate her as a witness, sources said.
Seth Horwitz, a spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley,
declined yesterday to comment on whether there is a sexual component to the
crime. "All I can say is that it is a very active investigation," Horwitz said.
The bodies of the two victims were discovered inside their Totman Drive home on
Jan. 7, three days after Joanne Presti was last heard from, authorities said.
Police were called by Presti's parents, who became worried after not being able
to contact her.
Police found Joanne Presti dead of a blow to the head and multiple stab wounds,
her clothing in disarray, face down on a couch on the first floor of the duplex
apartment, authorities said. Alyssa was found upstairs.
Presti's 2 1/2-year-old son, Sean, was also found in the apartment, unharmed
but undernourished, Coakley's office said. Denise Monteiro, spokeswoman for the
state Department of Social Services, said yesterday that Sean Presti remains in
foster care. His family has contact with him, she said.
Presti's 10-year-old son, Justin, was not in the apartment at the time of the
slayings. He had moved out last year to live with his father in Revere.
The three children were fathered by different men, and the fathers have been
questioned by authorities.
The law enforcement sources said yesterday that investigators believe the case
is leading away from the fathers as suspects. Thomas Pollak, Sean's father;
former Boston Bruins winger John Carter, Alyssa's father; and Frank Martineau,
Justin's father, have denied any involvement in the crime, officials said.
Neighbors said Presti and her daughter were popular among the residents of
Totman Drive, a quiet street dominated by duplexes. Presti, a licensed optician
who had mostly stayed home since the birth of her youngest son, often sat
outside and watched over the neighborhood children, Satnam Singh, a nurse and
Presti's landlord, said recently.
Singh said she last talked to Presti on Sunday night, and became concerned a
few days later because no one had come out of the house and Presti's blue
minivan had remained parked in the same spot. She said she and her husband were
about to call the police when they saw Woburn officers arrive with Presti's
mother.
Singh said Presti had moved into one side of the duplex from up the street a
few months earlier.
A lawyer for the Martineau family said this week that they were in a "state of
shock" and asked for privacy from the media.
"The Martineau and Presti families have lost a daughter and granddaughter,
mother and sister, aunt and niece, cousin and friend," lawyer Elisabeth H.
Loukas said on behalf of Frank Martineau and his family. "They are focusing
their immediate attention on Joanne's surviving children, Justin and Sean."
Family and friends gathered at a wake for Joanne and Alyssa Presti last night
at McLaughlin-Dello Russo Funeral Home in Woburn, with visiting hours
continuing tonight.
A funeral Mass for the mother and daughter is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow
in St. Barbara Church, 138 Cambridge Road, in Woburn. Burial will be in Fox
Hill Cemetery in Billerica.
Maggie
"Here’s a quick note from the estate of the late Senator Strom Thurmond –
Happy Kwanzaa!" -- Jay Leno