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Who Killed...?

Author Maureen Boyle on The Women of New Bedford, Mass.

Who Killed...?

Bill Huffman

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

3.8 β€’ 595 Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 2 April 2021

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From https://shallowgravesthebook.com/: The women were dead before anyone realized they were gone. It was 1988, before the opiate epidemic of the 2000s, before families openly talked about heroin addicts, before there was a public face to the addiction. At the time, as many still do today, young women in the throes of addiction turned to street hustles to find money for drugs. They would write bad checks, shoplift and some, as the addiction worsened, turned to conning men into giving them money. Some turned to prostitution. The addicts lived on the outer edges. In a small city like New Bedford, people recognized them on the street. Many knew their families. New Bedford is a tight knit city with large, close families. It is also a fishing community where people know death can come unexpectedly on the seas. But no one expected what happened in 1988. Eleven women went missing that year. Nine were later found dead along local highways surrounding the city. It is officially unsolved. I was a reporter at the Standard-Times of New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the time. I knew some of the women who were on the streets at the time, struggling with addictions. They were good people. Some of them are still alive, finally kicking their habits. Many are now dead. Some of AIDS, some from overdoses, a few from natural causes. Some of the women got clean before they died, giving their families – and children – the gift of knowing their true spirit. I have been haunted by the story of these dead women for years. Their families have lived with the pain each day. No one should get away with murder. Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer (ForeEdge) tells the story of the investigation through the eyes of the investigators and some of the families. We hope someone will finally end that hunt. - Maureen Boyle If you'd like to contribute to keeping these shows running you can do so by clicking on the following link: paypal.me/williamhuffman3 or via Venmo with my username @bill-huffman-3. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Slow Burn Media and Bill Huffman present Who Killed, a podcast that provides a voice for the voiceless.

0:09.0

Maureen Boyle covered the highway killings as a reporter and is the author of the book Shallow Graves that chronicles the crime spree.

0:16.0

And they all tend to kill within a comfort zone with an anchor point that could be the killer's home, it could be

0:21.0

their place of employment, it could even be a relative's residence.

0:24.5

30 years ago marked the beginning of a reign of terror. Some detectives wondered if the killer

0:29.2

intentionally dumped the bodies outside New Bedford City limits so New Bedford police

0:34.2

wouldn't have jurisdiction over the crimes. Nine were found murdered along local highways.

0:39.7

Two were never found, and the killer was never caught.

0:43.2

In the woods, investigators found the remains of nine women between the ages of 19 and 36 years old.

0:50.4

Now, no one has ever been charged for the murderers, leaving a cloud of mystery hanging over

0:54.8

southeastern Massachusetts for three decades.

0:58.0

Hello and welcome to episode 106 of Who Killed.

1:03.0

I am your host to Bill Huffman, and this is a slow burn media production.

1:08.6

I've been on a little bit of a hiatus lately from producing new episodes, and I just

1:13.7

want to let you know that I will return next week with a brand new episode featuring

1:18.2

the mysterious disappearance of Cynthia Anderson from Toledo, Ohio in 1981.

1:26.3

And I will also be joined by fellow true crime podcaster Nap Time Nancy Drew. But in the meantime,

1:34.5

I need to conclude the series that I started last week. And I had the pleasure to speak with author

1:39.8

Maureen Boyle, who wrote the book Shallow Graves, which is all about the search for the New Bedford Highway serial killer.

1:48.1

Boyle was a young reporter when a police officer mentioned to her that some of the girls were missing in the New Bedford area.

1:55.0

She is now a director of journalism at the Stonehill College in eastern Massachusetts.

2:01.8

You can follow her on Twitter at Maureen E. Boyle One.

...

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