"Body of missing Worcester man discovered buried under deck of Rhode Island home" by Evan Allen and Matthew MacCormack Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent May 31, 2015
BURRILLVILLE, R.I. — The body of a missing 60-year-old Worcester man was discovered Friday buried beneath a layer of freshly poured cement under a new deck at a home on Douglas Pike, according to a statement from Burrillville police.
Rhode Island State Police and Burrillville officers were conducting their second search of the house at 505 Douglas Pike Friday when they discovered the body of Domingo Ortiz, according to the statement.
On Saturday, the remnants of the dug-up concrete were visible at the side of the home, a one-story building with chipped red paint. Trash, tires, broken chairs, and other debris were scattered in the yard. The new deck, which had been built on the side of the house, was detached and visible in the backyard. The house also had an older deck at the back.
No one answered the door.
Burrillville police said Ortiz has not been seen since May 5 and his death was being investigated as a homicide.
Steven Biron, the owner of a gas station just down the street from the home, said Ortiz’s family had come to his store just after Mother’s Day asking for surveillance video of the stretch of Douglas Pike that his cameras capture.
The family told him that Ortiz had most recently been at the house at 505 Douglas Pike, he said.
Biron said he became suspicious that something was wrong because he saw a new deck go up just days after Ortiz was last seen. He told police of his concerns, he said.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said, noting that he believes the occupants of the home were renters. “No one builds a deck on a house they don’t own. This house, it’s a dump — there’s no grass, there’s junk all around. I think, why is someone building a deck? Then I saw the cement, and I thought to myself, ‘Is it a coincidence that it’s a few days after Mr. Ortiz was missing?’ ”
Biron said he had seen police searching the residence for about 12 hours on May 21, and the next day he said he saw them searching a nearby swamp area.
Ortiz’s family could not immediately be reached for comment.
Property records list the owners of the home as Mark Tarasiak Jr. and Robin White . Neighbors said they believed Tarasiak and White did not live there. Neither could be reached for comment.
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"Man, woman face charges after body found under R.I. deck" by Nicole Fleming Globe Correspondent June 01, 2015
A man and woman face charges in connection with the killing of a Worcester man whose body was found Friday under fresh cement at a house in Rhode Island.
Michelle Morin, 40, was arrested on a warrant charging her with murder in Worcester Saturday afternoon by the Burrillville Police Department, Worcester Police Department, and Rhode Island State Police Violent Fugitive Task, according to a Burrillville police statement.
Steven Pietrowicz, Jr., 39, will also be charged with murder, according to the statement.
Pietrowicz is currently being held on domestic assault charges at a correctional institution.
Morin and Pietrowicz are slated to be charged Monday in the death of Domingo Ortiz, a 60-year-old Worcester man missing since May 5.
Morin is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Worcester District Court, where extradition proceedings to Rhode Island will be held.
Pietrowicz will be charged Monday in the Sixth District Court in Providence.
A motive in the death of Ortiz was unclear.
The address for both Pietrowicz and Morin is listed as 505 Douglas Pike in Burrillville, according to the Burrillville police statement.
That is the address where the body of Ortiz was found Friday in a “hand-dug hole covered with fill, large rocks, a layer of cement, and a newly constructed deck,” according to the statement.
Steven Biron, the owner of a gas station just down the street from the house, told the Globe Saturday that Ortiz’s family had come to his store just after Mother’s Day asking for surveillance video of the stretch of Douglas Pike that his cameras capture.
The family told him Ortiz had most recently been at 505 Douglas Pike, he said.
Biron said he became suspicious that something was wrong because he saw a new deck go up just days after Ortiz was last seen.
He told police of his concerns, he said.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said, noting that he believes the occupants of the home were renters. “No one builds a deck on a house they don’t own.”
Biron said he had seen police searching the residence May 21.
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NDU:
"A Rhode Island couple was ordered held without bail Monday in the killing of a Worcester, Mass., man whose body was found under recently poured concrete at the couple’s home nearly a month after he went missing. Steven Pietrowicz, 39, and Michelle Morin, 40, were arraigned on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and obstruction of a police officer. Morin was arrested late Saturday in Worcester, where she and Pietrowicz previously lived. Pietrowicz was already in custody on charges of domestic assault. The body of Domingo Ortiz, 60, was found Friday beneath a newly constructed deck adjacent to the Burrillville, R.I., house Pietrowicz and Morin were renting (AP)."
Also see: 3 charged Worcester man’s murder
