"Jogger killed in Princeton was visiting family" by Michael Levenson and Trisha Thadani Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent August 08, 2016
PRINCETON — Vanessa Marcotte had been home for a few days, visiting her mother, when she decided to go for a Sunday afternoon jog in this quiet, wooded community near Worcester. But when she didn’t return home, her family worried and called the police.
The slaying of the 27-year-old Leominster native, a graduate of Boston University who worked at Google in New York City, set this small, quiet town on edge.
A law enforcement official briefed on the case said there are indications that Marcotte’s body had been burned and that investigators are working to determine whether she was sexually assaulted. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the case, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Early did not say how Marcotte was killed but said investigators are focused on the hours between 1 p.m. — when she left her mother’s house — and 4 p.m. Sunday. Her body was found at 8:20 p.m.
Early said there was “nothing at this point” to connect Marcotte’s killing to last week’s murder of Karina Vetrano, who was killed while jogging near her home in Queens, N.Y.
In Princeton, a prosperous town of 3,400 about 15 miles north of Worcester, residents said they were alarmed at the prospect that Marcotte’s killer might still be in their midst.
One resident of Brooks Station Road said State Police showed up at her doorstep around 1:30 a.m., asking whether she or her husband had seen anything unusual. She hadn’t, but said the large, wooded lots along the road make it easy to avoid notice.
“I can see how, maybe, she was walking or jogging by one of these properties, or even in front of my house, and someone could grab her and bring her right into the woods,” she said, declining to give her name.
Terry Hart, who lives near Brooks Station Road, said that he has two young daughters who jog regularly in the area and has never worried about them.
“People run all the time,” he said. “This town is very safe.”
Stan Moss, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said the town was planning to send residents a “code red” alert by text, e-mail, and phone, “asking people to be aware.”
“Nobody’s speculating there’s a risk, but it’s a time and place to be aware, which is pretty atypical for our community,” Moss said. “We’re rural and quiet and a lot of people don’t lock their cars and leave their doors open. It’s a shock.”
Moss said he could not recall a homicide in the town in his 33 years there.
In 2013, a local dentist was charged with manslaughter, two years after his wife was found dead beneath a shattered third-floor window of their home.
Joanne Kay, manager of the Mountainside Market, a local bakery and cafe, said she plans to hand over surveillance video from her store to investigators because joggers, cyclists, and hikers frequently stop in for refreshments.
“It’s devastating,” she said Monday. “It’s like your own daughter.”
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Related: Father charged in killing of daughter, 19, in New Bedford
Not even the water park is safe:
"Police say nothing criminal suspected in boy’s waterslide death" Associated Press August 08, 2016
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Investigators were treating the death of a 10-year-old boy on the world’s tallest waterslide as a ‘‘civil matter’’ rather than a criminal incident, a police spokesman said Monday, as the park and Kansas authorities pressed to sort out what caused the accident.
Few details have been released about the death Sunday of Caleb Thomas Schwab, the son of a Kansas state legislator. The 168-foot-tall Verruckt, which means ‘‘insane’’ in German, is one of the top attractions of Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kan.....
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Related: Man drowns in N.H. saving dog that jumped into Pemigewasset River
"A former Lowell resident who was fatally shot over the weekend in San Francisco. The US Park Police is investigating. No arrests have been made...."
It's related to Pokemon?
"Site of The Station nightclub fire now a Pokemon Go stop" by Michelle R. Smith Associated Press August 09, 2016
WEST WARWICK, R.I. — Relatives of 100 people killed in a 2003 Rhode Island nightclub fire and survivors are upset that the site is a stop in ‘‘Pokemon Go.’’
The Associated Press learned of the Pokestop when visiting the site in West Warwick last week.
The site is currently surrounded by a chain-link fence while a memorial is built.
Some family members and survivors called it outrageous when informed about the stop and called for it to be removed.
‘‘You’re kidding me,’’ said Chris Fontaine, whose 22-year-old son, Mark, was killed. ‘‘It’s not a gaming kind of place.’’
Survivor Victoria Potvin Eagan called it awful and disgusting.
‘‘That is just so disrespectful,’’ she said. ‘‘Graveyards and memorial sites especially are meant to honor and respect a certain person or event, not to make light of it.’’
Robert Bruyere’s stepdaughter, 27-year-old Bonnie Hamelin, was killed.
‘‘For them to use a memorial site, that’s just wrong,’’ he said.
Fontaine also was not happy to learn that the description inside the game incorrectly says that the fire killed 200 people, double the actual number killed.
‘‘At least have your facts straight,’’ she said.
An e-mail to game developer Niantic was not immediately returned.
The Feb. 20, 2003, blaze was started when pyrotechnics for the band Great White set fire to flammable foam placed as soundproofing inside The Station nightclub. Many clubgoers were trapped and killed. More than 200 people were injured.
Work crews at the site have had to take steps to avoid disturbing human remains that were left behind in the rubble.
It was not clear whether the stop has caused problems, and whether anyone has asked to remove the site from the game.
The head of the foundation working to build the memorial did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Pokestops have been removed from the atomic bomb memorial park in Hiroshima, Japan, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, and other sites.
The nightclub site sits on a busy road on a commercial strip in West Warwick.
The stop can be accessed from outside the fence that currently surrounds it. The memorial park is on track to open to the public in October.
Not everyone with a connection to the fire is upset. Dave Kane, whose 18-year-old son, Nicholas O’Neill, was the youngest victim, said the Pokestop could help spread the word about what happened.
‘‘If it draws people over there when we open, that would be great,’’ he said.
Also see:
"The white 2014 Mercedes-Benz already had bullet holes in it when Boston police gang unit officers spotted it on Sunday night being driven near Dudley Square with windows too dark for Boston and a driver willing to cut off other drivers. A few minutes later, a Dorchester man was under arrest...."
Thankfully, no one was killed.
Time to move on from this Old House.
