The strip mall serial killer burial site in Connecticut has yielded clues to the identity of yet another female victim, gone without a trace since 2003.
This week, forensic experts finally gave the Jane Doe skeletal remains unearthed behind the shopping center a name and face, adding 26-year-old missing mom Marilyn Gonzalez to a growing list of New Britain’s serially slain.
"Today, Marilyn Gonzalez would be a grandmother to an 8-month-old little girl if Marilyn had not fallen victim to an apparent serial murderer," announced New Britain Police Chief, James Wardwell.
"She was a sister, a daughter, and a mother … with family who loves her and misses her,” Wardwell said, adding “Marilyn's family is grieving and has asked not to be contacted by the media."
Gonzalez is the seventh known casualty of the unnamed killer -- six females and one male have so far been excavated from the wooded locale behind the retail complex, which is believed to be the body dump of just one fiend.
The prime suspect for the multiple murder spree has not been officially IDd, but officials have hinted that the area abductions and disappearances came to a halt once local handyman and drifter William Devin Howell, was incarcerated.
Howell, who’s serving 15-years in prison now for manslaughter, and who already had a lengthy criminal record before this, is originally from Virginia.
He was living in the New Britain Connecticut community when mother-of-four Nilsa Arizmendi went missing, and was arrested for the woman’s death when her badly decomposed corpse was found in a makeshift grave near the strip mall in 2007.
However, William Devin Howell has yet to be charged for the murders of Mary Jane Menard, 40 of New Britain; Diane Cusack, 53 of New Britain; Joyvaline Martinez, 24 of East Hartford; Melanie Ruth Camilini, 29 of Seymour; and Danny Lee Whistnant, 44 of New Britain.
The case of Connecticut’s strip mall serial killer is rapidly developing and may be one for the record books. Visit Crime Magazine again for our continuous updates.
