After eight persons were discovered dead in the same location within a few weeks of one another, police released a statement, sparking fears that a serial killer might be at large.
A woman was discovered unconscious on a Springfield bike route in the 1500 block of Hall of Fame Avenue on Tuesday, April 22.
Ryan Walsh, a spokesman for the Springfield Police Department, verified that the woman was declared deceased as soon as police and medical personnel arrived on the scene.
Walsh stated, “The SPD Homicide Unit under the direction Captain Trent Duda is conducting an unattended death investigation in conjunction with the @HampdenDA Murder Unit, pending an autopsy by the Medical Examiner.”
Although authorities have released this first statement, it is still unknown what the woman’s exact fate was.
In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, eight people—the majority of whom are thought to be women—died in March and April, raising questions about the possibility of a serial killer.
Human remains have been found in places including New Haven, Norwalk, Groton and Killingly, Connecticut, and Rhode Island throughout the last two months.
Walsh told Fox News Digital that “internet rumors are just that,” adding that authorities have not disclosed any link between the eight deaths.
Regarding the several fatalities throughout the state, Connecticut State Police recently issued a statement stating that “there is no information at this time suggesting any connection to similar remains discoveries, and there is also no known threat to the public at this time.”
The rumors started with a Facebook group called “New England Serial Killer,” but its name has since been changed because of the social media platform’s policies.
In the midst of recent reports, Peter Valentin, chair of the University of New Haven’s Forensic Science Department, has been interviewed by Fox News Digital.
He brought up the crucial point that the woman who was discovered unconscious on the bike route has not yet been given a cause of death by Springfield police.
Valentin told the outlet, “I am curious about what was recovered around the body. There might have been paraphernalia suggestive of activity that is deemphasizing homicide (perhaps incorrectly) to the investigators because that article is quite tepid. It is filled with very cautious language (surely taken right from police press releases), which might be intentional to not feed into what is now turning into intense scrutiny over every suspicious death in New England.”
