Unsolved: Worcester - Halloween Special - Worcester's Rattling Three-Decker
Was it a poltergeist rocking the walls of a three decker home on Douglas Street?
Did Worcester have its own haunted house?
In early 1950, that’s exactly what reporters from the Worcester Telegram and the Boston Globe were trying to figure out.
The residents of 14 Douglas Street were more frustrated than scared, complaining of rattling windows, picture frames falling off the walls, radios whistling, and even a bed leaping off the floor.
On May 12, 1950, the strong vibrating of the three-story structure could be seen shaking, as hundreds of neighbors stood in the street, watching what they believed to be something supernatural. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kal_Oq6Pco
What would you do if someone sent you a text message of a photo of the corpse of a family member or loved one?
That’s what happened to Carmen Rivera on Easter Sunday 2009.
Carmen was on her way to Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester when she received a photo of her son, 25-year-old Luis Rosario, dead on a gurney at the hospital.
Luis had been shot twice in the chest outside of a house party on Hammond Street.
The photo of Luis dead at the hospital had been posted on social media with the caption, "Mission Accomplished.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv2WGQbaa1M
Today’s episode combines a pair of the most recent unsolved homicide cases we’ve explored to date on Unsolved: Worcester.
19-year-old Brandon Dirsa gunned down in broad daylight on Maxwell Street on Nov. 30, 2019.
Jazmin Rosario, just 5 days from her 18th birthday, is shot and killed outside of the Big Y on Worcester’s West Side around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 15, 2022.
There is very little new public information available in both cases. There are more questions than answers right now.
As of the time of this podcast, the unsolved murder cases of Jazmin Rosario and Brandon Dirsa aren’t on the list of the Worcester Police Department’s unresolved homicide cases.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORTxU_QtKiM
It’s the night of June 5, 1989, and a shadow is cast over the crowd at the Worcester Auditorium, as members of North High’s class of ‘89 are hearing the names of their classmates called one-by-one to receive their high school diploma.
One classmate isn’t present.
Less than a mile away up on Bell Hill, the body of Nereida Melendez is buried under a pile of wet leaves in a wooded area off Elliot Street.
What’s meant to be a time of celebration for these Worcester teens is quickly turned to tragedy.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT0jD0DPmO8
Arguably the missing person case that has received the most attention over the past decade in Worcester is the disappearance of 23-year-old Sabrina Hatheway.
Sabrina was last seen on Dec. 20, 2014, allegedly at the home of her boyfriend, Kevin Crozier, on Dixfield Road in Worcester.
On Jan 1, 2015, the Worcester Fire Department responded to a structure fire at the Dixfield Road home.
Officials ruled the cause of the fire to be arson.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyr_2Wtn7xs
Does Worcester have a serial killer?
That’s what residents were asking Worcester Police in early 1993.
From December 1992 to February 1993, four women were killed. They had all been strangled to death.
On Feb. 4, 1993, the bodies of 23-year-old Sonia Blanco and 25-year-old Evelyn Cruz were discovered just a few miles apart and within 20 minutes of each other.
30 years later, the murders of Sonia Blanco and Evelyn Cruz remain unsolved.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kHddbSGags
It’s around 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 23, 1991.
28-year-old Bruce Wood and his 5-year-old son, Bruce, Jr., are walking down Chestnut Street in downtown Worcester.
They’re heading home with their dinner from McDonalds. Bruce Sr. got his son a Happy Meal. They’re spending the weekend together.
The father and son are about 10 minutes away from Bruce’s apartment on Quincy Street when a man ran up to Bruce, stabbing him multiple times. The fatal stab through the heart.
When police arrived moments later, officers found Bruce, Jr., sitting on the sidewalk, crying next to his father’s body.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YEWbgNH_xU
On the evening of Feb. 3, 1992, Bridget DiIorio Volungis dropped her husband off at their home on Porter Street in Worcester.
An hour later, DiIorio returned home to find her husband, John Volungis Jr., dead inside the entrance to their duplex home.
John had been stabbed 18 times. His throat had been slit.
Police believe whoever killed him was waiting inside the home for him to arrive.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4e-myhAMOc
In early November 1998, five-month-old baby Marlon Santos disappeared.
And for two straight days, Marlon’s foster parents failed to alert the Worcester Police Department that baby Marlon was missing.
It was around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 7, 1998, that Jose and Yolanda Castillo reported Marlon missing.
The foster parents blamed not being able to find a babysitter for their children and two other foster children as the reason they delayed telling the police.
Nearly 25 years later, the Castillo’s 48-hour hesitancy to call the police may have erased any chance of baby Marlon being found.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo-w_Ti4fmQ
Unsolved: Worcester returns for Season 4 on Tuesday, April 11.
The new season will shine a light on 10 more unsolved murder cases currently under investigation by the Worcester Police Department’s Detective Unit.
Season 4’s episodes tell the stories of 10 unsolved homicides spanning six decades, including a string of unsolved murders of young women in the late 80s and early 90s, and the oldest unsolved murder case on file with the Worcester PD, dating back to 1951.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lWVDwXVAeQ