cold case – Murder in New England

The Unsolved Murder of Kathy Perry – Warwick, RI

Kathy Perry was 20 year old aspiring hairdresser. Described by friends as quiet and fun, she worked at night at the Ultrafinishers Bookbinding company and studied at the Newport school of Hairdressing during the day.

At 2:15 am on September 15th, 1986, Kathy left work and headed to a gas station on Bald Hill Rd. The clerk was someone that Kathy knew from West Warwick high school making the last confirmed sighting of her alive. She left the gas station around 2:30 am. There is mention in some reports of her being seen pulled over with her flashers on talking to someone on the side of the road between 2:30-2:45 am.

Kathy’s 1979 Mercury Capri was found running with all of her belongings inside at 4 am on Rt 2 in Warwick. Her purse contained over $100 so police do not believe robbery was a motive. The car was running and the heat was on.

Around 8 am, Kathy’s naked and badly beaten body was found 1.5 miles from her car off Telmore Rd behind Arlington Trailer Sales around 8 am by a truck driver. She had been sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death with a rock.

A 2011 tip that came from a facebook page on the case led to an informant. As a result a person of interest was developed. Despite the police believing they have the perpetrator, the case stalled in the grand jury phase. No arrests have been made. The suspect is currently serving time on another charge but could be released in the next 5-10 years. Hopefully more information can be developed before then that will lead to the successful prosecution and keep this monster off the streets.

If you have information on this case, you should call 401-468-4261 or email wpd.cold.case@warwickri.com

Kathy is laid to rest at St Joseph’s Cemetery in West Greenwich, RI.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/cold-case-spotlight/social-media-aiding-detectives-investigation-1986-murder-kathy-perry-n553166

https://turnto10.com/i-team/nbc-10-i-team-new-suspect-eyed-for-1986-murder-of-kathy-perry

https://savagewatch.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/decades-old-murder-of-west-warwick-woman-still-an-active-case/

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ri-kathy-perry-20-warwick-15-sept-1986.320664/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147592626/kathy-a-perry

Pembroke Cold Case of Virginia Hannon – Solved after 37 years

Virginia “Ginny” Hannon was a 59 year old retired lunch lady for Bryantville Elementary School. She had been widowed for 7 years, and lived alone at 59 West Street in Pembroke, MA. She and her husband Joe never had children. Virginia enjoyed baking, and bingo and animals. She continued to help her father in law taking him lunch or to run errands daily. He lived in the same neighborhood just two doors down. After he murder, he was said to be devastated and could not stay in the neighborhood.

After not hearing from her on February 13, 1984, he sent his visiting nurse to check on her. She was found dead in her bed and it was assumed that she had passed away in her sleep, though based on the injuries she had sustained I am not sure how. Once she arrived at the funeral home the police were called due to the severity of her injuries.

Virginia was beaten, stabbed in the eye, more than 6 times in the abdomen and 20 times total, kicked so hard that she had a shoe print on her body and strangled with nylon stockings. She was tucked back into her bed with a cover over her.

Police were aware that Viriginia had recently inherited $380,000 and assumed that was the motive. However, that money was in the bank and accounted for. The crime scene showed a broken window, pry marks on the door, blood stains on paper towels, and other items.

The trail quickly went cold, there were a few suspects that the police followed up on over the many years this case was open but no evidence for the case to go anywhere until 37 years later. In 2019, a man confessed to a friend and the day after he died, that friend called the police.

The killer’s name was Jesse Aaron Moses Aylward and he was 58 years old at the time of his death 2/3/2020. He was born 3/9/1961, and was 22 at the time of the crime. He never disclosed the motive for the crime but he could have just been surprised during a break in. His friend’s timing was perfect because they were able to collect samples from Aylward’s body at Brockton Hospital and match the DNA to 3 separate items from the crime scene – the broken glass from the door, nylon stockings and bloody paper towels allowing the police to close this case. Aylward was not a suspect prior to this tip but he did live close by.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/us/Virginia-Hannon-murder.html

Solved-Homicide of Virginia Hannon

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/major-break-in-decades-old-cold-case-murder-of-pembroke-s-virginia-hannon/ar-BB1eJlyx

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/new-details-in-unsolved-1984-pembroke-murder/2332543/

https://www.wcvb.com/article/5-investigates-case-files-pembroke-murder-still-haunts-family-police-decades-later/25102852#

https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/pembroke-mariner-express/2020/02/28/pembroke-murder-spurs-action/1618024007/

https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/12076439/Jesse-Aaron-Moses-Aylward

Cold Case – Jane M. Gilboy Murder in Franklin, MA 7/18/1988

Jane Gilboy was a 64 year old bookkeeper for Camgear, a chemical company in Norfolk, MA. Born in 1924, She was a Navy Veteran and served during World War 2.

At the time of her death, Jane lived with a live-in boyfriend Leo Demille at 783 King Street Franklin, MA. She had been previously married but her husband, Richard Stephen Gilboy passed away 12/31/1979 at just 58 years old, leaving her widowed.

Jane spent the weekend vacationing with a friend in Cape Cod, returning Sunday night. Jane went to work as usual the next day 07/18/1988, and punched out around 4 pm. The details of her commute are known down to her route, and the fact that she stopped at a local convenience store as she frequently did on her way home.

Jane returned home and parked the car as usual and entered the house through the backdoor around 4:15 pm and it appears that was when she was attacked from behind. Jane has found by her boyfriend when he returned home just after 6 pm face down in the living room with her keys next to her. She had been brutally beaten, receiving a skull fracture from blunt force trauma and her throat was slit.

Jane’s purse and the murder weapons were missing from the scene. She was severely injured, and first responders were unable to save her. She was fully clothed with no reports of any kind of sexual assault.

There are no articles with any information on potential suspects, and this case is truly cold. Police have indicated they are people that the police believe might have information that are not cooperating. There was DNA tested in 2003 from a blood sample found, but the all that was released was that the “testing did not produce the expected results”.

If you have any information that could help solve this case, reach out to the Franklin Police Department at Telephone: (508) 528-1212.

Both Jane and her husband are laid to rest at Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Franklin, MA.

Click to access gilboyjane.pdf