The Story Of The Serial Killer Who Terrorized This Massachusetts Town Is Truly Frightening
Sophia
Author
Most people know about such famous murderers as The Boston Strangler and Whitey Bulger, but there’s actually one Massachusetts serial killer whose crimes are even more stomach-turning.
Between 1979 and 1980, Carl H. Drew of Fall River was involved in the murder of three women in what was styled as Satanic human sacrifices. The grisly details of the crimes seem like something out of a Hollywood script.
The county medical examiner determined that the crime was likely committed by multiple people and that there was a ritual element to her wounds. Horrifyingly, it appeared as if Levesque may have been stoned to death.
A month after the discovery of the first body, 22-year-old Barbara Raposa was reported missing in Fall River by her boyfriend Andy Maltias. The young man told police he believed her disappearance had something to do with a cult of devil-worshippers who controlled the local vice trade and took orders from Satan himself. When pressed for more information, Maltias revealed that he was a convicted pedophile, sexual sadist and rapist. However, Maltias claimed to have recently converted to Christianity after previously worshipping Satan.
The two women stated that they were lovers and lived together. They were vague about how they were first introduced to Maltias, though it was later revealed that Maltias had been molesting Murphy since she was 11. Finally, after hours of questioning, Marsden dissolved into tears and cried: "Carl Drew killed Doreen Levesque."
The police were familiar with Carl Drew. At 26 years old, Drew was already known as a violent pimp in the Fall River and New Bedford area. He had run away from his father’s New Hampshire farm at the age of 14 after being forced to wade through rotting carcasses of butchered livestock in order to separate hides and hooves for rendering. He was also known to have been Doreen Levesque’s pimp.
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Karen Marsden would give no further information to police, even after being offered witness protection for her cooperation. She merely said that if she was found dead, it would be Drew’s doing.
On January 26, 1980, the frozen body of Barbara Raposa was discovered in the woods behind an abandoned factory. She had been raped and her skull crushed with a stone. After this discovery, Maltias contacted the police and claimed to have had a physic vision of the location of Raposa’s body, as well as the time and manner of her death. He was arrested and charged with murder.
In a shocking turn of events, 17-year-old Robin Murphy then came forward. She claimed to have been present at the ritual murder of Doreen Levesque and was willing to testify against Maltias in exchange for immunity in both murder cases. She testified that Maltias had raped and killed Barbara out of jealousy and left her to “crawl away” into the woods before driving off with Murphy.
Two months later, the case took on an even darker twist. The remains of a human skull had been unearthed near Devol Pond. Forensics determined it belonged to Karen Marsden. Another local sex worker who claimed to be involved in Carl Drew’s Satanic cult, Carol Fletcher, stepped forward to point the finger at Drew and Murphy. In questioning, Murphy broke down and told the police a horrifying story.
According to her, the cult killed every thirty days or so on the full moon. She claimed that the group spoke in tongues, conjured demons and offered human sacrifices to Satan. They used torture to “force the victim to a maximum state of emotional arousal,” which they believed resulted in an especially potent sacrifice. Murphy admitted to participating in the murder of Karen Marsden. She said that the victim’s hair and fingernails were ripped out and her head was chopped off before being kicked around like a football.
Murphy pleaded guilty to her role in Marsden’s murder and accepted a life sentence in exchange for testifying against Carl Drew. Drew was tried for the murder of Donna Levesque and Karen Marsden in March of 1981. He was convicted to life imprisonment.
Watch the short documentary below for more information on this ghastly Massachusetts crime. For more about the supposedly cursed Freetown Fall River State Forest, click here.
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