Maine Man Named in 45-Year-Old Massachusetts Cold Case Murder

Genetic DNA testing has implicated a Maine man in connection to a 1980 murder in Massachusetts.

Maine Man Died Without Ever Facing Charges for Massachusetts Murder

The suspect in this case identified by the Middlesex, Massachusetts District Attorney's office, is Joseph Leo Boudreau, formerly of Ogunquit, Maine. Boudreau moved to Maine in 1975 and died in 2004 at the age of 61, without ever facing charges in the case.

In fact, someone else was convicted for the murder

Massachusetts Woman Was Brutally Murdered and Robbed in Her Ayer Home

It's been 45 years since Katharina Reitz Brow was found brutally murdered in her trailer home in Ayer, Massachusetts on May 21, 1980. Officials say she was killed between 7:10 a.m, when her husband left for work, and 10:45 a.m, when her body was found.

The 48-year-old woman suffered 30 stab wounds, with five penetrating her heart, and had been struck repeatedly with a blunt instrument. Investigators said the inside of the home showed signs of a struggle and the victim's purse was missing, as well as a large sum of cash she had kept in her linen closet.

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One of the murder weapons, a knife, was recovered from a wastebasket in the home.

Massachusetts Man Wrongfully Convicted of the Murder of Katherina Reitz Brow

Kenneth Waters was convicted of Brow's murder in 1983. His conviction was then vacated in March 2001, after DNA analysis determined that a bloodstain at the scene was left by a male but could not have been left by Waters.

At the time of the original arrest, when DNA evidence was not as advanced as it is now, Waters blood type matched the type O blood found at the scene.

In 2022, the Cold Case Unit of the Middlesex District Attorney's Office used DNA evidence experts to narrow the suspects down to two brothers, both of whom were deceased. Investigators located two living relatives of those suspects and, through further testing, were able to determine that the DNA pointed to Joseph Leo Boudreau.

Born in Natick, Massachusetts in 1943, Boudreau was a long-time Massachusetts resident. He was convicted of armed robbery in the state of New Hampshire in 1975.

Investigators have not identified any link between Joseph Leo Boudreau and Kenneth Waters.