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Edward Mayrand

 Question re. Mayrand: 
a) Did Mayrand have children?
 
In the 1980s, Edward Mayrand was drifting though New Hampshire and Massachusetts, often staying in campgrounds. A man with a criminal record that at that time included rape, assault, assault with intent to commit rape and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He pled no contest to killing Patricia Paquette of RI in 1994 and leaving her dismembered body in plastic bags. An acquaintance said Mayrand had asked him for a fine-tooth finishing saw and the ME said the saw teeth were consistent with the markings on Paquette's body. After Mayrand's death, DNA would link him to the murder of Judith Whitney of NH in 1987.

With that history, one has to wonder if he crossed paths with the woman who wound up dismembered in a barrel in Allenstown

Another question (perhaps ruled out long ago) regarding Mayrand is whether he could be the man who stabbed Jane Boroski in West Swanzey, NH on August 6th, 1988? Perhaps he was incarcerated at the time... ?

 "...Mayrand, who police found living in Peterborough in August 1987. He was jailed for a parole violation until the following year. Law enforcement officials say Mayrand has relatives living in Hinsdale, and he lived in several towns in the area at some point, including Hinsdale, Winchester, Brattleboro, Vt., and Gill, Mass. Fish said Mayrand has a history of trouble with police in those communities as well as Keene, Fitzwilliam and Gardner, Mass."


 "Brown said Boroski was approached by a white man who was between 32 and 40 years old, weighing between 150 and 160 pounds with blond hair." 

Edward was 42 years old in 1988.


New Hampshire Cold Case Unit solves decades-old murder of Amherst woman by Diane Lederman December 24, 2014

AMHERST— In July 1987, Amherst resident Judith Whitney went to New Hampshire with a man named Edward Mayrand, whom she met at an Alcoholic's Anonymous meeting the month before.

She was never seen again.

Four months later, a hunter discovered her body buried in a shallow grave in Winchester, N.H.

While police suspected Mayrand, they never had enough evidence to charge him, even though he was in possession of her car and a handgun.

But on Tuesday the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit established in 2009 found that Mayrand was indeed the killer. However, he died in 2011 of metastatic cancer, so he will never be charged.

Mayrand once lived in Northampton at Hairston House, a halfway house for recovering alcoholics. He was on parole for rape when he met Whitney.

According the report for the New Hampshire Department of Justice, Mayrand had a lengthy and violent criminal history beginning with a rape and assault conviction in 1975.

But he was released on parole in 1983. "It was during this period of release in the fall of 1983 that Mayrand committed another vicious crime, and left behind evidence that would eventually lead to his identity as Judith Whitney's murderer," according to the New Hampshire cold case report.

During his release, he met Kathleen M Daneault and was with her at the Mahaki Restaurant in Gardner on Nov. 17. She was found strangled the next day. But he was never charged.

He later pleaded guilty to a second degree murder charge in connection with the death of a Rhode Island woman and was sentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison. But he never was interviewed about the Whitney murder.

But according to New Hampshire officials in their report, in 2010, the cold case unit started working together with state police officers working for the Worcester District Attorney's Office to revive the investigation. Those efforts included sharing information concerning Judith Whitney's murder and the 1983 unsolved murder of Kathleen M. Daneault.

They were able to obtain Mayrand's DNA before he died, and in September 2014, the DNA testing revealed that "Mayrand's DNA was on the ligature used to strangle Kathleen Daneault," according to the report. "This DNA finding along with other evidence convinced authorities that Edward Mayrand murdered Kathleen Daneault.

"The DNA evidence and other evidence, including corroborative evidence based upon details of the two murders and the physical evidence collected, also convinced authorities that Edward Mayrand murdered Judith Whitney," the report stated.

In a 1995 interview after Mayrand's arrest in the Rhode Island murder, Warren Whitney, Judith Whitney's ex-husband, told a reporter for The Republican he was relieved by Mayrand's capture, and not surprised Mayrand has been charged with another woman's death.

"I never had any doubt," Whitney said. "I'm just happy that the man is off the street and he can't kill again. Enough families have suffered because of him."

Comments

  1. Wow crazy to know my father.!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. Recently found out mu best friend is also one of his kids. She just found out herself after 53 years. She isn't handling it well.

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    Replies
    1. That must be tough. I'm assuming this info was learned via DNA testing?

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