Lawyers wary of excessive media attention have successfully moved to protect from publication much of the evidence identified in the early phases of Edwin Alemany’s murder case, court records show.
The initial discovery evidence includes grand jury minutes, crime scene photos, bank and medical records, interview transcripts and dozens of police forms. The evidence list totals several pages in the case file.
Alemany, 29, of Mattapan, is accused of killing 24-year-old Amy Lord, of South Boston. Prosecutors allege that he abducted, then stabbed and strangled Lord before dumping her body in the Stony Brook Reservation in Hyde Park last July. He is charged with murder and several other offenses including armed robbery, sexual assault and kidnapping in connection with Lord’s slaying.
A motion for a protective order filed by the prosecution and assented to by the defense indicates that attorneys are concerned that the case has already garnered significant media attention, and additional stories will make finding impartial jurors in Suffolk County more difficult.
“The discovery materials contain information, which, if made public, would likely result in additional widespread media coverage of a sensational nature,” prosecutors wrote in the motion.
Alemany’s presumptive trial date is in December of this year, according to a court docket, but it is still unclear if and when that will actually happen. Attorneys first have to go through a series of pretrial hearings and attempt to determine Alemany’s competency. He is next due in court Feb. 6.
Defense attorneys have said that Alemany suffers from schizophrenia and that he attempted to kill himself after his arrest, The Boston Globe reported. He is being held at Bridgewater State Hospital, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.
Before she was kidnapped on July 23, media reports indicate, Lord was on her way to the gym from her apartment on Dorchester Street in South Boston. Police said she was forced to withdraw money from five different ATMs between 6 a.m. and 6:47 a.m. on the morning of her death. Authorities found her car on fire in South Boston later that morning.
Alemany also faces assault charges in connection with several other alleged attacks. Hours before Lord was killed, prosecutors allege, Alemany hit and choked a 22-year-old woman on Old Colony Avenue.
Later that night, authorities said, Alemany stabbed a 21-year-old woman near her home on Gate Street.
Nearly a year earlier on Sept. 28, 2012, prosecutors said, Alemany choked a 20-year-old woman on Parker Hill Avenue.
On Aug. 14 of last year, Alemany was arraigned on charges connected to the two attacks that happened within hours of the Lord slaying. A judge in South Boston District Court held him on $3 million cash bail.
Prosecutors said one of the victims in those two assaults identified Alemany in a police photo array. They additionally have listed forensic samples and surveillance images as evidence tying Alemany to the individual crimes.
A grand jury on Nov. 15 approved indictments against Alemany for 20 total counts from all four incidents, according to the case file. He pleaded innocent to all charges Dec. 11 in Suffolk Superior Court.
See releases from the Suffolk County district attorney’s office below:
Alleged South Boston Murderer Held on 20-Count Indictment
BOSTON, Dec. 11, 2013—The South Boston man charged with murdering 24-year-old Amy Lord and violently attacking three other women will continue to be held without bail after his Superior Court arraignment today, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.EDWIN ALEMANY (D.O.B. 9/2/84) was arraigned on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed carjacking, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of armed robbery while masked, armed assault with intent to rape, stealing by confining, arson of a motor vehicle, and assault and battery, all in connection with Lord’s July 23 homicide. He was also charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault and battery, armed assault with intent to murder, aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and unarmed robbery stemming from three additional attacks that occurred in Mission Hill and South Boston before and after Lord’s July 23 homicide.
At the request of Assistant District Attorney John Pappas, the DA’s chief trial counsel, Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson ordered that Alemany continue to be held without bail as he has been since his August arraignment in West Roxbury District Court on charges connected to Lord’s murder.
Pappas told the court that Alemany was charged in four violent attacks, each one committed against a lone woman in the late night or early morning hours.
At about 6:00 am on July 23, Pappas said, Lord stepped out of her Dorchester Street apartment building. Alemany, who was walking in the area, forced her back inside and assaulted her. He then allegedly forced her at knifepoint into her Jeep Cherokee. Over the next hour, Pappas said, Alemany drove Lord to multiple ATMs and forced her to make cash withdrawals, attempting to conceal his face during at least two of the transactions. After additional attempts to make withdrawals failed, investigators believe, Alemany drove Lord to Stony Brook Reservation in Hyde Park, assaulted her, and stabbed her to death.
After the murder, Pappas said, Alemany drove to a gas station and purchased a quantity of gasoline before driving back to South Boston and setting Lord’s stolen jeep on fire. He later spent some of the money he’d robbed from Lord on scratch tickets and a new cell phone.
The attack on Lord followed an aborted attack on another lone woman about an hour earlier. In that case, Pappas said, Alemany is accused of attacking a 22-year-old woman on Old Colony Avenue just before 5:00 a.m. Prosecutors say he struck her in the face and threatened to kill her as he dragged by her legs into a parking lot, prosecutors said. He allegedly choked the woman as she fought to escape but then released her and fled the scene.
Alemany committed another violent assault shortly after midnight on July 24 – this time stabbing a 21-year-old woman in the torso, face, and neck, as she approached her Gate Street home, prosecutors said. Neighbors called 911 and Alemany fled.
During the assault, Pappas said, Alemany cut his own hand with the knife he used to stab the victim. He admitted himself to Tufts Medical Center – the same hospital where paramedics transported the victim. Those paramedics spotted Alemany at the hospital, recognized him from the description provided by the victim, and notified Boston Police who had responded to the hospital. Alemany was arrested that morning.
For the first time, Alemany was formally charged today with a fourth attack, this one targeting a 20-year-old woman at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2012. Alemany allegedly attacked her from behind and choked her as she walked along Parker Hill Avenue. The woman was able to grab Alemany’s wallet before she lost consciousness. In addition to the wallet, Pappas said, investigators also recovered from the scene a baseball cap. A DNA profile lifted from the hat was consistent with Alemany’s, prosecutors said.
Alemany is represented by attorney Jeffrey Denner. He will return to court on February 6.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
$3M Bail in Two Attacks on Women in South Boston
BOSTON, Aug. 14, 2013—The South Boston man charged in the murder of 24-year-old Amy Lord was held on $3 million cash bail today at his arraignment on non-fatal attacks on two other lone women in that neighborhood, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.EDWIN ALEMANY (D.O.B. 9/2/84) was arraigned in South Boston District Court on three complaints arising out of the two attacks – one Old Colony Avenue on the morning of July 23 and one on Gates Street shortly after midnight on July 24. Suffolk Chief Trial Counsel John Pappas recommended that he be held on $1 million bail on each of three complaints, which Judge Thomas C. Horgan imposed.
Alemany is charged in the first incident with two complaints, one alleging assault with intent to murder and the other alleging assault and battery, kidnapping, and threats to commit a crime. Pappas told the court that Alemany approached an adult female as she walked to work at about 5:00 a.m. He allegedly punched her in the face and dragged her by the legs into a nearby parking lot. When the victim told him to “take everything,” he allegedly told her “I’m not robbing you. I’m here to kill you.” Alemany allegedly held the woman by the neck and looked her over before stating that she wasn’t the person he was looking for. He allegedly told her not to tell police about the attack.
Alemany is additionally charged with armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the second incident, in which Pappas said Alemany rushed a woman as she entered her Gates Street building a few minutes after midnight. He allegedly stabbed her repeatedly in the torso, neck, face, and neck but fled when she began to scream. Alemany has been linked to this attack through forensic testing, but was arrested at Tufts Medical Center, where he presented with a serious laceration to his hand and was observed to match the description of the victim’s attacker.
In the aftermath of his arrest on that attack, Pappas said, Alemany was also identified by the Old Colony Avenue victim after Boston Police presented her with a photo array.
Alemany was first brought to South Boston court on July 25 but was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital after a court clinician recommended a 20-day competency evaluation. In the days that followed, police and prosecutors investigating the homicide of Amy Lord at the Stony Brook reservation developed witness statements, surveillance imagery, and forensic evidence implicating Alemany in that crime as well. They obtained an additional complaint charging him with murder, for which he will be arraigned tomorrow in West Roxbury District Court.
Katherine Moran is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Alemany is represented by attorney Jeffrey Denner. He will return to South Boston court on Nov. 13.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Now Charged with Murder, Alleged Killer Sent Back to Bridgewater
BOSTON, Aug. 15, 2013—Amy Lord’s alleged killer abducted her from her South Boston home, drove her to multiple banks to withdraw money, stabbed her to death, and then set her car on fire, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office said at the man’s murder arraignment today.West Roxbury District Court Judge Kathleen Coffey granted prosecutors’ requests that EDWIN ALEMANY (D.O.B. 9/2/84) be held without bail pending trial. She also ordered him to return to Bridgewater State Hospital for further observation. Alemany is charged in West Roxbury with one count of murder.
Assistant District Attorney John Pappas, Conley’s chief trial counsel, led the proceedings, which marked the first time prosecutors have spoken publicly about the sequence of events that preceded and followed Lord’s death.
Lord’s vehicle was found ablaze just after 8:30 a.m. on July 24 in the area of Sterling Square in South Boston. A few hours later, Boston Police received a missing persons report arising out of Lord’s failure to meet a friend at her usual bus stop, go to the gym as she usually did, or arrive at work that morning.
Lord’s remains were discovered in a wooded area of the Stony Brook Reservation later that afternoon. She had been beaten, strangled, and stabbed.
As part of the investigation, detectives reviewed Lord’s banking records and found that her account had been accessed five times at various automated teller machines. Investigators recovered video surveillance images from those locations, which show Lord in the company of another person whom prosecutors say was Alemany. Hours later, however, Alemany was seen alone in her vehicle.
Video surveillance imagery also shows what investigators believe to be Lord’s abduction from her building just before 5:40 that morning, and additional surveillance also depicts Alemany spending a large amount of money at a store in South Boston after they believe Lord was slain.
Additionally, investigators have developed physical evidence that provides a forensic link between Alemany’s clothing and Amy Lord.
Katherine Moran is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Alemany is represented by attorney Jeffrey Denner. He is due back in West Roxbury court on the murder charge on Nov. 13, and in South Boston court the same day in connection with two additional non-fatal attacks on lone women in South Boston during the same 24-hour period.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Remarks of District Attorney Daniel F. Conley on the Indictment of Edwin Alemany
BOSTON, Nov. 15, 2013—Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley was joined by Acting Boston Police Commissioner William Evans and a top courtroom prosecutor to deliver the following remarks on a 20-count indictment charging EDWIN ALEMANY (D.O.B. 9/2/84) with the July 23 homicide of Amy Lord and three other attacks on women:“A short time ago, the Suffolk County Grand Jury returned indictments charging EDWIN ALEMANY with four violent attacks on lone women in the City of Boston. These indictments join separate cases arising out of Mission Hill, South Boston, and West Roxbury into one consolidated prosecution we expect to bring in Suffolk Superior Court. As you know, Alemany is in custoday and will remain held pending an arraignment next month on these new charges.
“The indictments charge Alemany with first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed carjacking, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of armed robbery while masked, stealing by confining, arson of a motor vehicle, and assault-related offenses – all in connection with the homicide of 24-year-old Amy Lord on the morning of July 23.
“The evidence suggests that Alemany abducted Ms. Lord as she left her Dorchester Street apartment shortly before 6:00 a.m. We believe he beat her and forced her into her Jeep Cherokee at knifepoint. In a little less than an hour that followed, he ordered her to make cash withdrawals at four bank machines through South Boston and Dorchester. We believe he then transported Ms. Lord to the Stony Brook Reservation in Hyde Park, where he murdered her. He then drove her Jeep back to South Boston, where he set it on fire at about 8:30 a.m.
“The homicide of Amy Lord was savage and brutal. The level of violence visited upon her shocked the City of Boston and even hardened police and prosecutors with decades of experience. But it was not the beginning or the end of Edwin Alemany’s violent spree.
“He is also charged with attempted murder, unarmed robbery, and assault and battery for a physical assault on a 20-year-old woman on Sept. 28, 2012. The victim in that case was walking along Parker Hill Avenue at about 2:30 a.m. when Alemany allegedly attacked her from behind and began to choke her. The woman fought back, and before she lost consciousness she was able to grab hold of Alemany’s wallet. That wallet was recovered at the scene along with a baseball cap. The cap was submitted for DNA testing as part of this investigation and yielded a profile consistent with Alemany’s.
“He is charged with attempted murder and assault and battery for a physical assault on a 22-year-old woman just before 5:00 a.m on July 23, 2013. She, too, was walking alone in the early morning hours when Alemany allegedly struck her in the face, knocked her to the ground, and dragged her by her legs into a parking lot off of Old Colony Avenue. As he did so, he allegedly told her he wasn’t going to rob her – he was going to kill her. But before he hurt her further, he fled the scene on foot.
“He is charged with armed assault with intent to murder and aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for one last attack shortly after midnight on July 24 – about 18 hours after Amy Lord was killed and about eight hours after her body was discovered by a passerby. In that case, he rushed a 21-year-old woman as she approached her Gates Street residence and began stabbing her. She suffered serious injuries to her torso, face, neck – but she screamed for help and neighbors called 911. As her attacker fled on foot, emergency medical technicians raced to the scene, where they stabilized her condition and brought her to Tufts Medical Center.
“The evidence suggests that Alemany cut his left hand badly on the knife he used to stab this last victim. By pure chance, he admitted himself for treatment at the same hospital where she was being treated – and where she gave a description that matched him to a T. Paramedics spotted Alemany, recognized that description, and notified Boston Police. Alemany has been in custody since that time.
“The evidence supporting these indictments comes from many and diverse sources. It comes from surveillance cameras, witness statements, DNA testing, interviews with the surviving victims, and many other sources.
“There is also unmistakable pattern evidence in these crimes: All of the victims were young women between the ages of 20 and 24. Each was walking alone in the late night or early morning hours. And the attacks were all blitz-style physical assaults where the victims were immediately overwhelmed with violence. Moreover, the power of 21st century science reveals that the assailant left traces of himself at some scenes, and carried traces of others on his clothing. Separately, these cases are pieces of a puzzle, but together they show a picture of one man – Edwin Alemany. This will be a challenging case, but a compelling one that we look forward to proving to a jury.
“The herculean job of marshaling this evidence was undertaken by an outstanding team. I’d like to note the contributions of Suffolk Chief Trial Counsel John Pappas; the Boston Police homicide squad of Sgt. Det. Paul McLaughlin and detectives Jeff Cecil, Jamie Sheehan, and Joe Keaveny; members of the Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit; the Boston Police Crime Lab; the Forensic Audio Video Imaging Unit of our office; uniformed Boston and State police, and most especially the civilian witnesses across the city who cooperated with this investigation from start to finish.
“Edwin Alemany’s criminal past suggests a car thief and petty crook whose offenses were occasionally violent but never approached this level of savagery – until the events of September 2012. We may never know what sparked that change in behavior, but today we do know this – there is an unmistakable clarity of mind in his actions, especially through the morning of July 23. We believe a jury will see those actions for what they are: efforts to commit a terrible crime and escape detection in its aftermath.
“Victim advocates from our office spoke today with members of Amy Lord’s family to tell them of this morning’s development and offer once again our promise to do everything in our power to hold accountable the man who took their daughter’s life. I also want to let them know that I have every confidence in Acting Commissioner William Evans, who was at the Stony Brook scene on the day Amy was murdered and who expressed his own commitment to hold her killer accountable. He’s got my deepest respect as a cop and a commissioner, and I’d like to ask him to say a few words, as well.”
Alemany is represented by attorney Jeffrey Denner. His arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court has not yet been scheduled but is expected next month.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
See releases from the Boston Police Department here:
Boston Police Seeking Public’s Help in Efforts to Learn More as it Relates to the Amy Lord Investigation (Images Released)
July 24, 2013Between the hours of 6:00AM and 6:47AM, on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, Amy Lord’s bank account was accessed several times. During that time period, five ATM’s were accessed.
The locations are as follows:
• East Boston Savings Bank at 501 Southampton Street
• Metro Credit Union at 1071 Massachusetts Ave
• Bank of America at 555 Columbia Road
• Sovereign Bank at 585 Columbia Road
• Citizen’s Bank at 217 Adams StreetThe Boston Police Department is releasing several images of Amy Lord and her vehicle captured on surveillance video during that time period. Investigators are asking community members to pay special attention to Amy Lord’s wardrobe in particular her shoes which appear to be bright red or orange in color.
The Boston Police Department is actively investigating facts and circumstances surrounding this incident. Anyone with information is asked to call Homicide detectives at 617-343-4470.
Community members wishing to assist this investigation anonymously can do so by calling CrimeStoppers at 1(800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463). The Boston Police Department will stringently guard and protect the identities of those wishing to remain anonymous.
UPDATE: Suspect Charged in South Boston Murder
August 01, 2013At approximately 4:03PM, Boston Police received a radio call for a found body. A person walking in Stony Brook Reservation in Hyde Park (District 18) found the body of a deceased adult female. The female victim has since been identified as Amy Lord, 24, of South Boston.
The suspect has been identified as Edwin Alemany, 29, of Mattapan.
Boston Police Homicide Unit and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, as a result of information received and interviews conducted, charged Edwin Alemany, 29, of Mattapan with Murder in the death of Amy Lord.
Alemany will be arraigned in West Roxbury District Court.
A copy of Alemany’s indictment has been added below.
