The woods in New England are thick. They're beautiful, sure, but they’re also heavy with secrets. Lately, people are looking at those trees—and the rivers that snake through them—with a new kind of dread. It's because of the possible serial killer in New England that has local communities and amateur sleuths on edge. We aren't just talking about one specific person, necessarily. We’re talking about patterns. Patterns of bodies found in water, of missing women who vanished without a trace, and a mounting pile of cold cases that feel too similar to be a coincidence.
It’s scary.
Honestly, New England has always had a dark streak. Think about the Connecticut River Valley Killer back in the 80s. He—if it was a he—targeted women along the border of Vermont and New Hampshire. He was never caught. Some people think he just stopped. Others think he’s still out there, or that a new shadow has taken his place. When you look at the recent headlines coming out of Massachusetts and Connecticut, you have to wonder if history is repeating itself in a much more modern, digital age.
Why Everyone Is Obsessed With the Connecticut River Valley Cases Again
The ghosts of the past are loud right now. Back in the late 1970s and 80s, at least seven women were murdered. One survived. Her name is Jane Boroski. She was seven months pregnant when a man stabbed her 27 times at a vending machine in Winchester, New Hampshire. She lived. She’s a hero, honestly. But the man who did it? Never identified.
There's a reason this matters today.
Modern investigators are looking at the possible serial killer in New England through the lens of those old cases because the geography hasn’t changed. The I-91 corridor is still a massive, lonely stretch of pavement. If you’re looking for a pattern, that’s where you start.
Experts like John Philpin, a forensic psychologist who worked on the original task force, have often pointed out that serial offenders don't just "quit." They might move, or they might change their methods, but the compulsion remains. When a body turns up in a wooded area near a highway in 2024 or 2025, the collective memory of the Valley Killer rushes back. It’s a visceral, localized fear.
The internet has changed the game, too. Places like Reddit's r/UnresolvedMysteries or specialized true-crime podcasts have started mapping out "clusters." You see it in the way people talk about the "Lady in the Dunes" (who was finally identified as Ruth Marie Terry, though her killer remains a mystery) or the Gilgo Beach investigation that spilled over into conversations about New England. People are connecting dots that the police, for whatever reason, aren't ready to connect publicly.
The Mystery of the Manchester Disappearances
New Hampshire has a problem. Since the 1980s, several women have gone missing or been found murdered in the Manchester area. Some were involved in "high-risk" lifestyles, which is a term the cops use that basically means they were vulnerable.
Think about it.
If you wanted to get away with something terrible, you’d pick someone the world might not miss immediately. It’s a cynical, predatory logic. But the families miss them.
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Take the case of Denise Daneault. She lived on Hayward Street in Manchester and went missing in June 1988. She lived just two doors down from Terry Peder Rasmussen—the "Chameleon Killer." This guy was a monster. He’s the one responsible for the Bear Brook murders in Allenstown. He used different names, moved across the country, and left a trail of bodies behind him.
Wait, it gets weirder.
Even though Rasmussen died in prison in 2010, the "Bear Brook" case opened up a massive conversation about how many other victims might be out there. Was he the possible serial killer in New England that everyone missed for decades? Probably. But the question now is: did he have a contemporary? Or did someone learn from him?
The Manchester police and the FBI have been doing digs. They’ve been looking behind old properties. They’re finding things, but they aren’t always saying what. It creates this vacuum of information that gets filled with rumors. You hear things at the local diner. You see things on Facebook groups. "Did you hear about the body found near the river?" "Did you see the missing person poster in Concord?" It builds up.
The Smileys and the Water: A New England Urban Legend?
You've probably heard of the "Smiley Face Killer" theory. It’s the idea that a group of people is killing young men and dumping them in bodies of water across the U.S.
Boston is a huge part of this narrative.
Young men go out for a night of drinking in the Seaport or near Faneuil Hall. They vanish. Weeks later, they’re found in the Charles River or Boston Harbor. The medical examiner usually says "accidental drowning." Case closed.
But is it?
William Hurley vanished after leaving a Bruins game in 2009. His body was found in the Charles. His phone was smashed. He had a blunt force trauma injury that didn't quite match a simple fall into the water. Families of these men—like the family of Joey Brancato—don't buy the "accident" story. They see a possible serial killer in New England who preys on intoxicated men leaving bars.
Criminal profilers are split on this. Some, like the retired detectives who champion the Smiley Face theory, say the coincidences are too high. Others say it’s just physics and alcohol. If you’re drunk and you fall in the water in October, the cold shock will kill you in minutes.
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Still, the sheer number of these "drownings" in Boston, Providence, and Portland is enough to make anyone pause. It’s a specific kind of pattern. Whether it’s one person, a group, or just a tragic series of accidents, the fear is real. You can feel it when you walk along the Esplanade at night.
Investigating the "Vermont Triangle"
Vermont is supposed to be safe. It’s all maple syrup and skiing, right?
Not always.
The Bennington Triangle is a real thing. Between 1945 and 1950, five people vanished there. The most famous was Paula Welden, a college student who just walked into the woods and never came out. Fast forward to more recent times, and you have the case of Brianna Maitland.
In 2004, her car was found backed into an abandoned barn in Montgomery, Vermont. Her keys were still there. Her paycheck was in the car. She was gone.
When you talk about a possible serial killer in New England, you have to look at these gaps in time. Is it possible someone has been operating in the rural Northeast for twenty, thirty years? It sounds like a movie plot, but look at the Golden State Killer. That guy hid in plain sight for half a lifetime.
The FBI’s ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) is designed to find these links. They look at "signature" behaviors. Maybe the way a body is positioned, or a specific type of knot used. In New England, the dense geography helps the killer. There are thousands of miles of logging roads where a car can sit for a week without being noticed.
The Challenges of Modern Policing in the Northeast
Why haven't they caught anyone?
It's a fair question.
First off, New England is a patchwork of tiny jurisdictions. You have state police, county sheriffs, and local cops who might only have five officers on the force. If a killer crosses from Massachusetts into Vermont, the paperwork alone is a nightmare. Information sharing has gotten better, but it’s still not perfect.
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Then there's the forensic backlog.
DNA technology is incredible now—look at how they solved the Bear Brook case using genetic genealogy. But that costs money. It takes time. Smaller departments don't always have the budget to run Every. Single. Sample.
There's also the "Missing White Woman Syndrome" vs. the "Less Dead." Media tends to swarm when a college student goes missing. But when a person struggling with addiction or homelessness disappears in Lynn or Bridgeport? It barely makes the back page. A serial offender knows this. They pick the people society ignores.
How to Stay Informed and Stay Safe
It’s easy to get paranoid. You start seeing a possible serial killer in New England behind every tree. But the reality is that awareness is your best tool.
If you’re following these cases, look at the sources. Are you reading a police press release or a "creepypasta" thread? There’s a big difference.
- Trust the data: The FBI’s UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting) program shows that while serial murder is rare, it’s not non-existent.
- Support Cold Case Units: Many New England states, like Rhode Island and Connecticut, have dedicated cold case squads. They need funding and they need tips.
- Listen to the families: They are the ones keeping these names alive. Whether it’s the family of Molly Bish or the victims of the New Bedford Highway Killer, their persistence is what eventually leads to breaks in the case.
What should you actually do?
If you live in these areas, pay attention to your surroundings. It sounds cliché, but "see something, say something" exists for a reason. That weird car parked at the trailhead every Tuesday? Take a photo of the plate. The neighbor who seems a little too interested in your daughter’s schedule? Trust your gut.
The investigation into a possible serial killer in New England isn't just for the professionals. It’s for the community. We are the ones who notice when something is "off" in our own backyards.
Actionable Steps for True Crime Enthusiasts and Locals
Stop just consuming the stories and start being a part of the solution.
- Check the NAMUS database: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System is a goldmine. You can filter by state. Look at the unidentified remains in your area. Sometimes, a "John Doe" found in 1994 is the missing piece of a puzzle from 2024.
- Report "Old" Info: Did you see something weird ten years ago but thought it was too late to tell anyone? It’s not. Cold case detectives often find the "aha!" moment in a decades-old tip that finally makes sense with new DNA evidence.
- Pressure for Transparency: Ask your local representatives about the status of cold case funding. Massachusetts, for instance, has hundreds of unsolved homicides. More kits being tested means fewer killers on the street.
- Use Genetic Genealogy Responsibly: If you’ve done a DNA test like 23andMe or Ancestry, you can opt-in to help law enforcement (via GEDmatch) identify unidentified remains. This is exactly how they caught the "Chameleon Killer" after he’d been dead for years.
The woods aren't going anywhere. The rivers will keep flowing. But by staying vocal and keeping these cases in the public eye, we make it a lot harder for anyone to hide in the shadows. New England is too small for secrets to stay buried forever. We just have to keep digging.