New England serial killer accused of new murders as authorities uncover decade-long crime spree: DA
Authorities said they have uncovered the identity of a New England serial killer allegedly linked to multiple cold case murders across the state over a decade ago, as rumors continue to swirl regarding numerous bodies found throughout the region earlier this year.
Kevin Lino, 38, was arraigned in August for the alleged murders of two Massachusetts men in 2010 and 2012, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
“Mr. Lino is a serial killer,” Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said, according to Boston 25 News. “The Department of Justice defines a serial killer as someone who has taken the life of two individuals in separate situations. In this case, we have already convictions in two. We’ve now brought charges in two more.”
For months, rumors of a serial killer lurking in the New England area have terrorized the local community after the bodies of over a dozen people were found throughout Rhode Island, Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Lino has not been linked to any of those deaths.
The additional charges come as Lino is serving a life sentence plus 40 years in prison for the murders of two other homeless men, including the 2012 killing of Norman Varieur in Charlestown and the 2014 killing of Jack Gilbert Berry, the outlet reported.
The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Prosecutors now allege Lino, who was 23 at the time, committed his first murder by beating 54-year-old Gary Melanson to death with an aluminum baseball bat at a Lowell, Massachusetts, homeless encampment in 2010.
Lino is accused of attacking Melanson after he refused to put out a campfire being used to warm himself while the pair were living in the same encampment, according to prosecutors.
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“After the victim allegedly ignored the defendant’s order, the defendant rushed the victim, who was much smaller and older than the defendant, and struck him repeatedly with a metal baseball bat, killing him,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Two years later, in 2012, Lino was living among other homeless individuals near the Harvard Square subway stop when he allegedly implemented a campaign to drive the heroin users of the group out of the area.
His attempts included “assaulting many of them throughout the day,” but when Douglas Leon Clarke, 30, confronted Lino, the now-convicted killer “resolved to punish him for his insolence by poisoning him,” according to prosecutors.
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Lino allegedly killed Clarke by offering him enough heroin to cause a fatal overdose, often referred to as a “hot shot,” prosecutors said.
“This defendant is alleged to repeatedly and deliberately victimize some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, unhoused individuals. The actions alleged in these cases were not only violent and cruel, but inhumane,” Ryan said.
Lino is charged with two counts of alleged first-degree murder and is currently in custody in a Massachusetts jail as he awaits trial in the Clarke and Melanson cases. Fox News Digital was unable to immediately locate an attorney representing Lino.
However, authorities believe the convicted killer may have even more victims.
“You know, we continue to investigate that,” Ryan told Boston 25 News. “We never give up on those cases. We don’t forget about them, and we stay open to other information.”
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