01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, July 27, 2008
[SIZE=-1]
By Felice J. Freyer[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Journal Staff Writer[/SIZE]
The Soares house on Baltimore Avenue in Warren.
Two bodies, believed to be a Warren couple missing for about two weeks, were dug out of a cesspool behind their house yesterday.
The state police said they think the couple James A. Soares Sr., 60, and Marian F. Soares, 53 were killed. They said they have a family member in custody. But they declined to identify the relative and said no one has been charged.
Its definitely a homicide investigation, Maj. Steven ODonnell said at a brief afternoon news conference outside the Lincoln state police barracks.
Asked about the whereabouts of the couples adult son, ODonnell said, Im not sure where the son is at this point.
Neighbors said the couple had a son, James, who was in his 20s and lived with them.
ODonnell declined to say what led the police to the cesspool yesterday morning and whether any injuries were found on the bodies. Neighbors said police dogs had been at the house Thursday night.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, nor have the bodies been definitively identified, ODonnell said.
The deaths are the first suspected murders in Warren since the 1978 shooting of Amon Jamiel, a 60-year-old shopkeeper, said Warren Police Chief Thomas D. Gordon.
Gordon said the Warren police began a missing-persons investigation, but it changed direction when evidence pointed to the individuals possibly being involuntarily absent. At that point the state police became involved, he said.
The investigation is pointing toward a family member, Gordon said at the news conference.
Starting around 7 a.m. yesterday, the police blocked off Baltimore Avenue, a short quiet street off Child Street (Route 103) in Warren, lined with modest ranch houses and bungalows. Yellow police tape blocked access to the Soares house, a tan ranch with three cars in the driveway and a blue bicycle in the backyard.
A yellow backhoe dug up the backyard, creating a mountain of dirt. Two white zipped bags that appeared to contain bodies were taken on stretchers into a police van. The police also carried out several other full trash bags. The odor of the dead bodies wafted into the neighborhood.
David Rasmussen, of Glocester, who lived on Baltimore Avenue until two years ago, came by yesterday to visit neighbors while the police were at work. He said his wife, Tracey, had been a close friend of Marian Soares.
Marian was a great person, someone my wife could confide in and talk to, Rasmussen said. With his wife in tears at his side, Rasmussen described the Soareses as good people and expressed anger that something so awful had happened in his former neighborhood. Its a great neighborhood. We had cookouts together in the summer. It was safe for children.
According to Rasmussen, relatives contacted the police when Marian Soares did not show up at a big family reunion in Bristol about two weeks ago. Marian would never have missed it, he said.
What a terrible thing! said Judith Fardig, whose backyard abuts a corner of the Soares backyard, putting her head in her hands. She said she could smell the bodies being removed yesterday. She said she didnt know what the couple did for a living but they were always around. They have lived in the neighborhood for years.
Mario Morais, who lives up the street at 6 Baltimore Ave., said that there were six or seven people living there and he often saw three or four cars in the driveway. The family often held barbecues in their backyard with large groups of people, he said.
A police car has been parked in front of the house around the clock for the past two weeks, he said.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/WARREN_COUPLE_27_07-27-08_9NB0J2F_v16.3daafd9.html
In the news on Friday, they stated the couple lived with their son at that residence. The "family member in custody" is probably the son
. So sad. I had also read on a thread earlier, that they were found in body bags with dirt piled in with them.
Very sad though. Winding up dead in a septic tank is horrific. May they rest in peace these poor folks.
