Were the New Bedford Serial Killings a response to the jailing of Portuguese American men responsible for the Sexual Assault of Carol Araujo?
With the Gilgio Beach Serial Killer, also known as the Long Island Serial Killer, being in custody (though the suspect has not be convicted formally of a crime by a judge and jury), I am curious will the infamous New Bedford Serial Killer finally have his day in court? With new breakthroughs in science such as family genealogy history, authorities have caught the infamous Golden State Serial Killer (who was a former police officer) and now, most likely the Long Island Serial Killer.
Disclaimer: This post will talk about sexual assault, so if anyone has issue with that subject please be warned. Charities that help with domestic abuse, sex workers protections and sexual assault include (1) https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/stop-domestic-abuse/, (2) https://pineapplesupport.org/, (3) https://swopusa.org/, (4) https://www.crimestoppersusa.org/, etc. [Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with these organizations. It is your own responsibility to do your own due diligence if you choose to donate or cooperate with any of the organizations I listed above. I have no fiduciary or financial responsibility to these organizations or to any readers of this post)].
It dawned on me, that I never heard of any links between the New Bedford Highway Serial Killings which lasted March 1988 – April 1989, 11 victims in a short time-frame of 7 months, affecting the highly Portuguese American community of New Bedford, Massachusetts (also high numbers of Cape Verdean), with that of the previous 1983 gang-sexual assault case involving Cheryl Araujo which happened in New Bedford at a place called Big Dan’s Tavern (now closed) located at 421-423 Belleville Avenue [See article: https://wbsm.com/new-bedford-big-dans-for-sale/%5D.
The victims of the New Bedford Highway Killings were (1) Robbin Lynn Rhodes who went missing sometime in March or April 1988, (2) Rochelle Clifford Dopierala who went missing sometime during late April 1988, (3) Deborah Lynn McConnell who when missing May 1988, (4) Debra Medeiros who went missing May 27, 1988, (5) Christina Monteiro of Cape Verdean descent was last seen in May 1988, (6) Marilyn Cardoza-Roberts last seen sometime in June 1988 and she was neighbors with victim Christina Monteiro, (7) Nancy Lee Paiva last seen walking home from a bar called “Whisper’s Pub” on July 7, 1988, (8) Debra Greenlaw Demello last seen on July 11, 1988, (9) Mary Rose Santos, last seen July 16, 1988 after going to the Quarterdeck Lounge, (10) Sandra Botelho assumed to have gone missing around August 11, 1988, and (11) Dawn Mendes, last seen on September 4, 1988
Yet, I want to be cautious to link the cases.
My conclusion is that there may not be any links between the two cases considering there were so many known suspects with the New Bedford Killings including Kenneth Ponte, a lawyer, who had ties to some of the victims, and was known to carry a badge and gun because he was given an honorary deputy status from NBPD.
Ponte had dated Robbin Rhodes, a victim, and represented Mary Santos in a civil case (going so far as helping her boyfriend make flyers once she disappeared).
Without a Ponte link, Debra Greenlaw Demello was in possession of belongings that belonged to Nancy Paiva (which means they have been friends, or, she randomly found her belongings in area they both frequented, or a killer gave her a gift, but many serial killers keep mementos, rather than giving them out).
Marilyn Cardoza Roberts was neighbors with Christina Monteiro, possibly meaning the same John and/or Killer knew them both, or one saw something they weren’t supposed to see, or they had a same drug dealer, etc.
It’s also important to note that in America, sniffing cocaine (popular in the 1970s and early 80s) had already given way to crack cocaine by the mid-to-late eighties which was based on earlier freebasing (which was dangerous due the flammable ether). Crack addicts can be very erratic and sometimes violent.
To this day, if you review videos about New Bedford, you will still see many stories about crime.
New Bedford is and always been a “hard place”. From drunken whalers of the Moby Dick era, to modern day Latin King drug lords. Simply YouTube videos saying “New Bedford Crime”. It is insane. Even back in the 1970s, there were riots in the town because of police brutality. [See link: https://wbsm.com/memories-new-bedford-1970-riots/%5D
Above image is from Georgia Marie’s YouTube Video. See Video below. The location of Mary Santos is not on this screenshot but her body found lower that the 4 females near 195 near Highway 88.
Relating to the 1983 rape case, Cheryl faced a lot of hate for her accusations including from women within the Portuguese community, so if the women were “protective of their men”, just image what the men must have felt [Watch the Netfilx documentary, Trial by Media which has some of best collection of historical video coverage of the trial]. This patriarchal society that did not welcome outsiders, but were vulnerable to blue-collar economic downturns in the midst of one of America’s worst drug pandemics.
After the conviction of her assailants, Cheryl fled to Florida but later died in a car accident.
It is a theory but were the New Bedford Highway killings a reprisal for the conviction of the men who assaulted Cheryl Araujo? Either the convicted themselves, or, extended family members or friends living in the United States to those of the convicted men, or extended family or friends of the convicted men who had links to Portugal itself?
Or, the killer could have been a member of the community, unrelated or linked to any of the accused and convicted men, who simply hated women (with, possibly, Cheryl’s assailants’ conviction further exacerbating his own hatred of women.
Yet, from all I have watched about the case, there doesn’t seem to have been much talk of sexual assault relating to the New Bedford Serial Killings, so it could be a case of a larger drug conspiracy, maybe with links to dirty lawyer Kenneth Ponte. Such as a larger gang taking out the women because they or a few knew too much, and/or had drug related debts, i.e., possibly victims of human trafficking rings (they get drugs but have to pimp themselves out).
Or, did the treatment of Cheryl Araujo indicate a larger dismissive culture of sexual assault within the area, considering the later New Bedford Highway killings were of sex workers or addicts, so maybe a similar culture existed always in the fishing blue collar community not far from Boston, Providence, Newport, and other dense urban areas.
Note: Jodi Foster starred in the film The Accused which was a factional re-telling of the real events that occurred in New Bedford, MA, with the film with Foster taking place in Washington State.
Six men were arrested and charged in connection with the rape of Cheryl Araujo; four, Victor Raposo, John Cordeiro, Joseph Vieira and Daniel Silva, were charged with aggravated rape; and two, Virgilio Medeiros and Jose Medeiros (no relation), were charged with “joint enterprise,” (i.e., encouraging an illegal act and not acting to stop it) but he Mederios were acquitted. According to Encyclopedia.com (n.d.), “The defense continued to characterize the woman as a drunken liar, and John Cordeiro testified that “she was enjoying herself.”
It is interesting to note that all 6 men involved were undocumented workers being sheltered by the Portuguese community in a time where immigration enforcement was easy to slip by. All one had to do is fly from Portugal and then bleed into the Portuguese community.
A question I have is, was any sort of DNA evidence taken from the men? I doubt it because in the early 1980s there wasn’t DNA technology. In an alternative world, all the men would have had saliva, hair, blood, or even fingerprint residue collected, and today that evidence could be tested against evidence stored with the Massachusetts State Police in relation to the New Bedford Highway Kills case.
According to Mia Michael (2018) of the Historical Journal of Massachusetts, with her piece titled: New Bedford’s Infamous 1983 Rape Case: Defending the Portuguese-American Community, published by the Institute for Massachusetts Studies and Westfield State University, it was stated that ,
“At the same time, personal details and photographs of the accused were published throughout the ordeal. All six men, described at one point as “resident aliens of Portuguese descent,” lacked American citizenship. Daniel Silva, twenty-six years old at the time of the assault and considered its instigator, was a part-time factory worker and agricultural laborer who “lived around the corner” from Big Dan’s; originally from the Azores, he had resided in the United States for six years. Twenty-seven-year-old Joseph (Jose) Vieira was a husband and father of two who lived in Connecticut and worked on a dairy farm. A former Portuguese soldier, he had been in the country for less than five years. John Cordeiro, twenty-four and unemployed, lived in New Bedford and had immigrated to the United States twelve years prior. Also of New Bedford, Victor Raposo was twenty-two and the father of a toddler; unemployed at the time of the rape, he found work within the month as a handyman and painter. Raposo, who had come to New Bedford at the age of five, already had a significant criminal record: in 1979, he was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon and in October of 1982 was found guilty of indecent exposure. Virgilio Medeiros, twenty-three, and Jose Medeiros (unrelated), twenty-two, lived in New Bedford as well. Virgilio Medeiros, reportedly out of work at the time of the crime, found employment within the year as a shipyard laborer; he had been brought to the U.S. at age nine. Jose Medeiros, a native of the Azores, was an unemployed landscaper. Each of the six men was tried for aggravated rape.” [Source: https://www.westfield.ma.edu/historical-journal/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-Winter-Michael-New-Bedfords-Infamous-1983-Rape-Case.pdf%5D
Further, according to Michael (2018) Portuguese-Americans marched by the thousands through New Bedford and Fall River to protest the verdicts and what they characterized as justiça crucificada (“justice crucified”). Comparisons were made to the contentious criminal convictions and executions of Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti six decades prior (Michael, 2018). The Big Dan’s case still attracted attention in April of 1984, when Vieira and Raposo managed to avoid deportation and thereby remain in proximity to their families in Massachusetts and Connecticut (Michael, 2018). [Source: https://www.westfield.ma.edu/historical-journal/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-Winter-Michael-New-Bedfords-Infamous-1983-Rape-Case.pdf%5D
[See: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/04/24/Convicted-barroom-rapists-wont-be-deported/8205451630800/%5D This articles states that two of the men, Raposo and Vieira were sentenced to the maximum security Walpole State Prison, but were in the minimum security Concord facility
Another source: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a32585426/cheryl-araujo-trial-by-media-true-story/
The question then becomes per my theory is (A) When did each man get out of jail, and for the men not in jail what were they doing around the times of the murders themselves?, (B) Did any of the other men’s relatives or close associates either American citizens or Portuguese nationals commit any sort of sex related crimes in the USA or in Portugal, and if so when and where are these individuals?, (C) maybe the assailant was not involved in the Cheryl case but maybe the case, (D) is it possible that a person with police experience was involved, considering it took so long to discover some of the victims even though the victims weren’t located far away from New Bedford?, (E) Long haul truckers or workers using work trucks are notorious of using sex workers and there have been serial killers associated with the trade of trucking, so did any of these men or any relatives/associates do long-haul trucking or were doing contractor work in the area.
Some theories have some of the victims to the New Bedford has possibly being killed by drug dealers. Maybe the women got in debt, couldn’t pay it off, and once they proved too strung out to do forced sex work and come up with the money they were killed. A warning to others who didn’t pay up their debts.
For example, if Ponte knew sex workers who ended up dead, then why is it a stretch to think he didn’t know of dealers or pimps? Maybe Ponte’s relationship with police scarred the dealers and/or pimps, and they went “cleaning up”, making Ponte more paranoid? Ponte as a local lawyer with underworld ties could have been useful to the police.
Also, even though we often want to believe it’s one crazy person based on the stereotype of the unassuming man next door who is a serial killer, there have been plenty of cases of team-killers such as the Tool Box Killers in LA, the Ripper Crew in Chicago, multiple serial killers at the same time, but also gangs.
The criteria to be a serial killer doesn’t mean being a sexual sadist, but its about numbers. A mobster, such as Sammy the Bull, who had his own Youtube channel oddly, in theory can be a serial killer even though we lump that term with people like Gacy, Dahmer, Bundy, etc.
Yet, these killings remind me of Houston based I-45 “Killing Fields” where the murders happened southside a major metro-area with a busy interstate leading towards the sea. Some think there were many killers involved in this area. For example, Baton Rogue, LA had three active serial killers in the 1990s, and California has the three Freeway Killers in the late 1970s easily with a known total body count over 50+ people.
With a simple Google Search of Victor Raposo, I came upon a Duns and Bradstreert (a business registration site) for a man by the name. Could be coincidence like how a John Smith isn’t uncommon.
But, this man is Portuguese and seems to have owned some type of accounting or tax help firm.
Considering the men involved in Cheryl’s case were not US citizens, it seems after release from jail, some many have stayed while others might have been deported. Raposo’s address is listed on D&B at 7540-125, SANTIAGO DO CACÉM Portugal, which is a city south of Libson. [Source: https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.VICTOR_RAPOSO_-_CONSULTADORIA_E_GEST%C3%83O_LDA.e89a504be7ad2caaee04c7c13fd6cfd4.html%5D
Let’s say that there is NO LINK between the Big Dave 6 Man Gang Rape of Cheryl Araujo in 1983 to that of the late 1980s New Bedford Highway Serial Killings. We can make a determination that there are likely some international links, because one of the rapists in the Big Dave case may be living in Portugal, and later a suspect in the Serial Killings may have been in Portugal. Essentially, a lot of back and forth traffic between New Bedford and Portugal and crimes happen.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-14-mn-166-story.html
https://www.netflix.com/title/80198329
Mitchell Research Group 