Crime

Search of South Boston condo where remains of 4 infants were found offers new info in unrelated murder case

A newly available court document reveals the link between two unrelated cases nearly 30 years apart.

A search of the South Boston condo where the remains of four infants were found frozen in 2022 yielded new information in an unrelated murder case from nearly three decades prior. Carlin Stiehl for The Boston Globe, File

While investigating the discovery of four infants whose remains were found frozen in a South Boston apartment in 2022, authorities uncovered new information in an unrelated murder case from nearly three decades prior. 

Previously:

A newly available court document reveals the connection between the two cases: Alexis Aldamir, the mother of the four infants, served on the jury that convicted a Mattapan street gang leader of fatally shooting a state prosecutor in 1995. A search of Aldamir’s East Broadway condo turned up a manila folder filled with newspaper clippings from Jeffrey Bly’s 1999 trial in the shooting death of Assistant Attorney General Paul McLaughlin, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a previously impounded October 2023 court filing.

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Ten of the 12 articles were dated during the trial and two were published after the verdict, according to the court document, which was first reported by The Boston Globe. Statements from Aldamir’s family and records from her former employer corroborated her jury service, prosecutors said.

The disclosure from the DA’s office — made publicly available at the end of July — raises questions about Aldamir’s role on the jury. As prosecutors noted, transcripts from the trial show the judge on Bly’s case “routinely instructed the jury not to read any newspaper articles or watch any media about the trial.”

Assistant Attorney General Paul McLaughlin, who was murdered in 1995. – File

The jury ultimately found Bly guilty of shooting and killing McLaughlin at a West Roxbury commuter rail station on Sept. 25, 1995 — the night before McLaughlin was slated to put him on trial in a carjacking case. Bly is now serving life in prison. 

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“The discovery of this material was yet one more surprising element in a uniquely challenging case, and one that hit right at home for our office,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said of the clippings found in Aldamir’s apartment. “Consistent with our ethical obligations, we turned over the information to appropriate counsel and we will respond to any related filings if they arise.”

Bly’s lawyer, John H. Cunha Jr., and a court-appointed special guardian for Aldamir did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Cunha told the Globe the possibility of future legal action depends on whether there are witnesses who could say if Aldamir defied court orders and read up on Bly’s trial while serving on the jury. 

Alexis Aldamir, formerly known as Debbie Harrelson, appears in the 1973 Amherst Regional High School yearbook. – Amherst Regional High School

Complicating matters, investigators previously tried to speak with Aldamir about the discovery of the frozen infants and found their attempts “somewhat fruitless given Aldamir’s poor mental and physical health,” prosecutors said. Authorities did not ask her about the newspaper articles from Bly’s trial, according to the court filing. 

In April, the DA’s office said it would not pursue criminal charges against Aldamir regarding the infant remains, citing unresolved questions about the babies’ cause of death and whether they had been born alive. Further, prosecutors were skeptical about Aldamir’s ability to stand trial, given she now lives in a long-term care facility and has been suffering from “a likely neurodegenerative process of Alzheimer’s Dementia,” per probate court records. 

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An investigation revealed Aldamir likely hid her pregnancies from family and co-workers. Her brother and sister-in-law discovered the infants’ remains while cleaning out Aldamir’s apartment on Nov. 17, 2022, and prosecutors said the four full-term babies — two male and two female — had been placed in shoe boxes wrapped in tin foil. 

According to the DA’s office, DNA testing confirmed Aldamir and a man who died in 2011 were the parents of all four infants. The couple also placed another daughter up for adoption in April 1982, prosecutors said.

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Abby Patkin

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Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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