Crime

Malden man arraigned in Somerville cold-case murder

Prosecutors say Heinsky Anacreon and a friend offered to sell a Lexus to Charline Rosemond before robbing and killing her.

Charline Rosemond. Roserlie Rosemond, File

On April 13, 2009, Charline Rosemond was found shot to death in a car in Somerville. The man accused of her murder was arraigned Monday in Middlesex County Superior Court.

Heinsky Anacreon, 38, of Malden, pleaded not guilty and was ordered to be held without bail. He was first indicted last month. Prosecutors say Anacreon and a friend orchestrated Rosemond’s murder in order to rob her.

Four days before she disappeared, Rosemond withdrew $4,100 in cash from a bank and told friends that she intended to use the money to buy a used black Lexus. This was a good price for the car, she said, and the sellers were requiring that she pay in cash, prosecutors said in court documents. 

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At the time, Anacreon worked off-the-books for a used car dealership in Somerville. He had access to the exact make and model of car that Rosemond told friends she would be buying. Anacreon’s employer did not have a cash-only rule. Prosecutors say Anacreon and his friend Roberto Jeune used this car to bait Rosemond. 

Rosemond believed Jeune to be a longtime friend. He told her that he knew a contact that would be able to sell her the car she was looking for at a reasonable price. She left work in Brighton on April 7, 2009, and never returned to her home in Everett. Six days later, her body was found in the driver’s seat of the car she had borrowed from her father. It was parked in Union Square in Somerville. Rosemond was shot from behind, through the driver’s side headrest, according to court documents. 

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There was no cash on her person at the time, suggesting she had been robbed. Officials determined that Rosemond was likely killed with a Smith & Wesson revolver. 

At Jeune’s residence, investigators found two hard cases used to store firearms and a pair of latex gloves. In court documents, prosecutors note that Jeune did not have a license to possess firearms and did not work in the medical field. At Anacreon’s residence, police found an empty bottle of champagne. 

Through a grand jury investigation, witnesses told authorities that Anacreon admitted to people close to him that he knew who killed Rosemond. He allegedly admitted to giving Jeune a gun that would be used for an assault or robbery, and that that weapon was later returned to him. Anacreon told others that he threw the gun in a river, according to prosecutors. The murder weapon used to kill Rosemond has never been recovered.

Investigators reviewed multiple phone conversations that Anacreon and Jeune had between 2010 and 2012 when Jeune was incarcerated for an unrelated drug crime. The two “repeatedly and enthusiastically” talked about firearms in coded language, prosecutors say. They referred to firearms as “sneakers” and ammunition cartridges as “laces.” At one point, Jeune told his friend that he feels like “Eastwood,” which investigators interpreted as a reference to Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film “Dirty Harry.” In that film, Eastwood famously wields a Smith & Wesson revolver. 

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Investigators conducted DNA analysis on samples from the vehicle where Rosemond was found. Jeune was identified as a potential contributor to a DNA mixture recovered from one of the door handles, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. 

Authorities also say that Jeune and Anacreon shared a celebratory bottle of champagne in the immediate aftermath of Rosemond’s murder. 

In May 2024, Anacreon met with investigators and claimed that Jeune had killed Rosemond. Anacreon said that Jeune had admitted this to him, and that he had no role in the robbery, the murder, or the aftermath. He said that Jeune never asked him for a gun. Prosecutors say in court documents that these statements were “knowingly and intentionally false and calculated” to hamper the investigation. 

Jeune died of natural causes in Pennsylvania in July 2024. 

“Charline Rosemond was a promising and hard-working young woman with her whole life ahead of her,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement when Anacreon’s indictment was made public. “They killed her in cold blood. They celebrated the murder with a bottle of champagne, and they left her body in a parking lot for days, while her family frantically searched for her.”

Ross Cristantiello

Staff Writer

Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.

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