DA says DNA evidence has solved 45-year-old Ayer murder

After an innocent man served 20 years for the brutal 1980 slaying of an Ayer woman, DNA testing has revealed the likely true killer, investigators announced Thursday.

Evidence taken at the murder scene of 48-year-old Katharina Reitz Brow has been tested using forensic investigative DNA technology, revealing Brow’s likely true killer to be Joseph Leo Boudreau, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Ayer Police Chief Brian Gill.

Boudreau, formerly of Ogunquit, Maine, was 37 years old at the time of Brow’s murder. He died in 2004, at the age of 61.

The revelation comes more than two decades after the original murder suspect, Kenneth Waters, had his murder conviction vacated. 

Prosecutors say Brow was found murdered in her Ayer trailer home on May 21, 1980, after suffering 30 stab wounds — including five wounds that penetrated her heart. Brow had also been struck repeatedly with a blunt object. The scene showed signs of a struggle, and Brow’s purse was missing, as was a large sum of cash she had kept in a linen closet. Investigators believe she was killed between 7:10 a.m., when her husband left for work, and 10:45 a.m., when her body was found. Investigators recovered a knife from a wastebasket in the home.

Waters was arrested two years later, on Oct. 13, 1982, and convicted of Brow’s murder on May 11, 1983. Nearly 20 years later, DNA analysis determined that a bloodstain at the scene could not have been left by Waters. His conviction was vacated on March 15, 2001

In 2022, the Cold Case Unit of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office used Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy to identify the man who had actually left his blood at the crime scene. Working with forensic chemists at Parabon NanoLabs, investigators were able to isolate a genetic line that identified two potential suspects who were brothers, though both men were deceased. Investigators tracked down two living relatives of those brothers who agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

Scientists were then able to pinpoint Boudreau as the likely culprit, according to officials.

Born in Natick in 1943, Boudreau worked in Framingham and was convicted of armed robbery in New Hampshire in 1975. In 1987, he moved to Maine, where he lived until his death.

“In 1980, the brutal murder of Katharina Reitz Brow shook the town of Ayer to its core,” said Gill. “Since the conviction in this case was vacated in 2001, many investigators had been assigned to review the investigation, follow up on leads, and apply known investigative techniques.  Unfortunately, information to further the investigation never developed. The investigative breakthrough came when forensic investigative genetic genealogy DNA testing was applied to evidence recovered at the scene. This ultimately led us to today’s announcement. I am thankful, that we may be able to finally bring some closure to the Brow family and a measure of justice for Katharina.”

Investigators said they have not identified a link between Boudreau and Waters.

Morgan Rousseau

Morgan Rousseau is a freelance writer for Boston.com, where she reports on a variety of local and regional news.

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