New Bedford Highway Killer: Victims, Suspects, and SJC DNA Ruling

The New Bedford Highway Killer is the unidentified person responsible for the deaths or disappearances of eleven women connected to the drug and sex-work scene in New Bedford, Massachusetts, between the spring of 1988 and the spring of 1989. Nine of the women’s bodies were found dumped along highways and roadsides in Freetown, Dartmouth, Westport, and Marion; two others vanished and have never been found. No one has ever been convicted. In February 2026, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court cleared the way for DNA testing in a related 1988 Dartmouth murder, and victims’ families hope the results may finally point toward the killer.¹

The Eleven Women

The victims ranged in age from 19 to 36. All were struggling with drug addiction, and most were involved in sex work around Weld Square, a section of New Bedford that was a known gathering spot for sex workers and drug users in the late 1980s.² Author Maureen Boyle, who wrote the definitive account of the case, identified drug addiction as the “unifying element” among the victims.³ Bodies were generally found naked in wooded areas along roadsides. Identification was complicated by the fact that clothing from one victim was sometimes discovered near the body of another.¹

The nine women whose remains were recovered, in the order their bodies were discovered:

Debra Medeiros, 30, of Fall River. Found July 3, 1988, alongside Route 140 North in Freetown.
Nancy Paiva, 36, of New Bedford. Found July 30, 1988, alongside Interstate 195 West in Dartmouth. Her discovery helped investigators begin connecting the cases.
Debra Greenlaw DeMello, 35, of Brockton. Found November 8, 1988, alongside I-195 East in Dartmouth.
Dawn Mendes, 25, of New Bedford. Found November 29, 1988, alongside I-195 West in Dartmouth.
Debra Lynn McConnell, 25, of Newport. Found December 1, 1988, alongside Route 140 North in Freetown.
Rochelle Clifford Dopierala, 28, of Falmouth. Found December 10, 1988, in a gravel pit off Reed Road in Dartmouth.
Robbin Rhodes, 28, of New Bedford. Found March 28, 1989, alongside Route 140 in Freetown.
Mary Rose Santos, 26, of Fairhaven. Found March 31, 1989, alongside Route 88 South in Westport.
Sandra Botelho, 24, of New Bedford. Found April 24, 1989, alongside I-195 in Marion.⁴

Two more women are believed to be victims, but their remains have never been recovered. Christine Monteiro, 19, was last seen in New Bedford in the summer of 1988. She was addicted to heroin at the time of her disappearance and remains listed as an endangered missing person.⁵ Marilyn Roberts, 34, also vanished from New Bedford sometime between April and September 1988.⁶

Why the Case Was Never Solved

State Police and New Bedford detectives, including Detective Richard Ferreira and State Trooper Jose Gonsalves, led the investigation and interviewed sex workers in Weld Square about dangerous clients.² Ferreira later called it “the most difficult case I’ve ever investigated.”³ Several local men with histories of violence against prostitutes were looked at, but investigators never gathered enough evidence to charge anyone in the murders. Two suspects dominated the investigation. Both are now dead.

Kenneth Ponte

Kenneth Ponte, a New Bedford lawyer and deputy sheriff, was the only person ever arrested in connection with the highway killings. He had known ties to at least five of the victims as a client, drug associate, or intimate partner, and area sex workers reportedly knew him as someone who invited women to his home for cocaine-fueled encounters.²⁷

In August 1990, a grand jury indicted Ponte for the murder of Rochelle Clifford Dopierala.⁴⁸⁹

Ponte consistently denied involvement and was later disbarred. Around 2007, state police excavated the yard of his former New Bedford home, but no charges resulted. He died at his New Bedford home on January 26, 2010, at age 61. Authorities reported no evidence of foul play.⁹

Anthony DeGrazia

Anthony DeGrazia, 29, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, drew investigators’ attention in 1989 after a New Bedford prostitute claimed he had threatened her. In May 1989, he was charged with four counts of rape, six counts of assault and battery, and one count of assault with intent to rape involving six prostitutes. He was later charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to strangle a prostitute in his truck.¹⁰ DeGrazia was interviewed by the grand jury investigating the highway killings but was never charged with any of the murders. Buckley nonetheless described him as a “strong suspect.”¹¹

On July 27, 1991, two days before the Ponte charges were formally dropped, DeGrazia was found dead behind his former girlfriend’s parents’ home in Freetown, with an empty pill bottle nearby. Police suspected suicide. His attorney, Robert George, said DeGrazia had been distressed by news reports that the Ponte charges were being dropped, fearing the spotlight would shift back to him. George called his client “an unfortunate and innocent person” and accused the prosecutor of using “false innuendo and false accusation” against a dead man.¹¹

With both primary suspects dead and no new evidence, Buckley stated bluntly at the time that the murders of the nine women “may never be solved.”¹¹

Where the Case Stands Now

The case has passed through four successive Bristol County district attorneys since the killings. The Massachusetts State Police Cold Case Unit handles the active investigation. State Police Sgt. Ann Marie Robertson, who leads the division of unsolved murders in Bristol County, has said that “an unsolved case is never closed.”¹²⁶

Public interest has been sustained largely by victims’ families. Wayne Perry, brother of Debra DeMello, runs a Facebook page devoted to the case and collects tips from the public. He has publicly criticized the district attorney’s office, saying: “The D.A. was given all this information back in 2017. They’ve done nothing with it.”¹³

The 2026 DNA Ruling

The most significant recent development did not come from the serial murder investigation itself, but from a separate 1988 killing in Dartmouth that may be connected to it. On April 28, 1988, a woman was strangled with a stocking in a motel room, in the same town and time frame as several of the highway killings. Shawn Tanner was convicted of her murder in 1989 and sentenced to life. He maintained his innocence, testifying that a second, unidentified man had entered the motel room after him. DNA testing was not available at trial.¹⁴¹⁵

The New England Innocence Project took up Tanner’s case. In March 2022 it moved for DNA testing of evidence still held by state police, including the stocking, bedsheets, towels, hairs, rings stolen from the victim, and fingernail scrapings. A judge granted the request on June 2, 2022, and ordered the materials sent to Bode Technology Group.¹⁴¹⁵ Delays followed. The state crime lab took about nine months to authorize the testing facility to access CODIS, the national DNA database. When testing finally began in June 2023, the fingernail scrapings had never been sent to the lab.¹⁶ Tanner died of brain cancer on September 13, 2022, while released on medical parole, before any results came back.¹⁷

After Tanner’s death, the Bristol County District Attorney’s office moved to halt the testing entirely, arguing the court order was “null and void” because the defendant had died. The lower court denied the motion, and the DA’s office appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.¹⁶

Why the Highway Killer Victims’ Families Got Involved

Families of highway killer victims saw an opening. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell of Morrison & Foerster filed an amicus brief on their behalf in October 2025, arguing that the Dartmouth motel murder and the highway killings shared “temporal, geographical, and causal characteristics.” All involved strangulation or asphyxiation, all occurred in the same area, and all happened during the same narrow time period. DNA testing, the brief argued, could identify whoever was actually responsible for the motel killing and potentially provide leads in the serial murders.¹⁶p>

The brief was filed on behalf of Judith Berberena and Jill Paiva, the sister and daughter of victim Nancy Paiva, and Chandra Gregory, the daughter of victim Debra DeMello.¹⁸ Jill Paiva told reporters: “We feel like we haven’t been heard in a very long time.”¹

What the SJC Decided

On February 27, 2026, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a postconviction DNA testing order does not automatically expire when the defendant dies, affirming the lower court’s refusal to vacate the order. The court noted the Commonwealth’s role in causing the delays that prevented testing during Tanner’s lifetime and acknowledged the broader public interest in identifying potential perpetrators of the unsolved New Bedford murders.¹⁵

According to Mendell, the ruling formally recognizes the interests of victims’ families in postconviction proceedings and “opens the door for other victims’ families to pursue this kind of relief.”¹ The New England Innocence Project said the decision “honors not only Shawn’s memory but the ongoing search for truth and justice.”¹⁶ The Bristol County District Attorney’s office said it will comply with the ruling.

No results from the Bode Technology Group testing have been publicly reported. The SJC set no timeline for completion, and the fingernail scrapings originally left out of the evidence shipment still need to be transmitted and analyzed.¹⁶

How To Submit a Tip

Anyone with information about the New Bedford highway killings can contact the Massachusetts State Police Cold Case Unit at 1-855-MA-SOLVE.¹³

1
WCVB. Mass High Court Ruling Revives Hope in New Bedford Serial Killings
2
New York Daily News. Hunt for 1980s Massachusetts Highway Serial Killer Led to Dead End
3
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4
WPRI. The Highway Killings Timeline
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The Charley Project. Christina M. Monteiro
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SouthCoast Today. It Will Never Be
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Brandeis University Press. Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer
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ABA Journal. Lawyer Indicted, Cleared in Case Linked to Serial Murders of 3 Clients Is Dead
9
SouthCoast Today. Ken Ponte, Former Suspect In Highway Killings
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Wicked Local. Author Book on New Bedford Highway Killings
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SoLaw. Commonwealth vs. Shawn L. Tanner
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FindLaw. Commonwealth v. Tanner
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SouthCoast Today. Court Rules DNA Testing Can Go Forward in 1988 Dartmouth Murder Case
17
Boston Globe. Shawn Tanner SJC DNA Test
18
Squarespace (Amicus Brief). SJC-13647 Amicus Berberena Et Al Brief