Fall River became notorious over a century ago when Lizzie Borden was tried but not convicted of murdering her father and stepmother “with an axe.”
“Fall River,” a four-part documentary streaming Sunday on EPIX, considers a notorious case of three prostitutes murdered by a “Satanic cult” in the Massachusetts city over 40 years ago.
The victims worked the street, just a block from police headquarters. In 1979 the body of Doreen Levesque, 17, was found under the local high school bleachers. Barbara Raposa, 19, was killed in November ’79 but her body wasn’t found until January.
In April 1980, Karen Marsden, 20, was also discovered in the woods, identified only by her skull. Her body was never located.
At Marsden’s trial, Satanic rituals were cited as cause for the carnage. A young white pimp named Carl Drew was convicted of first-degree murder with no possibility of parole while Robin Murphy, another prostitute, received a reduced charge in exchange for her testimony.
“Fall River” producer-director James Buddy Day has been on a five-year journey to re-examine the facts, and what he has found forcefully contradicts those verdicts.
“The detective and the prosecutors from back in 1979-1980 stand by the fact that they got it right. Even today. Now, I can confidently say,” Day, 42, declared, “they got it wrong.
“I say that because they can’t explain it to you. If you ask some questions now — with new evidence that came to light through our re-investigation, as well as things that have come to light over four years — they didn’t believe it.
“They can’t explain why they were right, they just know they were. They refuse to believe that they got it wrong. Even the Satanism aspects! So that was interesting.”
Interesting, because there never was a Satanic cult, much less evidence of a Satanic cult.
“When the medical examiner saw the first victim, young, beautiful, a traumatized sex worker who was brutally murdered, he concluded almost immediately that it was ritualistic.
“So ‘Satanism’ was in the air and became a framing device for the prosecution in the trial. Even though Satanic elements didn’t really contribute to anything; they were just coloring to frame the murder.
“It’s clear no matter whose side you’re on that an injustice was done,” Day concluded. “An injustice was done to Carl.
“Most importantly, an injustice was done to the three victims: Doreen Levesque, Barbara Raposa and Karen Marsden.
“I really hope that the powers that be in Fall River, and the district attorney’s office and the governor — I hope they watch the documentary and take active steps to undo the injustice.”
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‘Fall River’ doc sheds new light on notorious prostitute murders - Boston Herald
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