Can you help solve the New Bedford Highway Killings? In the summer of 1988, a 26-year-old multiracial woman named Mary Rose Santos vanished from the streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was last seen in the early morning hours of July 16, 1988, dancing at the Old Quarterdeck Lounge. Earlier that evening, her husband had dropped her off near the downtown bus station with plans to walk to a friend's apartment nearby. Santos, who was known to have struggled with substance abuse, was never seen alive again.
Her disappearance marked the beginning of a grim mystery that would haunt the coastal community for years to come.
The search for Mary Rose Santos came to a heartbreaking end on March 31, 1989, when her skeletal remains were discovered by two boys in a wooded area about 25 feet off the southbound side of Route 88 in Westport, Massachusetts. The discovery was preceded by a mysterious, anonymous letter sent to the District Attorney on March 16, 1989, which suggested that investigators might find a body along that very route. The author of the letter hinted that if a body was found, he might come forward with more information. Following the discovery of Santos's remains, the informant allegedly did contact authorities again.
The investigation into Mary Rose Santos's death revealed a chilling connection to a string of other unsolved murders in the area, which came to be known as the New Bedford Highway Murders. Santos was identified as the seventh of nine women whose bodies were found along highways in the region between July 1988 and April 1989. Investigators found some of the personal belongings of another victim, Nancy Paiva, with Santos's remains, further linking the cases. Despite the identification of several persons of interest over the years, including Anthony DeGrazia, Kenneth C. Ponte, and Daniel Tavares Jr., no one has ever been charged in connection with the death of Mary Rose Santos or the other victims of the New Bedford Highway Killer. Her case, like the others, remains a cold case, a painful and unresolved chapter in the history of the South Coast of Massachusetts.
