On July 25, 2003, Nilsa Arizmendi, a 33-year-old Hispanic female, was last seen alive in Wethersfield, Connecticut, getting into a distinctive blue van. Her disappearance would unravel a grim tale that extended far beyond a single missing person case, ultimately exposing a serial killer. Six days after she was last seen, her sister, concerned because Nilsa would never have abandoned her four children, filed a missing person report with the Wethersfield Police Department.
The investigation initially looked at Arizmendi's boyfriend, Angel Sanchez, with whom she had been staying at a local motel. However, he was cleared after passing a polygraph test and provided a crucial lead: he and Arizmendi had been smoking crack with a man they knew as "Devin," and Nilsa had left with him in his van.
The man known as "Devin" was identified as William Devin Howell, a drifter with a multi-state criminal record. Investigators tracked him and his 1985 Ford Econoline van to North Carolina in November 2003. Howell was extradited back to Connecticut on a probation violation charge. In April 2004, police seized the van and made a significant discovery. Although seat cushions were missing, they found blood soaked into the carpet, which DNA testing later confirmed belonged to Nilsa Arizmendi. This physical evidence directly linked Howell to her disappearance.
In May 2005, nearly two years after she vanished, William Devin Howell was arrested and charged with the murder of Nilsa Arizmendi. While awaiting trial, he reportedly told a fellow inmate that he hoped for a quick case because the evidence was circumstantial, and it would be a "big problem" if a body was ever found. In January 2007, Howell accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter under the Alford Doctrine, meaning he did not admit guilt but acknowledged the prosecution had enough evidence to likely convict him. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. For years, Nilsa Arizmendi's body remained missing.
The case took a dramatic turn in 2007 when a hunter discovered human remains in a wooded, swampy area behind a New Britain shopping plaza. More remains were found in the same location over the following years. In April 2015, investigators returned to the site and unearthed the remains of four more people, one of whom was positively identified as Nilsa Arizmendi. The discovery made it clear that Howell was not just responsible for one death. He was ultimately charged with the murders of six other individuals whose bodies were found at the New Britain site. Already imprisoned for Arizmendi's death, William Devin Howell, the "sick ripper" as he described himself, pleaded guilty to these additional murders and was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences, ensuring he would never be released from prison.
