In the late spring of 2004, a tragic discovery was made in Syracuse, New York, that would unravel a series of brutal crimes. On the first of June, the body of 22-year-old Hannah Finnerty was found inside a trash can outside an apartment building on West Onondaga Street. An autopsy would later reveal that the young woman, who was five months pregnant, had died from multiple stab wounds.
The investigation into Hannah's death quickly led authorities to a resident of the same apartment
building, a 41-year-old man named Nicholas Lee Wiley who also worked as a handyman there. Wiley's name had surfaced after the body of another woman, 31-year-old Lottie Thompson, was found in her apartment within the same building just a day before Hannah's discovery. It was Wiley himself who had alerted the building manager to a strange odor coming from Thompson's apartment.
Following the discovery of Hannah's body, Wiley was arrested as a suspect. During interrogation, he confessed to killing not only Hannah and Lottie Thompson but also a 17-year-old named Tammy Passineau, who had been missing since April of that year. Wiley claimed to have killed a total of seven people, though authorities were only able to corroborate the three female victims. In his confession, Wiley stated he killed Finnerty after she haggled with him for more crack cocaine.
Nicholas Wiley was charged with the murders. In October 2006, a jury convicted him of first- and second-degree murder for the deaths of Hannah Finnerty, Lottie Thompson, and Tammy Passineau. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A later appeal of his conviction was denied, solidifying his fate as a convicted serial killer.
