Nov. 18, 1983, strangled in Gardner.
Police were called to a wooded area off Mill Street where nearby workers had found the body of Ms. Daneault.
Numerous witnesses placed Ms. Daneault in the company of Edward H. Mayrand Jr., 36, during the day and evening on November 17. Mr. Mayrand was identified as a suspect in the case, but investigators felt there was not enough evidence to bring a charge of murder against him.
In January 2008, the State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office, began a review of the Daneault murder as part of an examination of all unresolved cases.
In 2011, DNA evidence from the case was resubmitted to the State Police Crime Lab for further analysis.
DNA review finds killer of two women in 1980s – The Boston Globe
Law enforcement officials say they have solved the 1983 murder of a young woman in Gardner.
Gardner murder of Kathleen Daneault solved after 31 years: serial killer who died in jail responsible
The family of Kathleen Daneault, a 25-year-old Gardner woman strangled to death in 1983, found some solace on Tuesday after Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early announced they’d solved the case and that the murderer had already died in prison.
Dead inmate charged as serial killer in Mass., New Hampshire
A man who died in prison while serving time for murder has been linked to two unsolved slayings, one in Massachusetts and a second in New Hampshire, officials in both states said.
DA Early announced on Dec. 23, 2014 that Mr. Mayrand, who died in a Rhode Island prison in 2011 while serving a sentence on another murder, was the killer of Ms. Daneault based on DNA evidence.