For Immediate Release
Contact: Scott J. Croteau 508-368-7228 or 774-418-5706
LEOMINSTER – A Fitchburg man is facing a murder charge in connection with the 2021 killing of a 19-year-old Worcester man, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr.
Wilbert I. Nieves, 25, will be arraigned on the murder charge in Leominster District Court on June 1. The charge was filed in court on Friday.
Nieves is accused of fatally shooting Franklin Mane in 2021.
On May 12, 2021, Leominster Police Officers responded to the area of 46 Industrial Road for a report of a body. Investigators located the body in an overgrown area at the edge of the parking lot and were able to later identify the body as Mane.
The Office of the State Medical Examiner determined Mane died of gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide.
The investigation remains ongoing by Leominster and Worcester Police and the Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office.
Nieves is currently in custody at a Massachusetts jail on unrelated firearms charges.