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Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer
Eleven women went missing over the spring and summer of 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an old fishing port known as the Whaling City, where Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass, textile mills, and heroin-dealing represent just a few of the many threads in the community’s diverse fabric. In Shallow Graves, investigative reporter Maureen Boyle tells the story of a case that has haunted New England for thirty years.
The Crimes: The skeletal remains of nine of the women, aged nineteen to thirty-six, were discovered near highways around New Bedford. Some had clearly been strangled, others were so badly decomposed that police were left to guess how they had died.
The Victims: All the missing women had led troubled lives of drug addiction, prostitution, and domestic violence, including Nancy Paiva, whose sister was a hard-working employee of the City of New Bedford, and Debra Greenlaw DeMello, who came from a solidly middle-class family but fell into drugs and abusive relationships. In a bizarre twist, Paiva’s clothes were found near DeMello’s body.
The Investigators: Massachusetts state troopers Maryann Dill and Jose Gonsalves were the two constants in a complex cast of city, county, and state cops and prosecutors. They knew the victims, the suspects, and the drug-and-crime-riddled streets of New Bedford. They were present at the beginning of the case and they stayed to the bitter end.
The Suspects: Kenneth Ponte, a New Bedford attorney and deputy sheriff with an appetite for drugs and prostitutes, landed in the investigative crosshairs from the start. He was indicted by a grand jury in the murder of one of the victims, but those charges were later dropped. Anthony DeGrazia was a loner who appeared to fit the classic serial-killer profile: horrific childhood abuse, charming, charismatic, but prone to bursts of violence. He hunted prostitutes in the city by night and served at a Catholic church by day. Which of these two was the real killer? Or was it someone else entirely?
Maureen Boyle first broke the story in 1988 and stayed with it for decades. In Shallow Graves, she spins a riveting narrative about the crimes, the victims, the hunt for the killers, and the search for justice, all played out against the backdrop of an increasingly impoverished community beset by drugs and crime. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews, along with police reports, first-person accounts, and field reporting both during the killings and more recently, Shallow Graves brings the reader behind the scenes of the investigation, onto the streets of the city, and into the homes of the families still hoping for answers.
The Crimes: The skeletal remains of nine of the women, aged nineteen to thirty-six, were discovered near highways around New Bedford. Some had clearly been strangled, others were so badly decomposed that police were left to guess how they had died.
The Victims: All the missing women had led troubled lives of drug addiction, prostitution, and domestic violence, including Nancy Paiva, whose sister was a hard-working employee of the City of New Bedford, and Debra Greenlaw DeMello, who came from a solidly middle-class family but fell into drugs and abusive relationships. In a bizarre twist, Paiva’s clothes were found near DeMello’s body.
The Investigators: Massachusetts state troopers Maryann Dill and Jose Gonsalves were the two constants in a complex cast of city, county, and state cops and prosecutors. They knew the victims, the suspects, and the drug-and-crime-riddled streets of New Bedford. They were present at the beginning of the case and they stayed to the bitter end.
The Suspects: Kenneth Ponte, a New Bedford attorney and deputy sheriff with an appetite for drugs and prostitutes, landed in the investigative crosshairs from the start. He was indicted by a grand jury in the murder of one of the victims, but those charges were later dropped. Anthony DeGrazia was a loner who appeared to fit the classic serial-killer profile: horrific childhood abuse, charming, charismatic, but prone to bursts of violence. He hunted prostitutes in the city by night and served at a Catholic church by day. Which of these two was the real killer? Or was it someone else entirely?
Maureen Boyle first broke the story in 1988 and stayed with it for decades. In Shallow Graves, she spins a riveting narrative about the crimes, the victims, the hunt for the killers, and the search for justice, all played out against the backdrop of an increasingly impoverished community beset by drugs and crime. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews, along with police reports, first-person accounts, and field reporting both during the killings and more recently, Shallow Graves brings the reader behind the scenes of the investigation, onto the streets of the city, and into the homes of the families still hoping for answers.
312 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2017
120 people are currently reading
1482 people want to read
About the author
Maureen Boyle
3 books19 followersAward-winning journalist Maureen Boyle is the author of three true-crime books. Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer, The Ghost: The Murder of Police Chief Greg Adams and the Hunt for His Killer and her latest, Child Last Seen, set for release in May.
She was named New England journalist of the year three times and has been honored for her work covering crime, drug issues and human-interest stories. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in criminal justice. She is now the journalism program director at Stonehill College in Easton, MA.
She was named New England journalist of the year three times and has been honored for her work covering crime, drug issues and human-interest stories. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in criminal justice. She is now the journalism program director at Stonehill College in Easton, MA.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
January 17, 2019
A most well written book about 11 women murdered by a serial killer in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Maureen Boyle's empathy for the murdered women and their families is compelling. The dark magic
of an evil force taking lives can only be told with a journalistic criminalistics brilliance.
Mrs. Boyle's investigative journalism is perfectly written into a book and highly recommended
read. A true Crime story you will not forget.
Cheryl Poole-Musgrove
Maureen Boyle's empathy for the murdered women and their families is compelling. The dark magic
of an evil force taking lives can only be told with a journalistic criminalistics brilliance.
Mrs. Boyle's investigative journalism is perfectly written into a book and highly recommended
read. A true Crime story you will not forget.
Cheryl Poole-Musgrove
September 8, 2017
A haunting true story of the tragic deaths of 11 women who encountered a serial murderer while in the throes of addiction in 1988. The author, one of the original reporters on the case, tells their stories without judgment, but with insight and compassion for both the victims and their grief-stricken families. The women represented the side of historic New Bedford the tourists didn't see, i.e., the street life of a city plagued in the 1980s by heroin and cocaine addiction – and, too often, violence.
The book also portrays the dedicated men and women of the state and local police departments and the County D.A.'s office who interrupted their personal lives to find the serial killer, outlining their extensive, albeit unsuccessful, investigative efforts. Without today's technology and ability to analyze DNA evidence, the investigators were stymied and frustrated while trying to find usable evidence in the decomposing bodies and the highway roadsides where those bodies were found weeks and months after the victims went missing. The painstaking work the police put into their street investigations – solid, old fashioned detective work – produced two suspects, but never enough evidence to convict either of them or anyone else. Boyle presents moving portrayals of those suspects and the devastating effect the investigations had on these already troubled men, one or both of whom may have been innocent of the killings.
Shallow Graves is a page-turner. There's no happy ending for anyone here, but the story is fascinating and compelling. I highly recommend this book.
The book also portrays the dedicated men and women of the state and local police departments and the County D.A.'s office who interrupted their personal lives to find the serial killer, outlining their extensive, albeit unsuccessful, investigative efforts. Without today's technology and ability to analyze DNA evidence, the investigators were stymied and frustrated while trying to find usable evidence in the decomposing bodies and the highway roadsides where those bodies were found weeks and months after the victims went missing. The painstaking work the police put into their street investigations – solid, old fashioned detective work – produced two suspects, but never enough evidence to convict either of them or anyone else. Boyle presents moving portrayals of those suspects and the devastating effect the investigations had on these already troubled men, one or both of whom may have been innocent of the killings.
Shallow Graves is a page-turner. There's no happy ending for anyone here, but the story is fascinating and compelling. I highly recommend this book.
November 18, 2017
Book Description:
Eleven women went missing over the spring and summer of 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an old fishing port known as the Whaling City, where Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass, textile mills, and heroin-dealing represent just a few of the many threads in the community’s diverse fabric. In Shallow Graves, investigative reporter Maureen Boyle tells the story of a case that has haunted New England for thirty years.
The Crimes: The skeletal remains of nine of the women, aged nineteen to thirty-six, were discovered near highways around New Bedford. Some had clearly been strangled, others were so badly decomposed that police were left to guess how they had died.
The Victims: All the missing women had led troubled lives of drug addiction, prostitution, and domestic violence, including Nancy Paiva, whose sister was a hard-working employee of the City of New Bedford, and Debra Greenlaw DeMello, who came from a solidly middle-class family but fell into drugs and abusive relationships. In a bizarre twist, Paiva’s clothes were found near DeMello’s body.
The Investigators: Massachusetts state troopers Maryann Dill and Jose Gonsalves were the two constants in a complex cast of city, county, and state cops and prosecutors. They knew the victims, the suspects, and the drug-and-crime-riddled streets of New Bedford. They were present at the beginning of the case and they stayed to the bitter end.
The Suspects: Kenneth Ponte, a New Bedford attorney and deputy sheriff with an appetite for drugs and prostitutes, landed in the investigative crosshairs from the start. He was indicted by a grand jury in the murder of one of the victims, but those charges were later dropped. Anthony DeGrazia was a loner who appeared to fit the classic serial-killer profile: horrific childhood abuse, charming, charismatic, but prone to bursts of violence. He hunted prostitutes in the city by night and served at a Catholic church by day. Which of these two was the real killer? Or was it someone else entirely?
Maureen Boyle first broke the story in 1988 and stayed with it for decades. In Shallow Graves she spins a riveting narrative about the crimes, the victims, the hunt for the killers, and the search for justice, all played out against the backdrop of an increasingly impoverished community beset by drugs and crime. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews, along with police reports, first-person accounts, and field reporting both during the killings and more recently, Shallow Graves brings the reader behind the scenes of the investigation, onto the streets of the city, and into the homes of the families still hoping for answers.
My Review:
I found this book to be quite fascinating. Maureen Boyle did an excellent job interviewing over 100 people who were involved in this case and have first-hand knowledge of what transpired. We get an unique perspective of what went on and can form our own opinion of who the serial murderer may have been. It is heartbreaking what the families endured and you can really sympathize with them not getting a definitive answer of exactly who did murder their love ones. With all the twists and turns that the investigation took makes for a real page-turner as the story grips you and doesn't let go. I would highly recommend this book to those who like to read true crime about cold cases that have never been resolved.
I won this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review.
Eleven women went missing over the spring and summer of 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an old fishing port known as the Whaling City, where Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass, textile mills, and heroin-dealing represent just a few of the many threads in the community’s diverse fabric. In Shallow Graves, investigative reporter Maureen Boyle tells the story of a case that has haunted New England for thirty years.
The Crimes: The skeletal remains of nine of the women, aged nineteen to thirty-six, were discovered near highways around New Bedford. Some had clearly been strangled, others were so badly decomposed that police were left to guess how they had died.
The Victims: All the missing women had led troubled lives of drug addiction, prostitution, and domestic violence, including Nancy Paiva, whose sister was a hard-working employee of the City of New Bedford, and Debra Greenlaw DeMello, who came from a solidly middle-class family but fell into drugs and abusive relationships. In a bizarre twist, Paiva’s clothes were found near DeMello’s body.
The Investigators: Massachusetts state troopers Maryann Dill and Jose Gonsalves were the two constants in a complex cast of city, county, and state cops and prosecutors. They knew the victims, the suspects, and the drug-and-crime-riddled streets of New Bedford. They were present at the beginning of the case and they stayed to the bitter end.
The Suspects: Kenneth Ponte, a New Bedford attorney and deputy sheriff with an appetite for drugs and prostitutes, landed in the investigative crosshairs from the start. He was indicted by a grand jury in the murder of one of the victims, but those charges were later dropped. Anthony DeGrazia was a loner who appeared to fit the classic serial-killer profile: horrific childhood abuse, charming, charismatic, but prone to bursts of violence. He hunted prostitutes in the city by night and served at a Catholic church by day. Which of these two was the real killer? Or was it someone else entirely?
Maureen Boyle first broke the story in 1988 and stayed with it for decades. In Shallow Graves she spins a riveting narrative about the crimes, the victims, the hunt for the killers, and the search for justice, all played out against the backdrop of an increasingly impoverished community beset by drugs and crime. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews, along with police reports, first-person accounts, and field reporting both during the killings and more recently, Shallow Graves brings the reader behind the scenes of the investigation, onto the streets of the city, and into the homes of the families still hoping for answers.
My Review:
I found this book to be quite fascinating. Maureen Boyle did an excellent job interviewing over 100 people who were involved in this case and have first-hand knowledge of what transpired. We get an unique perspective of what went on and can form our own opinion of who the serial murderer may have been. It is heartbreaking what the families endured and you can really sympathize with them not getting a definitive answer of exactly who did murder their love ones. With all the twists and turns that the investigation took makes for a real page-turner as the story grips you and doesn't let go. I would highly recommend this book to those who like to read true crime about cold cases that have never been resolved.
I won this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review.
February 28, 2019
Really interesting true crime novel. For full disclosure I know most of the places mentioned and also some of the participants through a degree or two of separation.
What really got me to buy in was the empathy for the hard life the participants lived. Drugs, prostitution and fear permeating the environment with especially the women being treated as sub-human because of their status in life. Rape, beatings, death, snuff films...just an awful way to live. The spreading drug issue not limiting to the streets of New Bedford but dragging in kids from the more affluent suburbs.
The tragedy of parents, siblings and children still not knowing and having closure was heartbreaking. That knock on the door or phone call when life in a second changed.
What really got me to buy in was the empathy for the hard life the participants lived. Drugs, prostitution and fear permeating the environment with especially the women being treated as sub-human because of their status in life. Rape, beatings, death, snuff films...just an awful way to live. The spreading drug issue not limiting to the streets of New Bedford but dragging in kids from the more affluent suburbs.
The tragedy of parents, siblings and children still not knowing and having closure was heartbreaking. That knock on the door or phone call when life in a second changed.
June 11, 2019
I can’t say I’d recommend this book. It’s well-researched, but gets lost in the many details of the case and the periphery. I do really appreciate the empathy from the author regarding the victims, but that’s one of the few merits, in my opinion. Some of the writing is repetitive and makes reading exhausting. This case is also unsolved, no physical evidence was ever collected from the all nearly skeletal remains, and both of the main suspects are dead, so I doubt that there will ever be any closure in this case. It does illustrate poor handling of the case by the prosecution, politicians more focused on their careers than solving these serial murders, and I think Kenny never would have been tried if a profiler was consulted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2017
Glad to have read this excellent account of what happened nearly thirty years ago to those poor women along the highways of Southeastern Massachusetts. Cold case of eleven serial murders.
April 20, 2022
When reading true crime it can go one of two ways. It is either written in such a way you forget you're reading non fiction, more like a crime novel, or written like a news article/blog post. I think this book was written as a combination of the two. Maureen packed a ton of information about these victims and their backgrounds, their families, their lives aside from just working on the street. See what people seem to forget is a victim is a VICTIM period. It doesn't matter what they were doing to get themselves in that position. A murder victim that was using drugs or a sex worker is no less a victim then someone just walking home from their shift at Dunkin. I say this because I really felt this is also how Maureen feels while writing this book. You can tell by listening and or reading these pages just how strongly she wants justice for these victims. I see a lot of reviews here critiquing the story as if it were a fictional one and that's not how you review a true crime book. My review is solely on how this is written because the contents of its pages are true and what happen. You cannot write a review stating "it should have been this or that" like you would a fictional story. That being said I will now get to my thoughts on these horrific unsolved murders below.
____________________________________________________________
Kenny, Kenny, Kenny. Now I don't know about other folks but for me that piece of crap is guilty as sin. It's extremely unfortunate he is no longer with us only so that he can no longer be charged and we will just never know. The fact that he was so close to the victims, abused his position of power as a lawyer to get drugs from these women, bodies start turning up and he flees to Florida?? Give me a break. I also think that too much was put on Jose and Maryann's shoulders. FBI should have been involved with so many bodies on their hands. I think Josie and Maryann did the best they could with what they had at that time. I don't believe they had enough help around them and maybe if they did I wouldn't be writing this today. How Kenny was allowed to continue to practice law for so many years as all this went on is beyond me and makes me wonder how much more goes on behind the scenes that us civilians will never know about. Unpopular opinion here I am sure but the minute someone in a position of power commits a crime for which they are supposed to defend and protect REMOVE THEIR LICENSE.. I do not care at all.
Lets talk about his constant calls to the station while he was in Florida. What the hell was that about? As we know in most true crime cases if not all of them is that the killer or killers almost always insert themselves into the investigation somehow. Either by showing up to searches, vigils, or even calling the anonymous tip lines. So this was a big tell for me. How about that book he was writing about killing prostitutes' and dumping them on the highway??? Makes me so upset that something somewhere was missed, I don't quite know what that is but I do pray justice comes from the families of these victims and the two women who are still missing are found.
Kenny Ponte, if you read this, is no longer with us. Now I always say "Have the life/day you deserve", and I think that sums up pretty much how he went out... ill leave it at that.
Thank you Maureen for writing this information packed book and I hope someday you'll come back and write one called "Graves, no longer Shallow, Justice has been Served"
Stephanie
Mystery Book Café
____________________________________________________________
Kenny, Kenny, Kenny. Now I don't know about other folks but for me that piece of crap is guilty as sin. It's extremely unfortunate he is no longer with us only so that he can no longer be charged and we will just never know. The fact that he was so close to the victims, abused his position of power as a lawyer to get drugs from these women, bodies start turning up and he flees to Florida?? Give me a break. I also think that too much was put on Jose and Maryann's shoulders. FBI should have been involved with so many bodies on their hands. I think Josie and Maryann did the best they could with what they had at that time. I don't believe they had enough help around them and maybe if they did I wouldn't be writing this today. How Kenny was allowed to continue to practice law for so many years as all this went on is beyond me and makes me wonder how much more goes on behind the scenes that us civilians will never know about. Unpopular opinion here I am sure but the minute someone in a position of power commits a crime for which they are supposed to defend and protect REMOVE THEIR LICENSE.. I do not care at all.
Lets talk about his constant calls to the station while he was in Florida. What the hell was that about? As we know in most true crime cases if not all of them is that the killer or killers almost always insert themselves into the investigation somehow. Either by showing up to searches, vigils, or even calling the anonymous tip lines. So this was a big tell for me. How about that book he was writing about killing prostitutes' and dumping them on the highway??? Makes me so upset that something somewhere was missed, I don't quite know what that is but I do pray justice comes from the families of these victims and the two women who are still missing are found.
Kenny Ponte, if you read this, is no longer with us. Now I always say "Have the life/day you deserve", and I think that sums up pretty much how he went out... ill leave it at that.
Thank you Maureen for writing this information packed book and I hope someday you'll come back and write one called "Graves, no longer Shallow, Justice has been Served"
Stephanie
Mystery Book Café
April 4, 2019
I'm on a kick of books that really needed a brutal editor.
This one...just WOW. How did this make it to publishing in this state? Things were repeated AD INFINITUM. I listened to the audiobook, and kept thinking I had inadvertently jumped back to a previous chapter, because it would present the exact same information over and over as though it were the first time it was being said. As if it were written out of sequence, but instead of fine tuning all of the related references in the editing process, they just slapped it down as-is and called it a day.
The story is a sad one, and there are some pretty wild characters involved. As of the printing of this book, nobody has been convicted of these murders.
One more thing that I found SO IRRITATING as a resident of Massachusetts was that the reader of the audiobook mispronounced the name of nearly every town. Nobody outside of Massachusetts will care, but to me it was like nails on a chalk board. If I heard her say Rain-ham one more time (for those of you who outside of New England, it's pronounced Rain-um), I was going to lose it. Those of us from the area know these town names are nearly impossible to pronounce, so the author or the publisher or SOMEBODY should have thrown the reader a bone here - give her a pronunciation guide so us Massholes don't have one more thing to complain about.
This one...just WOW. How did this make it to publishing in this state? Things were repeated AD INFINITUM. I listened to the audiobook, and kept thinking I had inadvertently jumped back to a previous chapter, because it would present the exact same information over and over as though it were the first time it was being said. As if it were written out of sequence, but instead of fine tuning all of the related references in the editing process, they just slapped it down as-is and called it a day.
The story is a sad one, and there are some pretty wild characters involved. As of the printing of this book, nobody has been convicted of these murders.
One more thing that I found SO IRRITATING as a resident of Massachusetts was that the reader of the audiobook mispronounced the name of nearly every town. Nobody outside of Massachusetts will care, but to me it was like nails on a chalk board. If I heard her say Rain-ham one more time (for those of you who outside of New England, it's pronounced Rain-um), I was going to lose it. Those of us from the area know these town names are nearly impossible to pronounce, so the author or the publisher or SOMEBODY should have thrown the reader a bone here - give her a pronunciation guide so us Massholes don't have one more thing to complain about.
April 9, 2018
Excellent. Having been born in the midst of the highway serial killings in New Bedford, I was never fully aware of what happened back in the late 80s. Boyle's account of what went down has been the most intricate crime investigation I've ever read. From the narrative of street life, the investigative process, the lives of the women murdered, and the tumultuous court case conclusion, Boyle's got it covered.
Highly recommend for local history if you're in the area of New Bedford and also for true crime lovers.
Highly recommend for local history if you're in the area of New Bedford and also for true crime lovers.
May 23, 2025
Repetitive & kind of boring. Way too many pointless details about the officials & suspects, not a lot about the victims. It was annoying how the author kept referring to potential witnesses saying the killer & DeGrazia both had a “boxer nose”, when the witness actually said he had a flat nose and a boxer’s build—A minor discrepancy, but it annoyed me nonetheless. Since the case remains unsolved, I’m struggling to see the point of this book. 2.75 stars, rounded up, I guess. 🤷🏻♀️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 9, 2017
Engrossing !
This book is well written and a page Turner...she took a very awful bit of history and humanized all the victims for the reader...
Definite recommendation!
This book is well written and a page Turner...she took a very awful bit of history and humanized all the victims for the reader...
Definite recommendation!
April 24, 2022
A deeply poignant depiction of a community’s struggle with drug addiction, prostitution and murder during the 80’s. Boyle’s passion for justice for the victims is strongly felt with every page. In a decade just before the computer age Boyle presents us with detailed intricacies of crime investigation, politics and addiction during this time and the struggles there of. Powerful, moving and dark. Once I finished reading I will always remember those victims names and hope that they will someday find clarity.
December 1, 2021
A very well-written book about the unsolved murders of nine (possibly eleven) women in my hometown of New Bedford, MA. I had never heard of this case, but being a fan of true crime and discovering that this happened where I grew up, I was immediately intrigued. It turns out that my mom knew one of the victims and once ran away with her for a night. It breaks my heart that this is still unsolved, but Boyle’s telling is fantastic. It’s truly a blessing that she is helping to keep this story alive.
September 23, 2018
I grew up in southeastern Massachusetts, not far from where these murders took place. At the time, I was in my early twenties, about the same age as the victims. The murders were on the news a lot and people were always speculating. I remembered the basics, and I know the area well, so this book appealed to me for those reasons.
The book title is more a euphemism than a fact. The woman were left along the sides of highways, in deep grassy areas, but not buried at all.
The writing style is easy to read, with a conversational type of narrative.
The author excels at humanizing the victims. We get to know them as people, rather than just the drug addicts/prostitutes they were known as during the time of the murders. We also meet their families and see what it was like for them personally.
Another aspect the author excels at is showing the politics behind the investigation. In many ways, New Bedford had a small town feel back then, including the way a handful of politicians ran things. The investigation suffered because of the backroom politics.
Some of the content gets repetitive, while some aspects could have been addressed with more depth. For instance, New Bedford was a town known for lots of crime. I clearly remember being told to stay out of New Bedford, particularly at night, and to never drive there alone. It was, in many respects, more renown for crime than Boston was. But the town wasn't always that way, and it wasn't even all bad then. I would've liked for the author to better address how and why the town fell apart as it did.
This isn't the type of true crime book where you get a lot of information about the killer, because we don't know for sure who the killer was. The murders were never solved. This book is more about giving dignity back to the victims, as well as highlighting a lot of crazy stuff going on in a Massachusetts town.
*I received a copy from LibraryThing in exchange for my honest review.*
The book title is more a euphemism than a fact. The woman were left along the sides of highways, in deep grassy areas, but not buried at all.
The writing style is easy to read, with a conversational type of narrative.
The author excels at humanizing the victims. We get to know them as people, rather than just the drug addicts/prostitutes they were known as during the time of the murders. We also meet their families and see what it was like for them personally.
Another aspect the author excels at is showing the politics behind the investigation. In many ways, New Bedford had a small town feel back then, including the way a handful of politicians ran things. The investigation suffered because of the backroom politics.
Some of the content gets repetitive, while some aspects could have been addressed with more depth. For instance, New Bedford was a town known for lots of crime. I clearly remember being told to stay out of New Bedford, particularly at night, and to never drive there alone. It was, in many respects, more renown for crime than Boston was. But the town wasn't always that way, and it wasn't even all bad then. I would've liked for the author to better address how and why the town fell apart as it did.
This isn't the type of true crime book where you get a lot of information about the killer, because we don't know for sure who the killer was. The murders were never solved. This book is more about giving dignity back to the victims, as well as highlighting a lot of crazy stuff going on in a Massachusetts town.
*I received a copy from LibraryThing in exchange for my honest review.*
March 13, 2019
Interesting Read About a Sad Cold Case
I read Maureen Boyle’s SHALLOW GRAVES just after reading Carlton Smith’s book on the New Bedford highway killings, TH KILLING SEASON. Boyle’s book approaches the case with a journalistic eye in a way that the preceding book did not. That said, the work sometimes feels too formal. She was a reporter who covered the case, though there’s never any mention of that unless you follow the citations. Still, the book did a great job of laying out what happened in the case. I was a child living in the city (aged 11-14 between 1988 and 1991) and the book brought stuff that I never knew into the light. I definitely recommend it.
I read Maureen Boyle’s SHALLOW GRAVES just after reading Carlton Smith’s book on the New Bedford highway killings, TH KILLING SEASON. Boyle’s book approaches the case with a journalistic eye in a way that the preceding book did not. That said, the work sometimes feels too formal. She was a reporter who covered the case, though there’s never any mention of that unless you follow the citations. Still, the book did a great job of laying out what happened in the case. I was a child living in the city (aged 11-14 between 1988 and 1991) and the book brought stuff that I never knew into the light. I definitely recommend it.
January 13, 2018
This is an important book, in that it brings to light a series of forgotten murders in and around New Bedford, MA in the late 1980s. The victims were all women, many of them sex workers, all of them struggling with various stages of substance use disorders. The cases are still unsolved, which makes the story ultimately unsatisfying, but important nonetheless. The book is well researched and told in a narrative style that sometimes seems forced and often repetitive. But I'm glad these women are not entirely forgotten. They deserved better than to be murdered and dumped along the highways.
April 15, 2019
Somehow I managed to grow up in a community about 90 minutes away from New Bedford without hearing about these murders.
When I think back to the days before cell phones, the internet and the like the sheer drudgery of police work must have been overwhelming. Kudos to the dedicated members of the law enforcement community who did this work. And for caring about victims that some might have said didn't merit such dedication: drug addicts and prostitutes. The author reminded us that each of the victims, despite their circumstances, was a mother, daughter, sister.
When I think back to the days before cell phones, the internet and the like the sheer drudgery of police work must have been overwhelming. Kudos to the dedicated members of the law enforcement community who did this work. And for caring about victims that some might have said didn't merit such dedication: drug addicts and prostitutes. The author reminded us that each of the victims, despite their circumstances, was a mother, daughter, sister.
January 16, 2018
A very well written recount of a horrible and sad tragedy that remains unsolved. I remember when this was happening and how scary it was. However, I had forgotten about certain political implications that impacted case. I also had forgotten about those individuals who were implicated but never prosecuted and what happened to them. A bigger issue in not being able to solve this case is fact that we didn’t have the cutting edge scientific research available in the late 80’s that we have now.
November 5, 2017
Worth reading
As a resident of the NB area, I lived through the time of the so-called "highway killings". I know the landmarks and some of the characters in the book. Love history and this was a big event in our local history. Well narrated story that tells the events of the time. Wish there were more pictures. Worth reading.
As a resident of the NB area, I lived through the time of the so-called "highway killings". I know the landmarks and some of the characters in the book. Love history and this was a big event in our local history. Well narrated story that tells the events of the time. Wish there were more pictures. Worth reading.
June 24, 2020
Spoiler alert. While this is a good book in the true crime genre, it was a long journey with so few answers. I get that non-fiction must follow the facts, but I don’t think I would have started this book had I known that the murderer(s) were never caught. It became a bunch of information with no resolutions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2017
It has been a very long time since I read a true crime book and this may have well put me back on the track to read more.
March 12, 2024
3.5 stars - I thought this was very well researched and presented in a clear way. Frustrating that it presents a lot of leads with no conclusion (yeah, I know the cases remain “unsolved” but thought the author could’ve drawn a conclusion for us, or provided their own conclusion) but the story was still compelling and interesting.
September 22, 2021
really interesting, definitely recommend especially if you’re from SEMA
June 22, 2025
Listened to audiobook. Wanted to listen since I’m familiar with the area in Massachusetts but was just okay, very repetitive at times
July 25, 2021
I'm not a big true-crime reader but having grown up and lived in the area I remember the time of these murders well. But I didn't recall much of the detail or know the players. Well Maureen Boyle takes care of that.
She not only covers the story from all angles but also beautifully fleshes out everyone's backgrounds and what their lives entail.
It was much better than I was expecting and zipped right through it.
She not only covers the story from all angles but also beautifully fleshes out everyone's backgrounds and what their lives entail.
It was much better than I was expecting and zipped right through it.
November 19, 2017
'Shallow Graves' by Maureen Boyle was a September Early Reviewer book on the Librarything site.
In my experience, a true crime book can go one of two ways: it can be written in a style that makes you forget it's real, or it can be boring due to technique or content. Shallow Graves was unfortunately the latter.
The subtitle for the book is "The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial KIller' pretty much describes its content. It's the late 80's, bodies are being discovered along a stretch of a Massachusetts highway, a small group of cops begin to connect the dots, and a full-scale investigation is kicked off. In the meantime, more bodies are discovered and the case is politicized by a grandstanding DA.
My problems with the book are:
- there's a lack of detail in situations where more would be better. As interviews take place, there may be a summary provided, but no depth whatsoever.
- the investigation took place on the cusp of the DNA era. Again, very little forensic discussion was included- would've been interesting to get into more detail about how the police investigators, the coroner, etc. did their work in that pre-CSI timeframe
- on the other hand, while the victims were mainly prostitutes/drug users there was more discussion than necessary about that aspect of life in their community
- the major suspects weren't really introduced until midway through. There really didn't seem to be any sort of analysis comparing the 2 major candidates... the police, or DA, focused on one, forgot the other, then returned to the original.
The writing in Shallow Graves was very straightforward and pedestrian. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but a 'peppier' technique might have made the experience a little less like reading a 250 page news article and more reading like a book.
In my experience, a true crime book can go one of two ways: it can be written in a style that makes you forget it's real, or it can be boring due to technique or content. Shallow Graves was unfortunately the latter.
The subtitle for the book is "The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial KIller' pretty much describes its content. It's the late 80's, bodies are being discovered along a stretch of a Massachusetts highway, a small group of cops begin to connect the dots, and a full-scale investigation is kicked off. In the meantime, more bodies are discovered and the case is politicized by a grandstanding DA.
My problems with the book are:
- there's a lack of detail in situations where more would be better. As interviews take place, there may be a summary provided, but no depth whatsoever.
- the investigation took place on the cusp of the DNA era. Again, very little forensic discussion was included- would've been interesting to get into more detail about how the police investigators, the coroner, etc. did their work in that pre-CSI timeframe
- on the other hand, while the victims were mainly prostitutes/drug users there was more discussion than necessary about that aspect of life in their community
- the major suspects weren't really introduced until midway through. There really didn't seem to be any sort of analysis comparing the 2 major candidates... the police, or DA, focused on one, forgot the other, then returned to the original.
The writing in Shallow Graves was very straightforward and pedestrian. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but a 'peppier' technique might have made the experience a little less like reading a 250 page news article and more reading like a book.
February 21, 2018
In 1988, the bodies of women began to turn up along the highways outside of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The town had begun as a whaling hub, then changed its industry over to textiles when whaling began to wane. Frederick Douglass had once been a resident of the town, and Moby Dick was based on whaling ships heading out of town. By the 1980s, however, New Bedford was struggling with that near universal blight: drugs and crime. Many of the victims (eleven in all) were troubled women, drug addicts, prostitutes, or both. The pool of potential suspects was vast, from fishermen to white collar workers to itinerant truckers. Nearly all the victims were found months after their bodies had been dumped, and modern forensic science as we now know it was in its infancy.
This is a mystery that remains an ongoing puzzle to this day. Boyle, one of the reporters who first broke the story in 1988, presents the facts to us in an organized, thorough manner. You can tell that this mystery has remained on her mind and in her heart for thirty years. Boyle generally leaves herself out of the narrative, focusing on the investigators, the victims and their families, the suspects, and the local politics. This is a true crime story written against the backdrop of a town in decline, but trying desperately to reinvent itself amidst its troubles. This should resonate strongly with many of us in this day and age, as the specter of heroin abuse and urban/suburban decay continue to blight many communities in this country.
Fans of true crime will enjoy this strong entry to the genre. Even if you don’t usually gravitate towards crime novels, Boyle’s portrayal of New Bedford in the 1980s is worth reading in and of itself.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This is a mystery that remains an ongoing puzzle to this day. Boyle, one of the reporters who first broke the story in 1988, presents the facts to us in an organized, thorough manner. You can tell that this mystery has remained on her mind and in her heart for thirty years. Boyle generally leaves herself out of the narrative, focusing on the investigators, the victims and their families, the suspects, and the local politics. This is a true crime story written against the backdrop of a town in decline, but trying desperately to reinvent itself amidst its troubles. This should resonate strongly with many of us in this day and age, as the specter of heroin abuse and urban/suburban decay continue to blight many communities in this country.
Fans of true crime will enjoy this strong entry to the genre. Even if you don’t usually gravitate towards crime novels, Boyle’s portrayal of New Bedford in the 1980s is worth reading in and of itself.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
December 8, 2017
I read a lot of true crime books, and yet most of the true crime stories I end up picking up take place in the past and are usually combined with historical elements- books like The Devil in the White City, or one I read this summer, City of Light, City of Poison. This is different, as it is only under the true crime label, being about a serial killer targeting drug-addicted women, usually prostitutes, in New Bedford Massachusetts, a quiet little seaside city populated mostly by, like many Southern New England fishing cities, people of Portuguese descent. You get a lot of those ethnic pockets of people in New England, usually from countries you don't think too much about like Portugal or Greece or Poland or even Italy.
Well, I suppose it's not exactly only a true crime book since it is during the 80s, and there is some context about the time period that needs to be understood. Most people think of cocaine as the rock star drug of the decade, taking LSD's place before it was usurped by ecstasy in the 90s, but the heroin epidemic really started to get bad in the 80s, unfortunately coinciding with the AIDS crisis, as any ER nurse or doctor active in that time period will tell you. Like in today's society, when pain pill addiction progresses to heroin addiction, in the 80s it was cocaine addiction progressing to heroin addiction. And those where the women our killer chose his victims from.
Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...
July 28, 2018
*Full disclosure: I have a personal connection to this book and would likely not have read it or been interested in the case it talks about if I didn't. I probably would have give it 3 stars, as I really ignored much of the writing/editing and focused on the story itself. It is a very interesting story, and those who enjoy true crime may be a bit less squeamish at the crime scene details than I. The depictions of the pathetic lives of the addicted and those who prey on them are vivid - this is a heavy read. I found the politics of trying to investigate this case interesting ( and par for the Massachusetts course) and also the focus on how much more cumbersome investigations were in the late 1980's - no internet, no computer memory, flimsy databases, no instant access to any kind of information... it was interesting how this case helped those involved create the technology they needed to some degree. I remember the highway killings well (probably only because of a personal interest and the fact that this was somewhat local to me), but never knew the final outcome, so I'm glad I read it. I recommend for true crime fans, local history buffs and anyone who is interested in the New Bedford Highway Killings of the 80’s.
November 12, 2017
I'm giving a middling rating to Maureen Boyle's "Shallow Graves: The hunt for the New Bedford highway serial killer" with the admission that some of the things I enjoyed about the book aren't going to be true for most readers.
Boyle jams a lot of facts into the book, which focuses on the murders of nine women who were found dumped on the highway in New Bedford in the late 80's. Boyle clearly relies heavily on info from the investigators and I have to believe she includes pretty much every piece of evidence they collected in the unsuccessful attempt to solve the case. I liked some of this detail, having met and interviewed some of the police officers years later and having knowledge about the politics of the time.
I think the book suffers in that Boyle treads too carefully not to give her opinion about who might have committed the crime and what role the political climate played in the charges filed against one of the suspects. I think a true crime book like this needs more a definitive point of view. I also think it gets bogged down a bit in all of the detail she provides.
Boyle jams a lot of facts into the book, which focuses on the murders of nine women who were found dumped on the highway in New Bedford in the late 80's. Boyle clearly relies heavily on info from the investigators and I have to believe she includes pretty much every piece of evidence they collected in the unsuccessful attempt to solve the case. I liked some of this detail, having met and interviewed some of the police officers years later and having knowledge about the politics of the time.
I think the book suffers in that Boyle treads too carefully not to give her opinion about who might have committed the crime and what role the political climate played in the charges filed against one of the suspects. I think a true crime book like this needs more a definitive point of view. I also think it gets bogged down a bit in all of the detail she provides.
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