Can You Help Solve Any Of These Massachusetts Murder Cases?

Authorities and loved ones continue to hold out hope that the killers will someday be brought to justice.

Susan Taraskiewicz [left] was found dead in the trunk of her car in Revere on Sept. 14, 1992; Quaaneiruh Goodwyn [right] was outside a convenience store in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood in October 2022 when she was fatally shot.

Five unsolved Massachusetts murder cases including Susan Taraskiewicz, Shakonda Wilson and William Haynesworth, Quaaneiruh Goodwyn, Molly Bish, and Karen Marchioni.

Photo by: Massachusetts State Police [left]; Facebook [right]

Massachusetts State Police [left]; Facebook [right]

By: Aaron Rasmussen

Susan Taraskiewicz

The body of 27-year-old Susan Taraskiewicz, of Saugus, was located in the trunk of her car in Revere on Sept. 14, 1992. The vehicle was parked in the driveway of an auto repair shop located on a stretch of Route 1A. The day before she was found dead, the victim, who worked at Boston’s Logan Airport as a ground-crew supervisor, said she was going to get sandwiches for her coworkers, but she never returned. The missing woman’s mother believes her daughter was lured from her workplace and used getting lunch as an excuse to leave. “She would never have done that,” Marlene Taraskiewicz told NBC Boston, adding of her daughter: “She wasn't perfect. None of us are perfect. But she did not deserve to die like that. She had her whole life ahead of her.”

There is a $250,000 reward in the case. Anyone with information about the murder of Susan Taraskiewicz is asked to contact the State Police Detective Unit for Suffolk County at (617) 727-8817.

Shakonda Wilson and William Haynesworth

On March 30, 1999, Shakonda Wilson and her boyfriend, William “BJ” Haynesworth, Jr., were murdered inside their home in Dorchester, a Boston neighborhood. Wilson’s daughter, Giannia, was found crying but unharmed in her crib under a dresser drawer that had been thrown over her. Giannia believes her mother put the drawer on top of her to protect her, and she calls the unsolved double homicide “one big open wound” in her life. “It’s saddening; It’s sickening,” she told WHDH. “Something like this shouldn’t go unanswered for so long. She was my mom. She was somebody’s daughter. She was somebody’s friend. She mattered.”

Anyone with information about the murders of Shakonda Wilson and William Haynesworth, Jr. is urged to call the Boston Police Department's homicide unit at (617) 343-4470 or the anonymous tip line at (800) 494-TIPS.

Quaaneiruh Goodwyn

Quaaneiruh Goodwyn, 24, was outside a convenience store in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood in October 2022 when she and two men were shot. Goodwyn, the mother of a then 5-month-old son, died from her injuries. “She had so many dreams, so many things she wanted to accomplish,” Kalvin Richards told WFXT of his aspiring rapper and clothing line entrepreneur girlfriend. “Every day was just a new adventure.” The victim’s friend, Tianna Tomlinson, noted the victim wasn’t involved with the wrong crowd and “didn’t walk around just making enemies.”

Anyone with information about the deadly shooting should call the Boston Police Department's homicide unit at (617) 343-4470, or the anonymous tip line at (800) 494-TIPS.

Molly Bish

It would take three years for the remains of 16-year-old Molly Bish to be located in Palmer after she went missing while working as a lifeguard five miles away at Comins Pond in Warren on June 27, 2000. According to NBC Boston, investigators recently received information about a person of interest in the case, Francis “Frank” Sumner Sr., a convicted rapist and kidnapper who died at age 71 in 2016. Bish’s family, however, was disappointed to learn DNA collected from the man’s son was not a match. Still, investigators continue to look into the possibility Sumner could be connected with the teenager’s murder. “We are doing everything we can to solve Molly’s case,” said Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early, Boston.com reported. “We have solved 40-, 30- and 20-year-old cases …These cases are not ‘cold’ cases, sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust.”

The victim’s sister, Heather Bish, said their mother “in the past has often compared these feelings that we have right now to being on a roller coaster. You always have hope. Hope is an eternal blessing that I hope I never run out of.” She added: “But it's disappointing. This has been a long journey.”

Anyone with information about the case should call the Molly Bish tip line at (508) 453-7575 or the Worcester District Attorney’s Office at (508) 453-7575. Tips can also be submitted via email to WorcesterDAunresolved@mass.gov.

Karen Marchioni

Around 11 a.m. on Oct. 8, 2001, Karen Marchioni was attacked in her Framingham home but managed to phone 911. She later died from multiple stab wounds to her face and neck hours later at the hospital. According to WBZ-TV, police identified a suspect at the time but no one was ever arrested or convicted for murdering the 41-year-old mother and animal lover who had just celebrated her birthday two days before her death. In 2021, the Middlesex County District attorney told the news station in a statement that forensic testing was conducted in 2019 and authorities have “pursued multiple leads,” but prosecutors declined to offer further information. The victim’s daughter, Jennifer Case, believes investigators should “try harder” in the cold case. “I want people to see her as a mom and the amazing person that she was and it's not OK that we don't have answers,” she said.

If you have any information about the Karen Marchioni case, please contact the Framingham Police Department at (508) 872-1212 or the Middlesex State Police Department at (781) 897-6600.

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