An adolescent’s homicide in Lowell, Massachusetts, goes unsolved for greater than 40 years — have been the clues there all alongside?
According to neighbors, John McCabe was the boy subsequent door. On the evening of Sept. 26, 1969, he went to bounce and by no means got here residence.
The McCabe Family
This is the final photograph taken of John McCabe and his household in the summertime of 1969.
Clockwise from prime left: John’s father, Bill, sister Debbie, mom Evelyn, sister Roberta and John.
Finding John’s Body
On the morning of Sept. 27, 1969, John’s physique was found by youngsters enjoying in a vacant lot.
Finding John McCabe
A policeman talks with one of many boys who discovered John’s physique.
The Investigation
John McCabe was discovered mendacity on his stomach along with his toes and palms tied behind him, a rope round his neck and tape on his mouth and eyes.
The Evidence
The rope that was discovered tied round John’s neck.
The Evidence
Scrapings of a international materials have been discovered on John McCabe’s clothes, however with out the subtle exams that exist right this moment, police couldn’t establish it.
Partial Fingerprint Found
There have been no usable fingerprints discovered with John McCabe’s physique. Without the good thing about DNA testing — police could not join any explicit suspect to the scene.
Mike Ferreira & Nancy Williams
Teenagers Mike Ferreira and Nancy Williams have been questioned the day John McCabe’s physique was discovered as a result of that they had given John a journey to the dance.
Walter Shelley
Walter Shelley was questioned as a result of he drove a automobile just like one which was noticed on the crime scene on the evening John McCabe died.
Mike Ferreira and Walter Shelley stated they have been collectively the evening of the homicide.
Ferreira says they took a journey in Shelley’s automobile to purchase beer.
Mourning a Son
John McCabe’s funeral was held on Oct. 1, 1969. Hundreds turned out to mourn him. His sister Debbie, helps John’s grieving mom
John McCabe
John McCabe is remembered as a boy who beloved to journey his bike and rebuild engines — a budding engineer, like his father.
John McCabe
John McCabe can also be remembered as a boy who beloved animals and as soon as introduced residence an injured goose.
John’s Story
While police investigated his son’s case, Bill McCabe stored a document of John’s life — and the investigation.
Life Goes On
Despite a father’s persistent pleas to police to seek out his son’s killers, the homicide investigation went chilly for 40 years–and John would by no means see his sister’s youngsters graduate faculty.
Pictured listed below are Bill and Evelyn McCabe with their granddaughter, Carolanne.
Mike Ferreira
Sometime within the late Nineteen Nineties, this photograph was taken of Mike Ferreira at a celebration in Tewksbury. That day would change everybody’s life.
New Information
Jack Ward, as soon as a detailed buddy of John McCabe’s, was additionally on the celebration. He would later inform Bill McCabe {that a} drunken Mike Ferreira accused Walter Shelley of killing John.
Mike Ferreira
Mike Ferreira denies all of Ward’s costs and claims it was Ward who stated that Walter Shelley killed John McCabe.
Edward Alan Brown
In 2003, police questioned Mike Ferreira about Ward’s declare. This time Ferreira mentions a brand new identify. He says Edward Alan Brown was with him and Walter Shelley the evening John McCabe was killed.
Edward Alan Brown
Edward Alan Brown was 17 the evening of homicide. He is now retired from the Air Force.
Detective Zeroes In
In 2011, when Detective Linda Coughlin was assigned to the case, she zeroed in on Brown, and received him to admit his involvement within the homicide of John McCabe.
Arrests Made
Edward Alan Brown informed police that he was there when Walter Shelley and Mike Ferreira killed John McCabe.
In April 2011 Brown, left, Ferreira, heart, and Shelley are arrested for the homicide of John McCabe.
Indictments Announced
Following the arrests, Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone pronounces the indictments of Mike Ferreira and Walter Shelley for first-degree homicide, and Edward Alan Brown for manslaughter.
Was Jealousy the Motive?
Edward Brown testified that John McCabe was killed for flirting with Walter Shelley’s girlfriend, Marla Shiner, who was 13 years outdated on the time.
Marla Shiner Testifies
Marla Shiner testified for the protection that she was not relationship Walter Shelley on the time of John McCabe’s demise, and that John by no means flirted together with her.
Edward Alan Brown Testifies
Brown testified that John McCabe was picked up hitchhiking after the dance on the Knights of Columbus Hall, taken to the vacant lot, hogtied with a rope round his neck and left for a while.
Grilling the Witness
Defense Attorney Eric Wilson received Edward Alan Brown to confess he could not maintain his details straight.
Ferreira Found Not Guilty
The jury deliberated simply 5 hours earlier than discovering Mike Ferreira not responsible of the homicide of John McCabe. Many of the jurors questioned Brown’s credibility.
Bill McCabe Dies
Just days after the not responsible verdict, Bill McCabe handed away and was buried subsequent to his son — however not earlier than Evelyn promised him to see that somebody was held accountable.
Brown Testifies in Shelley Trial
Despite the not responsible verdict within the Ferreira trial, two months later, the D.A.’s workplace offered the identical proof within the homicide trial of Walter Shelley.
Shelley Reacts to Verdict
This time, jurors believed Edward Alan Brown and Walter Shelley was discovered responsible of homicide.
Five months later, Walter Shelley was sentenced to life in jail with the potential of parole in 15 years.
Justice for John
Evelyn McCabe visited Bill’s grave to inform him that somebody was lastly held accountable for his or her son’s homicide.
Rest in Peace
A younger John McCabe and his father, Bill.
Case Updates:
– Michael Ferreira pleaded responsible to perjury and was sentenced to probation for five years as of June 7, 2021.
– Because Walter Shelley was a juvenile on the time of the homicide, his conviction was downgraded to second-degree homicide and he can be eligible for parole after serving 15 years in jail.
– Evelyn McCabe died in August 2016. Her wrongful demise go well with towards Ferreira, Shelley and Brown is being pursued by John’s sisters. It continues to be pending
