Family of Massachusetts teen John McCabe searches for justice in 1969 homicide

This story fpreviously aired on Oct. 31, 2015. It was up to date on June 22, 2024.

Produced by Judy Rybak and Peter Henderson

It took nearly each ounce of energy left in his 85-year-old physique to get to the witness stand, however Bill McCabe waited 43 years for at the present time and the beginning of this trial in January 2013.

Prosecutor: Good morning, Mr. McCabe … do you keep in mind September twenty seventh 1969?

Bill McCabe: Yes, sir. 

Prosecutor: How previous was John at that day?

Bill McCabe: He was 15 years, six months and two weeks.

“I all the time visualized him as being an enormous shot someplace. John Joseph McCabe. ‘My son, JJ,’ you realize?” Evelyn McCabe informed “48 Hours” correspondent Richard Schlesinger. “But I by no means acquired to see any of these issues.”

In the autumn of 1969, two males had simply landed on the moon, 1000’s had simply crashed at Woodstock and John McCabe, 15 years, 6 months and a couple of weeks previous, was dwelling along with his household in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.

“I believe now we have a proper to be pleased with him,” stated Bill McCabe.

John’s father, Bill, was an engineer. His mom, Evelyn, labored on the college library. His sisters, Roberta, who was 6, and Debbie, who was 17, keep in mind a brother who was all the time busy, doing what brothers do.

“It was fairly fascinating. You open the closet door, and your closet’s stuffed with grasshoppers,” Debbie recalled with amusing.

“I simply keep in mind his fingers had been all the time soiled, like, with oil or grease or a frog in his hand,” stated Roberta.

“He introduced residence a goose as soon as too?” “48 Hours” correspondent Richard Schlesinger requested Evelyn.

“Oh yeah, Canadian goose, huge sucka!” she exclaimed.

“It’s enjoyable to look at you discuss this trigger your eyes gentle up. I imply you could have fond recollections of these days,” Schlesinger commented to Evelyn.

“Oh yeah,” she replied.

Evelyn holds on to any reminder of her son.

“I’ve John’s cash,” Evelyn stated. “I — I am unable to spend it.”

“And you’ve got had all of it these years?” Schlesinger requested.

“Yeah, 45 years,” stated Evelyn.

“Do you are taking it out rather a lot?”

“Every now — once in a while I — the scent’s gone off of it now,” she chuckled as she smelled the money in her hand. “I nearly put it within the casket with him. And then I assumed, ‘No, I’ll simply maintain it with me. And once I see him once more, I’ll give it to him.'”

When she final noticed John on Sept. 26, 1969, Evelyn gave him permission to go to a dance on the Knights of Columbus Hall.

“Took a bathe, scrubbed his hair, put his father’s aftershave on. He did not shave however he put his father’s aftershave on. Oh yeah, he acquired all spruced up,” Evelyn recalled.

“I let him go. I let him exit the door. I should not have,” she stated.

“Eleven o’clock, I began looking the window,” Evelyn continued. “That’s when the dance closes. He must be residence by midnight. So I went right down to the dance and checked the street, screaming out the window. John! John! …No John. … I began prayin’ at that time.”

The subsequent day, police got here to the home and took Evelyn’s husband to the basement to speak.

“They did not need me to know something,” she stated. “But I heard them.”

Evelyn acquired on her knees and pressed her ear to a vent within the toilet.

“This is the place I may hear the whole lot that was happening down cellar,” she stated kneeling on the toilet ground as she did all these years in the past.

The police had been telling her husband John’s physique was found by three younger youngsters reducing via a vacant lot within the neighboring gritty metropolis of Lowell.

“I heard that he was tied up. And there was tape on his eyes, on his mouth. I heard rather a lot,” Evelyn informed Schlesinger. “I cried. I lay there and cried.”

An enormous investigation was launched by the Lowell, Tewksbury and Massachusetts State Police.

Gerry Leone was the native D.A. who years later took on the case. Today he is a companion within the legislation agency, Nixon Peabody.

“What proof did they gather on the scene?” Schlesinger requested Leone.

“The rope that was used to tie John up … Tape that was used to tape his eyes and mouth. All of his clothes and his sneakers,” he replied. “There was forensic proof, nevertheless it wasn’t actually significant since you could not tie it to anybody particularly.”

But the case appeared promising at first. A witness had noticed a automobile close to the crime scene that night time.

“And I consider the way in which he had described it was a 1965 Chevy Impala, coloured —  plum or maroon,” stated Leone.

Then one other tip led police to a schoolmate of John’s — 16-year-old Mike Ferreira, who says he barely knew John.

“I most likely seen him like a handful of instances in my life. I did not actually —  he wasn’t a good friend,” stated Ferreira.

Ferreira and his good friend, Nancy Williams, had been questioned as a result of that they had picked John up when he was hitchhiking, on his method to the dance.

“I picked him up and gave him a journey to the nook and I by no means noticed him once more,” stated Williams.

Ferreira informed police that whereas the dance was beneath method, he left Williams and met up along with his finest good friend, Walter Shelley.

“Me, Walter and Bob Ryan took a journey to Lowell tryin’ to get some beer,” he stated.

They had been in Walter Shelley’s automobile. It was maroon and it was a 1965 Chevy Impala. Police searched it, however discovered no proof.

Still, Walter Shelley was now an individual of curiosity. He was introduced in for questioning and later polygraphed 5 instances. The checks confirmed he was “mendacity in all important areas of the questioning.”

“If you learn the experiences,” Leone defined, “now you begin seeing Ferreira and Shelley, Shelley and Ferreira.”

Ferreira was questioned a number of instances.

“I knew the place they had been goin’, I imply, I’m not completely silly,” he stated.

But Ferreira wasn’t serving to himself. At one level whereas joyriding with some pals, he out of the blue blurted out that he killed John.

“Yeah you realize, I used to be 16. We had been ingesting’ jokin you realize … ‘Yeah I did it.’ They knew I used to be jokin,” Ferreira stated. “I used to be a joker.”

Leone says police weren’t amused however there was no method to corroborate what Ferreira stated.

“Without bodily proof, and not using a witness assertion placing him on the scene … The Ferreira lead saved drying up,” stated Leone.

There had been dozens of different folks the police investigated — different teenagers, native drug sellers and pedophiles. Detectives labored the case arduous for 2 years. The complete time, Bill McCabe labored on a document of his son’s life.

“I wasn’t tryin’ to be an writer or something like that. I —I used to be simply lookin’ at methods to carry on to him … maintain his reminiscence,” he informed “48 Hours.”

Bill McCabe additionally tried to verify the police by no means forgot his son.

“I used to be all the time on the cellphone speaking to the police. I’d be up in the midst of the night time. She’d be saying, ‘what the hell are you doing up? Get again to mattress,'” he stated.

Despite Bill’s persistence and the extreme police effort, there have been no arrests.

“Shelley and Ferreira went into the service in 1970. So the next yr, the 2 of them left the realm,” stated Leone.

And the McCabe household was left with none solutions … for many years.

A COLD CASE HEATS UP

With every passing season, John McCabe’s case grew colder, however his mom saved asking essentially the most painful questions on how he died.

“I attempted to strangle myself simply to visualise what it felt like,” Evelyn McCabe stated. “I questioned … ‘Did he name for me? What sort of a mom was I?’ I wasn’t there for him.”

For a time, Evelyn set a spot for John on the dinner desk. His absence was a relentless presence in the home.

Through all of it, Bill McCabe continued to write down John’s story, whereas continually pushing police for an ending.

“You cannot simply do one thing unsuitable and never should pay for it…” he stated.

The case stalled for some 30 years, till November 2000, when Jack Ward, a childhood good friend of John’s, made good on a a long time previous promise to Bill.

“He would say, ‘Jackie, have you ever heard something about John?'” Ward stated. “‘You maintain your eyes out and let me know.’ And I says, ‘If I ever hear something, Mr. McCabe, you realize, I’m gonna inform you.'”

Ward had been at a cookout at a home in Tewksbury, the place he bumped into a child from the previous neighborhood, Mike Ferreira.

“We’re all sitting round ingesting and that is when he simply blurted out…” Ward stated. “‘I do know who killed John.’ And he stated it to me once more. … ‘I do know who killed John.’ And, you realize, lastly I stated, ‘Who?’ He says, ‘Walter.’ I stated, ‘Walter Shelley?’ He says, ‘Yeah.'”

“And I stated, ‘what can be Walter’s motive to kill John?’ He stated, ‘Marla … due to Marla,” stated Ward.

Ward stated Marla Shiner was Walter Shelley’s girlfriend again then. But he stated the difficulty was that Shiner additionally appeared to love John McCabe, and by all accounts, Walter Shelley was one very jealous younger man.

Ward admits he sat on the data for some time, apprehensive about learn how to inform Bill McCabe.

“You go knockin’ on someone’s door and say, ‘Hey — I do know who killed your son,’ you higher have it proper,” he stated.

“I used to be shocked when he informed me,” stated Bill.

“So I scribbled it on a chunk of paper and I put it within the Bible … on a web page, starting the guide of John so I would not overlook it. … And I instantly referred to as the police,” stated Bill.

But it took many extra calls from Bill McCabe and three extra years for police to indicate up at Ferreira’s door. It was now 2003. Ferreira labored as a forklift operator and lived in Salem, New Hampshire. Nancy Williams, his good friend again within the day, was now his spouse.

“Mike would not damage a fly. Never … I do know. He would not,” stated Nancy Ferreira.

Mike Ferreira says he remembers the cookout dialog with Jack Ward very in a different way.

“Jackie went and informed them I stated Walter Shelley killed him. I by no means stated that,” Ferreira stated. “And at this cookout, you realize, I already had just a few drinks and he is runnin’ his mouth, ‘Shelley did it, Shelley did it.’ And this went on all afternoon. …And lastly I acquired sick of hearin’ it. I says, ‘He most likely did it.’ Next factor I do know, three years, 4 years later, I acquired the cops down at my home wantin’ to speak to me about John McCabe.”

Ferreira additionally denies discussing the jealousy motive with Ward.

“That’s his idea. I by no means stated that,” he stated.

But once more there was no corroborating proof. So once more, the case stalled.

“What did they inform you in regards to the investigation?” Schlesinger requested Evelyn.

“‘It’s going advantageous.’ It was all the time going advantageous,” she replied.

“And how lengthy did they inform you that?” Schlesinger requested.

“And you realize what, it was sittin’ on a frickin’ shelf,” stated Evelyn.

But the police had not forgotten John McCabe. In January 2007, 37 years after the homicide, Gerry Leone was sworn in as Middlesex County District Attorney.

“The Lowell Police Department took it upon themselves to go to me weeks after I’d been elected to say, ‘We’d really such as you to concentrate on this one and take a tough have a look at it with us,'” stated Leone.

Investigators had gone again over the recordsdata and a reputation jumped out at them in Mike Ferreira’s newest interview with police. In recounting the night time of the homicide, Ferreira stated he was with Walter Shelley, however this time he added a reputation and stated “the opposite man” with them was Alan Brown.

“Edward Alan Brown’s title surfaces as somebody who we’re gonna concentrate on,” stated Leone.

Edward Alan Brown was 17 and lived not removed from the McCabe’s when John was killed. He had lengthy since moved away, however when police tracked him down he stated he knew nothing in regards to the homicide — by no means even heard of it.

“So how seemingly is it that he would by no means even have heard of the homicide of John McCabe in a city the scale of Tewksbury,” Schlesinger requested Leone.

“I’d say curious on the time,” he replied.

And police acquired a name from Brown’s spouse that was much more curious.

“His spouse … informed police that she thought he was mendacity,” Leone stated. “Carolyn Brown signifies to police that 20 to 25 years earlier her husband had informed her about a night … the place he was concerned in a younger man being killed.”

But even that wasn’t sufficient. It was the identical previous story. There was no corroborating proof and no actual motion within the case till 2011, when Det. Linda Coughlin was assigned to seek out the killers.

“You suppose this case actually took off whenever you met Detective Linda Coughlin,” Schlesinger famous to Evelyn.

“Yes, undoubtedly,” she replied.

Asked why she felt that method, Evelyn stated, “Because of her angle. She … she stated, ‘I’m going to get them.’ And she did.”

Detective Coughlin zeroed again in on Edward Alan Brown. He was retired from the Air Force and dwelling in New Hampshire.

Coughlin interrogated Brown – simply twice. When Brown realized he failed a polygraph he out of the blue broke down. He confessed that he was there when Walter Shelley and Mike Ferreira killed John McCabe.

Lowell police introduced within the McCabe’s and informed them Brown’s story about John’s last hours.

“Why?” Roberta McCabe requested. “My dad began crying, he keeled over on the desk…”

On April 15, 2011, practically 42 years after John McCabe’s physique was present in a vacant lot, his father’s perseverance lastly paid off.

“Mr. McCabe held our toes to the hearth, he by no means allow us to overlook John McCabe’s homicide,” Lowell Police superintendent Ken Lavallee informed reporters.

The D.A.’s workplace introduced the indictments of Edward Alan Brown for manslaughter and Michael Ferreira and Walter Shelley for first-degree homicide. Two names recognized to police since day one; two names additionally gathering mud in John’s guide of mourners.

“The murderers got here to the wake. And they got here to the funeral,” stated Evelyn.

SECRETS REVEALED

It would take nearly two years to carry the lads accused of killing John McCabe to trial. Two extra years the McCabe’s must wait.

On Jan. 18, 2013, Edward Alan Brown was referred to as to testify towards his one-time good friend, Mike Ferreira — the primary defendant to go on trial.

For the primary time, Brown publicly shared the main points of the night time John died. Brown says he was at residence watching tv when Mike Ferreira and Walter Shelley pulled as much as his home:

Edward Alan Brown: They needed me to go along with them to assist them.

Prosecutor: Help them do what?

Edward Alan Brown: I did not know on the time till I acquired within the automobile and we left.

Brown testified they had been on their method to the Knights of Columbus Hall when he realized of their plan:

Edward Alan Brown: They stated they needed to go discover this child that had been… uh you realize, messing round with Marla to show him a lesson.

Prosecutor: And how do you know Marla Shiner?

Edward Alan Brown: It was Walter’s girlfriend.

Edward Alan Brown: Michael observed John McCabe was thumbing. And he stated, “There he’s.” …  And we pulled up subsequent to John, Michael acquired out and grabbed him and pushed him … within the again seat the place I used to be…

Michael was going through again — at John, tryin’ to — to smack him. And John had his arms as much as attempt to — to cease him from doing that. … We went beneath the Spaghettiville Bridge …

Brown says they drove up a dust street to the vacant lot and pulled over:

Edward Alan Brown: And we acquired him outdoors the automobile.

Prosecutor: Who pushed John out of the automobile?

Edward Alan Brown: I did. …I assumed they had been simply gonna slap him round.

Prosecutor: What occurred subsequent? Then Michael and Walter wrestled John, tripped him up, and acquired him on the bottom.

Brown testified that he and Shelley held John McCabe down, whereas Ferreira tied him up:

Edward Alan Brown: Michael tied his ankles, then went round and tied his — wrists collectively. Then he took one other piece of rope …  round his ankles and connected it as much as his neck. …that they had put tape on his mouth. John’s — squirming, wiggling, attempting to get out. … He’s mendacity on his stomach … uh, along with his legs up within the air and his — his head turned sideways.

Then they stated — that, “This — this’ll train you to — to mess with Marla anymore.” And we acquired within the automobile and left.

Brown says they drove round ingesting beer for some time:

Edward Alan Brown: Then — I informed ’em we should always return and let him go…

Brown says they finally returned to the lot:

Edward Alan Brown: Michael and Walter acquired out of the automobile and went over to him. They had been there for about 30, 45 seconds … they usually got here shortly again to the automobile … we began to drive off and one among ’em stated that he wasn’t respiratory.

John McCabe had died of strangulation.

“I ponder … I ponder what he considered that night time,” Evelyn McCabe stated, taking a deep breath.

Edward Alan Brown: Then they introduced me residence.

Prosecutor: What did you do?

Edward Alan Brown: I do not keep in mind. I believe I cried.

Brown says he saved the homicide a secret for 41 years as a result of he was afraid of Michael Ferreira:

Edward Alan Brown: Michael stated, “If anyone talks to anyone about this, I’ll kill him.”

“Alan Brown’s a friggin’ liar, and I imply, they know that,” Ferreira stated. “According to the prosecutor, he is been to Iraq and Afghanistan 5 excursions. Maybe he is acquired somethin’ unsuitable in his head.”

“They discuss these folks that give false confessions,” Nancy Ferreira stated. “Either he did it with someone else or by himself, or he’s actually a tousled human being.”

Eric Wilson, Michael Ferreira’s legal professional, believes that police pressured Edward Alan Brown as a result of he was somebody they might drive into confessing to against the law he didn’t commit. They additionally provided him a deal: no jail time.

“My sense of Edward Brown was he was simply led,” Wilson informed Schlesinger. “Edward Brown didn’t stroll into Lowell Police Department headquarters and say, ‘Look, I acquired to get this off my chest.’… After being … interrogated by skilled detectives … he was confronted with the specter of spending the remainder of his life in jail — or he may inform the police what they needed to listen to.”

“The query that I needed to reply for the jury is why would he inform them that if he did not do it,” stated Wilson.

“Did you suppose you may try this? That’s a troublesome promote,” Schlesinger famous.

“It was a troublesome promote – however Ed Brown gave me rather a lot to work with,” Wilson replied.

Over the course of two days, Ferreira’s legal professional grilled Brown relentlessly till he admitted that the prosecution had fed him components of his story:

Eric Wilson: You had been fed info it was a dust lot, proper?

Edward Alan Brown: Yes.

Eric Wilson: You had been fed info that it was close to a railroad tower, proper?

Edward Alan Brown: Yes.

Eric Wilson: And you are being informed that Shelley was jealous over Marla Shiner, proper?

Edward Alan Brown: Yes.

“There are sure items of data that an investigator might present to somebody who they’re interviewing to see whether or not or not they know something about that, to see whether or not or not it jogs their reminiscence,” stated Gerry Leone.

“Well, however — could not that even be a method of telegraphing to the witness what you need him to say?” Schlesinger requested.

“Well, on this case that did not should occur, as a result of … Brown was the one who talked in regards to the rope, the tape, the binding of John,” Leone replied.

However Brown acquired his story, Wilson claims it can’t be true, as a result of it doesn’t match the proof. In reality, within the 1969 police experiences, detectives famous that they had been “unable to seek out any proof of a scuffle.”

“There was no suggestion wherever round John McCabe’s physique or the scene that that battle described by Edward Brown ever occurred,” stated Wilson.

“Why would Edward Alan Brown lie and implicate himself so immediately in what occurred until it was the reality?” stated Leone.

Wilson thought it was not sufficient to attempt to discredit Brown — he additionally needed to punch holes within the alleged motive: jealousy over a woman. He’ll do it by calling that lady, Marla Shiner, to the witness stand.

MARLA SHINER TAKES THE STAND

Prosecutors had an issue. It was their star witness, Edward Alan Brown, who appeared to wither beneath sturdy cross examination from the protection:

Eric Wilson: Mr. Brown, you’ve got lied beneath oath whenever you’re scared, proper?

Edward Alan Brown: Yes.

Eric Wilson: You’ve lied beneath oath whenever you’re nervous, proper?

Edward Alan Brown: Yes.

Eric Wilson: You’ve lied beneath oath whenever you’re frightened, proper?

Edward Alan Brown: Correct.

Eric Wilson: You nonetheless cannot get your details straight, are you able to?

Edward Alan Brown: No.

So prosecutor Tom O’Reilly referred to as Det. Linda Coughlin to counter accusations that she’d compelled Edward Alan Brown to admit and fed him particulars:

Tom O’Reilly: At any level did you feed him info as to the investigation?

Det. Coughlin: Never.

But Eric Wilson says Coughlin additionally had tunnel imaginative and prescient and ignored proof of different suspects:

Eric Wilson: There had been quite a few investigative experiences and materials that you simply both missed or did not even find out about, true?

Det. Coughlin: I do not know what you are referring to.

Eric Wilson: How about Richard Santos?

Richard Santos was flagged in a Tewksbury police report as a suspect within the McCabe homicide in 1974. Santos was arrested for committing against the law eerily much like John McCabe’s homicide.

“This younger girl was kidnapped on Route 38,” Wilson stated. “Her toes had been certain, her fingers had been tied behind her again, her mouth was duct taped, and her eyes had been taped shut.”

“All of the details that encompass Santos as a doable topic lead you to be suspicious,” Former D.A. Gerry Leone defined. “But there was by no means something tying him to motive, alternative, means.”

Still, the decide allowed the jury to listen to about Santos and one other suspect: Robert Morley, an area 25-year-old, who reportedly knew each Ferreira and Shelley, and was affected by psychological sickness:

Eric Wilson: He was labeled … lengthy earlier than you had been assigned this case, as a robust suspect, proper?

Det. Coughlin: There is a report that makes use of the phrase for him, “sturdy suspect”. In the exact same report, mentions Mr. Ferreira as a primary suspect.

But it is how Morley grew to become a robust suspect that makes him so fascinating. Police realized about him shortly after the crime from his personal brothers.

“Morley’s personal brothers went in and stated that they thought he would possibly’ve been concerned in it,” Schlesinger famous to Leone.

“Yeah … they thought he may need,” he stated.

Leone says Morley’s brothers had been mistaken.

“I believe what occurs in issues like that is folks will say, ‘Sure, you need to check out X or Y as a result of they’ve a profile of someone who would do one thing like this they usually had been across the space on the time.’ But then it’s important to have a look at the proof and see whether or not or not the proof leads you to consider that that they had something to do with it,” stated Leone.

Eric Wilson: Did the brothers have any particular proof that you simply’re conscious of?

Det. Coughlin: They didn’t.

“He break up to Florida the day after he was questioned by police,” Wilson defined. “Mr. Morley — years later … dedicated suicide.”

Eric Wilson: you realized of his loss of life, suicide proper? He jumped off a bridge, proper?

Det. Coughlin: His brother says he fell off a bridge.

The protection additionally tried to punch holes within the alleged motive for the homicide and referred to as a stunning witness to do it: Marla Shiner, the lady who Walter Shelley and Mike Ferreira allegedly killed for.

Edward Alan Brown had simply testified that Shiner was Shelley’s girlfriend in September of ’69 and Shelley was jealous as a result of John McCabe was flirting along with her. But Shiner says John by no means flirted along with her:

Defense: Did you ever go to a dance with John McCabe?

Marla Shiner: Never.

Defense: Was it ever conveyed to you that he had any sort of romantic curiosity in you in August or September of 1969?

Marla Shiner: None.

The McCabe’s say it would not matter if the flirting was actual or imagined.

“She may have been — simply stopped and stated hey to John, and Shelley may have walked by and seen it … and he is gonna explode,” Bill McCabe informed “48 Hours.”

Next Marla Shiner threw the prosecution a curve ball:

Prosecutor: September twenty sixth, 1969 had been you courting Walter Shelley?

Marla Shiner: No … I used to be not courting Walter – when John McCabe died.

Prosecutor: When did you begin courting him then?

Marla Shiner: I consider it was after that loss of life.

Prosecution: How previous had been you?

Marla Shiner: 13.

Prosecution: You had been 13 in September of 1969.

Marla Shiner: Oh I do not know I am unable to do the maths proper right here.

But in accordance with police, Shiner informed them she was courting Shelley on the time and was simply 12 years previous once they began seeing one another:

Prosecutor: You did not inform the police that you simply had been courting Walter Shelley in 1969 when John McCabe was killed?

Marla Shiner: I — no — I do not consider I did inform them that.

“Why lie about courting somebody, until it was due to her that John was murdered,” stated Roberta McCabe.

“48 Hours” had questions for Marla Shiner too, however she declined our request for an interview. Shiner finally married Walter Shelley, nevertheless it did not final. She stated he was “very violent.”

Asked by the assistant district legal professional if Walter Shelley was a jealous man, Shiner stated, “Absolutely.”

This was a tough fought trial till the tip. And then it was as much as the jury to resolve: did Mike Ferreira assist Walter Shelley kill John McCabe over a woman? Or was Edward Alan Brown telling the story the prosecution needed to listen to? It solely took jurors 5 hours to resolve.

“I informed Michael that we needed to hope for the most effective however be ready for the worst. And — he was prepared for that,” stated Wilson.

For the McCabe household, greater than 4 a long time of ready and dealing got here right down to this second.

“What did you suppose the decision was gonna be?” Schlesinger requested Evelyn McCabe.

“Guilty. My God, he was responsible. If for no different cause, he was there,” she replied.

“It’s arduous to grasp how the jury may, you realize, anticipate in any other case,” stated Bill McCabe.

Bill McCabe was too nervous and too sick to take a seat within the courtroom that day, so he waited in one other room whereas Evelyn and their daughters heard the decision: Not responsible.

Everyone, together with Mike Ferreira was so shocked, it took some time to sink in.

“When the decision got here in, whenever you heard that — that Ferreira had been acquitted -” Schlesinger stated to Evelyn.

“I needed to go inform my husband that,” she stated.

“Were you afraid to inform him?”

“Yes,” stated Evelyn.

Asked why, she informed Schlesinger, “I used to be afraid he was gonna die.”

Tragically, Evelyn was proper. Just 4 days after the decision, Bill McCabe’s coronary heart gave out — and he gave up.

“What do you suppose killed your husband?” Schlesinger requested Evelyn.

“Stress. The stress of the trial,” she replied.

While Evelyn McCabe laid her husband to relaxation subsequent to their son, the D.A.’s workplace had a call to make. After shedding the case towards Mike Ferreira, would it not go forward with the trial of Walter Shelley?

JUSTICE FOR JOHN?

“I nonetheless do not consider Bill is gone. I can nonetheless hear him snore within the night time. And then I really feel the mattress. He’s not there,” stated Evelyn McCabe.

She was decided to honor her husband’s dying want.

“He laid within the hospital mattress, and I stated, ‘I’ll decide up and take over for you,'” stated Evelyn.

She’d see to it that somebody would pay for John’s homicide.

“And my father simply saved prayin’ and sayin’ to me, ‘Before I die, now we have to seek out out who did this,” stated Roberta McCabe.

And watching Michael Ferreira go free was powerful for some jurors, too.

“So, how arduous was it so that you can acquit him?” Richard Schlesinger requested juror Michael Duquette.

“It was very troublesome,” he replied.

Duquette stated the most important downside was Edward Alan Brown.

Asked if the vast majority of the jurors believed him, Duquette informed Schlesinger stated “No. …They simply felt that he was not telling the reality.”

“They felt that he had been fed info,” Duquette continued. “And that did not make a ton of sense to me. Maybe he wasn’t the most effective witness. But I simply can’t see someone saying, ‘I did it,’ once they did not do it.”

Duquette got here to consider Brown and needed to seek out Michael Ferreira responsible of one thing. But the one selections the jurors had had been first- and second-degree homicide.

“So what did you wish to convict him of?” Schlesinger requested Duquette.

“Manslaughter. And it wasn’t an possibility,” he replied.

Despite the Ferreira loss, prosecutors determined to attempt to convict the opposite suspect within the homicide: Walter Shelley.

“The acquittal within the Ferreira case did not do something to minimize our perception that we had the fitting individuals who had been accountable for killing John McCabe,” stated former D.A. Gerry Leone.

September 3, 2013, seven months after Michael Ferreira’s acquittal, it was Walter Shelley’s flip to face trial. Shelley was 17 the night time of John’s homicide. He’s now 61, remarried, and has lived quietly in Tewksbury ever since — only a few miles from Evelyn McCabe.

If convicted of first-degree homicide, Shelley may spend the remainder of his life in jail.

It was the identical case prosecutors offered towards Michael Ferriera. The identical motive and the identical proof offered by the identical witnesses: Marla Shiner, Det. Linda Coughlin, and as soon as once more, the state’s star witness, Edward Alan Brown.

“Was it any simpler to take a seat via the second trial?” Schlesinger requested Roberta McCabe.

“No, I wanna say it was more durable,” she replied. “Dad wasn’t there for backup.”

Brown appeared much less rattled this time, extra assured. And the McCabe’s allowed themselves to hope.

“I can maintain my fingers, my toes, the whole lot crossed,” stated Roberta.

During closing arguments, the protection referred to as Brown a liar.

“He’ll inform you no matter you wish to hear,” the protection legal professional Stephen Neyman informed the court docket.

But the prosecution argued that Brown would by no means implicate himself in against the law he didn’t commit.

“What’d he confess for? He was talked into it?” prosecutor Tom O’Reilly stated in his closing.

The week-long trial went to the jury. This can be the McCabe household’s final probability to see somebody held accountable for killing John.

“We had religion that the jury was gonna include the fitting reply this time,” stated Debbie McCabe.

Finally, two days later, a verdict.

Walter Shelley’s spouse and household waited nervously. Evelyn McCabe could not carry herself to even sit within the courtroom and needed to wait outdoors.

“She could not hear one other ‘not responsible,'” Debbie stated. “She was scared she was gonna drop lifeless.”

Guilty and life behind bars for Walter Shelley, whose knees buckled upon listening to the decision. This jury believed Brown.

“So whenever you heard ‘responsible,’ do you keep in mind the very first thing you thought?” Schlesinger requested Roberta McCabe.

“I assumed my father can be proud,” she stated. “We acquired one among them.”

It was the ultimate twist in a thriller stuffed with them. For the identical crime and on the identical proof, one man walked free and one man went to jail.

“John, guess what? We acquired him. … Billy, it turned out superbly,” Evelyn informed her son and husband at their graves. “Please John, please take nice care of him until I get there, please? And then I’ll.”

He did not stay to write down about it, however Bill McCabe lastly acquired the tip he was in search of to the story he wrote about John’s life and loss of life. A narrative that took 4 a long time to play out about his boy who might be 15 years, six months and two weeks previous … endlessly.

Michael Ferreira  pleaded responsible to perjury and  was sentenced to  probation for five years as of June 7, 2021.

Because Walter Shelly was a juvenile on the time of the homicide, his conviction was downgraded to second diploma homicide and he  might be eligible for parole after serving 15 years in jail.

Evelyn McCabe died in August 2016. Her wrongful loss of life go well with towards Ferreira, Shelley and Brown is being pursued by John’s sisters. It remains to be pending.