The remains of a pregnant woman found hear a highway in Chelmsford last week were identified Monday. NewsCenter 5's Rhondella Richardson reported that the victim is Deborah Bates, a 23-year-old woman last seen in Lowell, Mass., more than a decade ago. Bates was reported missing February 1993.
Bates lived an unconventional, dangerous lifestyle, according to police.
"When someone is working as a prostitute, it is difficult to track down the people she was with. Those were some of the challenges that we were faced with at the beginning of this investigation," Lowell Police Department spokesman Edward Davis said.
The remains of Bates, and her near-term fetus were found near the ramp from the Lowell Connector to Route 3. She had been dead for 11 years, and was wrapped in bedding. Police believe that the remains were recently dumped along the highway.
"It does appear that the remains have been hidden for a long period of time. We have to wonder if they were removed and left specifically on the highway," Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said.
Before her remains were identified, the discovery had the potential to be connected to three other women's homicides.
"It's possible that it could have been a drug overdose," Coakley said. "It's also possible that it could be a homicide. Any kind of strangling or stab wounds, other than finding a bullet, with the skeletal remains it is hard to know what that is. The way in which the deceased was covered up and hid over this period of time leads us to believe that someone had ill intent."
news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=383 NewsCenter 5's David Boeri reported that Deborah Bates' mother and sister say they're angry with police because they say investigators have slandered her name.
Her family said Bates may have used drugs, but she was never arrested for drug use or prostitution and police knew her because she was a victim of domestic abuse by her ex-boyfriend.
"I never wanted to believe she was dead. A lot of people would say to me that she must be gone, she has to be dead. But I always waited for her to come home," said Bates' mother, Ethel Galan.
Bates, who was pregnant, was reported missing in February 1993.
For 11 years, whenever human bones were found, the family said they wondered if it was Bates.
"I used to watch the case on Molly Bish. That was a sad case. I'd sit there and cry with them, because I know what they were going through," said Galan.
The remains of Bates, and her near-term fetus were found near the ramp from the Lowell Connector to Route 3 on March 11. She had been dead for 11 years, and was wrapped in bedding. Police believe that the remains were recently dumped along the highway.
"Now I keep wondering did she suffer, you know what I mean? Such a terrible way to find her," said Galan.
Bates' 14-year-old son, Stephen, lives with the family. The state removed the boy from Bates' custody when he was 3.
"They did remove Stephen, for his own safety because of her drug use at that time," said Bates' sister, Bonnie Masson.
But when investigators called Bates a prostitute, the family felt compounded pain and anger.
"In any missing persons case, whatever type of history they've had should not reflect the fact that they were a person and loved by people. God only knows what she endured to end up where she was found. And now it is like, the only presence left is something that has been totally shredded," said Masson.
Although the gender of Bates' unborn baby is unknown, the family named the baby Angel, and plans to give the pair a proper burial when the remains are returned.
news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=383