Former 'Killing Season' suspect Ken Ponte, dead at 61- New Bedford, MA

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Ken Ponte, former suspect in highway killings case, found dead in New Bedford home

January 27, 2010 10:38 AM
NEW BEDFORD — Kenneth Ponte, the former New Bedford lawyer who was the only suspect ever charged in the still-unsolved highway killings case, was found dead yesterday in his Austin Street home, the district attorney's office said.

New Bedford police found Ponte, 61, around 2:30 p.m. at 336 Austin St. after being called by a friend who had not been able to contact Ponte for two days.

Lisa Rowell, a spokeswoman for the Bristol County District Attorney's Office, said the preliminary investigation showed no evidence of foul play and that investigators do not believe the death is suspicious.

Rowell declined to say what the cause of death could be. She said investigators are awaiting toxicology and autopsy results from the state Medical Examiner's Office.

In 1989, a grand jury indicted Ponte in connection to one of the nine women who were found dead along the highways in Freetown, Dartmouth, Westport and Marion. Two other women went missing but were never found.

The murder charge against Ponte was dropped 11 months later because of insufficient evidence.

Over the years, Ponte denied any involvement in the killings. He was later disbarred. Three years ago, state police dug up the yard of his former New Bedford home, but he was never criminally charged. He had been arrested over the years on drug and shoplifting charges.

Three months ago, Ponte alleged a city woman tried to rob him at knifepoint after going to his house in the early-morning hours.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100127/NEWS/100129941/-1/NEWSMAP

Kenneth Ponte (right) left New Bedford Superior Court in 1990 after being indicted on a single count of murder

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Last update Jan 27, 2010 @ 07:19 AM
For years, Chandra Gregory wondered if the lawyer living in New Bedford was the person who killed her mother and at least eight other women in the late 1980s.

Now, more than 20 years later, that man, Kenneth Ponte, has been found dead and Gregory believes he wasn’t involved.

“When I was younger, I was convinced he was the person. But now, after all these years, I don’t think so,” said Gregory, who was 16 when the skeletal remains of her mother, Debra Greenlaw DeMello of Brockton, were found along Interstate 195 in Dartmouth.

Ponte, 61, the only person ever charged in connection with the highway killings case in the New Bedford area, was found dead Tuesday in his New Bedford home after a friend was unable to reach him and called police.

Lisa Rowell, a spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney’s office, said foul play was not suspected. An autopsy and toxicology tests will be performed to determine the cause of death, she said.

One of Ponte’s friends had gone to the house a few days ago to check on Ponte, but no one answered the door. Police were called Tuesday about 2:30 p.m. after the friend returned and still no one answered the door.

Ponte had been one of the key suspects in the slayings of nine drug-addicted women who disappeared in 1988 and whose bodies were later found along or near local highways in Freetown, Dartmouth, Westport and Marion.

Two other women who went missing have not been found.

A special grand jury in 1989 indicted Ponte in one of the nine killings, but the charge was dropped 11 months later for insufficient evidence.

Although Ponte, who knew some of the dead women, denied any involvement in the deaths, the case continued to haunt him for years.

“It just hung over him like a pall and it never went way,” said Kevin Reddington, who was Ponte’s attorney in the case.

State police in recent years had excavated a section of his former home, looking for signs of two other drug-addicted women who went missing in 1988, but no remains were found.

Ponte, who had battled drug and other problems, was eventually disbarred as an attorney after problems arose involving a settlement one of his clients received.

Ponte remained in New Bedford over the years, occasionally making headlines for minor arrests such as shoplifting.

“He was a tortured soul,” Reddington said.

Gregory said she was convinced in recent years that Ponte had no involvement in the death of her mother.

“I don’t think he even knew who did it,” she said. “I don’t know if they will ever solve it.”

http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x1685421729/Former-suspect-in-New-Bedford-area-highway-killings-case-found-dead

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I have read the book 4 times...I still wonder if Ken Ponte did it. I was never sure.


Killing Season: The Unsolved Case of New England's Deadliest Serial Killer
by: Carlton Smith

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Season-Unsolved-Englands-Deadliest/dp/0451405463