She Was Strangled in Her Bed room with No Witnesses. Her Killer Was Simply Steps Away

The surprising 1971 homicide of Rita Curran not solely left her Burlington, Vt., group shaken, it left family and friends questioning who wished the beloved center college instructor lifeless — a thriller that endured for greater than 50 years.

Within the intervening years, questions swirled across the 24-year-old’s killing — and so did hypothesis. However when investigators lastly cracked the case utilizing DNA from a cigarette butt discovered close to Curran’s physique, her household mentioned they have been lastly capable of finding closure.

“The random violence of her homicide left a stain on our group, and it devastated her household,” mentioned Jon Murad, appearing chief of the Burlington Police Division at a information convention asserting the homicide suspect’s id in 2023, PEOPLE reported on the time. “For 50 years they’ve waited for justice.”

A Beloved Sufferer

Curran was a proficient one that touched the lives of all who knew her, officers mentioned on the Burlington Police Division’s 2023 press convention.

“She was a instructor and a singer, and a giver, and he or she was cherished,” Murad mentioned. 

Curran returned dwelling from a barbershop quartet follow round 10 p.m. on the night time she was killed, in line with native media outlet VTDigger. Two of Curran’s roommates went out to eat shortly after Curran returned dwelling and didn’t uncover her physique till after midnight. Investigators mentioned Curran was crushed, sexually assaulted after which strangled to loss of life.

Police had few leads moreover the cigarette butt discovered subsequent to Curran’s physique. However forensic science wouldn’t catch up for many years, permitting her killer to evade authorities till his DNA popped up on the cigarette in 2023 — main investigators to hint his id again to Burlington.

Earlier than the case was solved, nonetheless, Curran’s homicide — which occurred close to the College of Vermont campus — shook the college group. Quickly after, theories swirled that her case could be associated to that of a well-known serial killer with ties to Burlington.

Ted Bundy Hypothesis

Whereas police floundered for solutions, some group members started to create their very own. One stretched connection pointed to Ted Bundy as a possible suspect in Curran’s homicide.

On the time of her killing, Curran was working half time as a maid on the native Colonial Motor Inn, which, in line with VTDigger, is situated close to Bundy’s birthplace in Burlington. Though Bundy lived throughout the nation, the serial killer wasn’t arrested till 1975, main some — together with Curran’s sister Mary — to consider Bundy would possibly one way or the other be related. The outlet reported that Mary even wrote a letter to Bundy years later, asking if he had killed her sister. The FBI reportedly responded, telling Mary that Bundy didn’t deny it.

The Fact Comes Out

After greater than half a century ready for solutions, Curran’s household would finally be taught that her assassin wasn’t a well-known serial killer: He was Curran’s upstairs neighbor.

Burlington police introduced on the 2023 press convention that DNA proof pulled from the cigarette butt discovered close to Curran’s physique matched William DeRoos. As soon as investigators started digging into DeRoos’ historical past, they realized that he lived within the condominium above Curran along with his spouse Michelle. DeRoos’ spouse informed police on the time that her husband was dwelling along with her all night time, in line with The Guardian, offering an alibi for her husband the night time of Curran’s homicide.

After she was confronted in regards to the cigarette butt, Michelle informed police that she and her husband bought right into a heated argument that night time and he stormed out of their condominium and didn’t return for a while, in line with VTDigger.

“I feel she lied on the time as a result of she was younger,” Burlington Police Detective Cpl. Thomas Chenette mentioned on the 2023 press convention. “She was naive. She was newly married. She was in love.”

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Murad, the police chief, mentioned in 2023 that investigators consider that DeRoos “continued to harm individuals” and “to be a harmful particular person,” though there’s no proof that means he killed once more.

After the homicide, DeRoos finally divorced his spouse and moved to Thailand, the place he grew to become a Buddhist monk, in line with authorities. He later returned to the USA and died in a San Francisco resort room in 1989 from a drug overdose.

In 2023, Burlington Police Detective Lt. James Trieb mentioned authorities are “all assured that William DeRoos is accountable” for killing Curran. “However as a result of he died in a resort room of a drug overdose he is not going to be held accountable for his actions,” Trieb added.

When you or somebody you understand has been sexually assaulted, please contact the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.