From 1969 to 1970, there were four young girls missing from the Southern part of Connecticut. 14 year old Dawn Cave from Bethany, ten year old Mary Mount from New Canaan and eleven year old Diane Toney were all abducted during the last two weeks of May of 1969. Their bodies were found dumped in the woods, they had been bludgeoned to death with a rock. In September of 1970, five year old Jennifer Noon disappeared on her way home from school, eight days later her body was found in a section of woods in the town of Hamden. She was also beaten to death with rocks.
Police had no suspects in the case but noticed similarities to the August 1970, triple murder of three residents of a home for Mentally Disabled persons. The three individuals were all killed by being bludgeoned with rocks and dumped in wooded areas. In 1972, Harold Meade a truck driver in his twenties was convicted for the killing of the three mentally disabled victims.
Witnesses of some of the four girl's murders also identified him as being in the proximity of where the victims had last been seen alive. While Law Enforcement considered Meade a prime suspect they never had enough evidence to convict him of the other homicides. He was sentenced to life in prison and many figured that he would never be out in public again.
If it only were true.
In 1992, forty three year old Linda Rayner was visiting family in Connecticut when she went to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison. Her body was found the next day in a remote part of the beach. The Social Worker's skull was crushed by a rock and much of the physical evidence had been washed away by the ocean. Police have a prime suspect who was camping there that weekend who has a history of indecent exposure to women.
However, Harold Meade was in the area at the same time. According to statements from other prison inmates Meade confessed to Rayner's murder. The three time convicted murderer had been granted weekend furloughs for several years despite his violent past.
Even though he is not officially named as a suspect in the Rayner homicide, Meade no longer is granted access outside of prison. According to a Hartford Courant article, he has even made confessions to other people about some of the murders of the four young girls.
After a lengthy illness, Harold Meade died on December 9th of 2007. While there may never be closure on the cases of the four murdered girls, Meade will never hurt anyone again.
