The discovery of an eighth body in New England is fueling speculation among internet sleuths that a serial killer may be behind the recent deaths across the region.
Authorities are investigating the death of a woman who was found unresponsive off a bike path in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The woman’s cause of death is currently unknown, and police have yet to reveal her identity.
Springfield Police Department spokesperson Ryan Walsh said: “The SPD Homicide Unit under the direction Captain Trent Duda is conducting an unattended death investigation in conjunction with the @HampdenDA Murder Unit, pending an autopsy by the Medical Examiner.”
Between March and April, human remains have been located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
So far, only three deceased individuals have been identified, per the indepensent : 35-year-old Paige Fannon, of West Islip, New York, whose body was discovered in the Norwalk River; Denise Leary, 59, found deceased in New Haven last month; and Michele Romano, 56, of Warwick, New York, who was found in Foster, Rhode Island.
Authorities have not announced any connection between the eight deceased, who are mostly women.
Amid these investigations, rumors are circulating online about a possible New England serial killer.
fox news reports that ‘New England serial killer’ searches spiked on Google around April 7.
Speculation is particularly circulating on a Facebook group titled ‘New England Serial Killer,’ which has since been renamed due to Facebook rules and regulations.
One person in the group wrote: “It’s a very scary world in New England right now, and if the police are putting people at risk, telling everyone not to worry when they should.”
Addressing such speculation, Walsh tells Fox News that ‘internet rumors are just that.’
Connecticut State Police also tells the news outlet that ‘there is no information at this time suggesting any connection to similar remains discoveries, and there is also no known threat to the public at this time,’ regarding the deaths in Connecticut.
While the remains have been discovered across three New England states over two months, they have been found in varying levels of degradation, suggesting they didn’t die around the same time.
Referring to the discovery of an eighth body, Peter Valentin, chair of the Forensic Science Department at the University of New Haven’s Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, explains to Fox News: “If someone is in full rigor mortis, there is no need to try to find a pulse because the presence of rigor mortis means they are unequivocally dead.
“So this is a very recent death, unlike the others that are being attributed to the [New England serial killer].”
