At least 7 bodies in New Britain serial killer case; single suspect identified

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — Eight years after authorities first located the remains of three women behind a strip mall, the partial remains of at least four more people have been found.

Members of a task force investigating the case are focusing on a single suspect already locked up in prison, law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation said.

If the victims are eventually all linked to the same suspect, he or she would be the most prolific serial killer in Connecticut since Michael Ross, who was convicted of killing four young women and girls and who admitted killing four others. Ross was executed in 2005.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, New Britain police identified one of the bodies as Seymour resident Melanie Ruth Camilini, who was last seen in Waterbury in January 2003.

Camilini, who was 29 when she disappeared, would have celebrated her birthday Monday, police Chief James Wardwell said.

In a statement read to the gathered media by a Seymour detective, Camilini's family thanked the police and the state's attorney's office for their work on the case and asked for privacy as they mourn.

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