Brockton Man Identified As Suspect In 1984 Pembroke Murder Case

BROCKTON, MA — The suspect in a 1984 Pembroke murder case has been identified after an investigation of over 37 years, said Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz at a news conference Thursday.

Police say Jesse Aylward, who died in 2020, was murdered 59-year-old Virginia Hannon, who was found strangled and stabbed to death at her home on West Street on February 13.

"Though this investigation has spanned more than 37 years, we have identified Jesse Aylward as the killer," said Cruz. We have exhausted all the evidence we currently have and it all points in the direction of Jesse Aylward."

At Thursday's news conference, Cruz said a tipster called police last year and told them Aylward had confessed to killing someone in Pembroke many years ago.

After police received the tip, DNA collected from Aylward's body was compared with DNA samples found on items from the crime scene, including broken glass from the door, bloody paper towels, and nylon stockings that were used to strangle Hannon, and the samples matched.

Police are still are unsure of the motive behind the murder and do not know whether Hannon and Aylward knew each other.

“There’s a lot of questions that we still would like to answer, and we may never get all of the answers,” said Rick Wall, the former police chief in Pembroke. “But we’re never going to stop looking for exactly what happened and be able to give them the truth.”