With tattoos covering most of his face, 38-year-old Kevin Lino is pretty unrecognizable.
Until now, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan says he flew under the radar when it came to two men found dead over a decade ago.
“This was not the typical, we knew someone had been the victim of a homicide and we were looking for answers,” Ryan said.
Back in 2010, Gary Melanson was found dead under a bridge in Lowell. Initially, his cause of death was ruled “undetermined.”
In 2012, the body of a man named Douglas Leon Clarke was found on the bank of the Charles River in Cambridge. It was believed that he overdosed.
“No one thought they were the victims of homicide and yet gathering this information over the years and putting it together and really determination and doggedness got us to this place to learnt here was a much different story,” Ryan said.
Ryan says in 2018, Massachusetts state police were working on an unrelated investigation involving Lino and gathered information that connected him to those cases.
She explains all the men were part of the homeless community and that Lino didn’t like the actions of them living alongside him.
Ryan claims Lino took a metal bat to Melanson and poisoned Clarke.
“Obviously these allegation demonstrate a very violent pattern of behavior, targeting some of the most vulnerable members of the community,” Ryan said.
Lino will now face two charges of first-degree murder, cases that family and friends thought were closed shut, now reopened and holding someone responsible.
“We really hope for the Clarke family that this arrest brings a measure of peace and closure,” Christine Elow said, Commissioner of Cambridge Police.
Lino was already serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, as well as a homicide charge out of Montana. Ryan says all victims in these cases were members of the homeless population.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be…