Officials Will Charge Edwin Alemany for Amy Lord’s Murder

Police are "very happy" with the latest breakthrough and believe they can bring justice to the victim's family.

Photo via Flickr.com

Photo via Flickr.com

Police have been working “around the clock” since South Boston resident Amy Lord’s body was found in a section of the Stony Brook Reservation in Hyde Park.

On Thursday, officials announced they will charge 28-year-old Edwin Alemany for Lord’s murder, after weeks of investigations using a collection of DNA evidence from the scene of the crime, which will be presented to a grand jury to further the prosecution. The warrant will be issued out of West Roxbury District Court. Prosecutors plan to issue the arrest warrant for the first degree murder charge later today.

Lord, 24, was kidnapped from her apartment on Dorchester Street in South Boston on July 23, and taken on a 47-minute ride with her alleged assailant, who police said forced her to take out money from several ATM machines before he stabbed her repeatedly and left her at the Boston park. Hours after her gruesome murder, Lord’s body was discovered by a cyclist passing through the reservation.

Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said on Thursday that his office authorized a warrant charging Alemany with first degree murder, after he spoke with the victim’s family to notify them personally about their progress since the suspect’s arrest on July 24. “They were relieved to learn of the development,” he said. “I had the opportunity to speak with Amy’s mother and assured her we would not rest until justice was done in Amy’s horrible murder.”

Alemany is currently in custody by police for two other attacks that occurred in South Boston around the same time-frame that Lord went missing. He is scheduled to return to South Boston District Court on August 14, where he will face charges of armed assault with intent to murder, kidnapping, and threats to commit a crime for the July 23 attack on a woman on Old Colony Avenue, and additional charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for a July 24 attack on a different woman on Gates Street.

Lord was laid to rest in her hometown of Wilbraham earlier this week.

Conley said the Boston Police Department’s homicide squad worked non-stop since the hour that Lord’s body was discovered. They were assisted by officers from the Massachusetts State Police, the Suffolk County Detective Unit, and the BPD crime lab, during the overall investigation to try and tie Alemany to the heinous crime. “This has been in a every way a team effort, and I want to extend my thanks to each and every member of that team for stepping forward with the information they had,” he said.

Alemany will be arraigned at the conclusion of his current mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital, officials said. Despite the fact that police were able to bring charges to Alemany in connection with Lord’s death, there is still work to be done, however. “We can’t lose sight of our ultimate goal,” said Conley.