Waterford Murder Conviction Upheld by Connecticut Court

In 1997, Dickie E. Anderson Jr. murdered Renee Pellegrino in Waterford. He was convicted of the murder in 2012 and sentenced to 60 years in jail.

In 1998, Michelle Comeau died and the details were similar to Pellegrino’s death, according to The Day. Both women had been strangled and their bodies left on the side of the road.

In 2010, CT State Police Detectives and the State’s Attorney Southeastern Cold Case Unit arrested Anderson on the charge of murder in connection with the death of Comeau in the town of Franklin.

Witnesses discovered Comeau’s body dumped along an access road to the Norwich Industrial Park near Dodd Stadium in 1998, State Police reported in a press release. An autopsy was performed by the Office of The Chief Medical Examiner and her death was ruled a homicide.

Anderson had been incarcerated since his arrest on June 1, 2010, in connection with the 1997 murder of Pellegrino.

Related Links

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• State of Connecticut v. Dickie E. Anderson Jr. court documents

“The [then] accused Anderson was identified in the Pellegrino murder investigation through a DNA database match made by scientists from the State Police Forensic Science laboratory in Meriden,” police said.

Pellegrino, 41, was pregnant at the time of her death. Comeau was 29 years of age. Pellegrino was reportedly had a degree in law. Both she and Comeau were addicted to crack cocaine.

Comeau’s childhood consisted of multiple group home stays and mental illness. Both women were prostitutes, The Day reported.

But a New London Superior Court jury did not come to a verdict in the Comeau case. Anderson’s defense attorney, Christopher Duby, felt the two cases were not close enough in similarities to warrant trying them together.

On Wednesday, Sept. 9, Connecticut Superior Court ruled that the judge in the case, Arthur C. Hadden, did not rule inappropriately when he allowed the prosecution to try Anderson for the two cases.

Click here to read the full report by The Day.

(image via shutterstock)