1990s Brockton Murder And Rape Cases Cracked: DA

BROCKTON, MA — DNA evidence linked Brockton murder and rape cases from the 1990s to a man who died last year at the local Veterans Affairs medical center, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.

"I hope this outcome brings renewed optimism to other families still seeking justice," Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J . Cruz said in a media release about the cases of Cherie Bishop and Donna Bell.

Bishop was 28 when she was found strangled to death in Mulberry Park in June 1991. She was nude and had been sexually assaulted, according to the release.

Less than two years later, Bell was grabbed by a man driving a van as she walked along Annis Avenue.

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"The unknown male held an electric wire across her face and told her to cooperate or he would strangle her," the release said.

"After sexually assaulting her, the suspect grabbed a sharp object," according to the release.

"Fearing he was going to stab her, she grabbed the object, sustaining slices into her right hand, the release said. "She jumped out of the passenger's side and screamed for help. Two Brockton Police officers found the victim standing at the intersection of Ames Street and Interval Street in a state of distress."

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Bell died in 2021, according to the release.

Samples taken from the two women's sexual assault kits were uploaded into the FBI's criminal justice DNA database and a "link was made between the two cases in 2016," the release said.

In March 2023, the district attorney's office enlisted the assistance of a Texas-based research company that uses ancestry websites where genealogists use the the information provided to "identify close family members of the unknown
DNA sample," the release said.

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Further testing conducted in 2025 led investigators to identify Brockton resident Robert Carey as both Bishop's killer and Bell's rapist, according to the release.

"The Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab matched
Carey's DNA with the sexual assault kits of both Bishop and Bell," the release said.

At the time of Bishop's murder and the attack on Bell, Carey lives within a mile and a half of both crime scenes, according to the release.

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In the years leading up to his death of natural causes in June 2025 at age 64, Carey resided at the Brockton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the release said.

"For decades, the Bishop and Bell families were deprived of the full story of what happened to their loved ones," Cruz said.

"They carried these tragedies across lifetimes," he said. "Today, thanks to a multijurisdictional effort led by my office's Unsolved Homicide Unit, we are finally able to identify the perpetrator who victimized Cherie Bishop and Donna Bell.

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