GREENFIELD, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — In a major breakthrough in a decades-old cold case, authorities have identified the remains of a woman found in Warwick nearly 35 years ago.
According to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, On June 24, 1989, Constance Bassignani’s remains were found by a driver on Route 78 in Warwick, approximately a mile and half south of the New Hampshire border.
“Upon examining the remains, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the victim had been dismembered,” Sullivan.
Bassignani’s was born in 1924 in Hawaii, First District Attorney Steven Gagne said, and at the time of her death, she was living with her second husband, William Bassignani, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Bassignani was last seen or heard alive on Memorial Day weekend in 1989, Gagne said.
“Her husband William told her family that Constance had decided to move back to Hawaii and that they would not be seeing or hearing from her again,” said Gagne. “Investigators were unable to locate any shred of evidence that Constance, in fact, ever moved back to Hawaii.”
Although her husband died in 1993, Gagne said William Bassignani is a person of interest.
The murder remains under investigation.
The district attorney’s office worked with Othram, a forensic lab in Texas that helped identify the remains of Patricia Tucker, known for years only as “Granby Girl”.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit at the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office at 413-512-5361.