Dr. Vincent DiMaio, Pathologist in Notorious Murder Cases, Dies at 81
In the summer of 1967, in New Hampshire, a woman named Martha Moore was brutally shot to death in her home. The autopsy revealed that her body was mutilated — most likely through a sexual assault. A police officer who investigated the murder was later called before a grand jury. He was later tried and convicted of the crime.
The officer, Detective William F. Cappuccio, had been suspended from the New Hampshire State Police for four months for his involvement in the case. He took his trial testimony in a civilian court and was ordered to stand trial on the murder charges.
The trial began on September 23, 1967. The trial was halted on February 13, with Cappuccio’s attorney having to explain to the court that he was unrepresented because “he didn’t have a lawyer.”
Cappuccio was found guilty and sentenced to five to seven years in prison. He was released from prison in 1974.
A few weeks after Cappuccio’s conviction, on March 25, 1968, he received a phone call from his brother, John Cappuccio, who was in California. John Cappuccio had been arrested earlier that year. It was his sister Martha who’d been murdered.
John Cappuccio and his four brothers had their share of troubles in New Hampshire. Each of them was implicated in some illegal activity and each brother faced several charges of criminal assault and other charges relating to their illegal activities. John Cappuccio was the most infamous. His brother’s death, however, would be the final act in what would become the most notorious murder case this country had ever seen.
John Cappuccio’s murder trial began on July 30, 1968, with a jury trial. The jury, after deliberating for nearly