Norwood Boy Arraigned For Girl’s Murder-November 8, 1954

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING: Violent Crime & Homicide. This historic entry contains detailed archival coverage of a violent crime, sexual assault, and homicide involving a minor. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

15-Year-Old Peter William Makarewicz Pleads Innocent to Sex Slaying of Classmate Geraldine Annese

Shortly after receiving Holy Communion in his jail cell, thin-faced Peter William Makarewicz, the boy next door, pleaded innocent today to the sex slaying of pretty Geraldine Annese. The youth, who allegedly confessed to the strangle murder of the 15-year-old Norwood girl whose unclad body was found Friday in a two-car garage between their homes, was ordered held without bail. His case was continued until Nov. 15.

The accused killer’s distraught parents sat side by side, a few feet away as their eldest son was arraigned in the crowded Dedham District Court room a short while after a funeral mass was held for Geraldine. Court Clerk Andrew Geishecker read the murder complaint charging that Peter “did assault and beat with intent to murder Geraldine Annese by strangulation and did murder her.” The complaint was signed by Norwood Police Chief Mark Folan. “Are you guilty or not guilty?” Geishecker asked the 15-year-old defendant. Peter, standing in the prisoner’s dock, lowered his head, and in a clear but soft voice, replied: “Not Guilty.” At this point, the youth’s mother, Mrs. Adrienne Makarewicz, broke down and with tears streaming down her cheeks, buried her head on her husband’s shoulder. Tears welled in the eyes of the boy’s father, Peter S. Makarewicz, and he was seen to shake from emotion. A plea of innocent is mandatory in a district court of a defendant charged with a capital offense. The lower court then declines judgment of such a case. Following a lower court hearing, probably on the continuance date of Nov. 15, the Norwood boy’s case will be heard by a grand jury, and will eventually be judged in the Norfolk County Superior Court.

The boy turned his head away from Judge Gilbert W. Cox as the latter asked him routine questions about his rights pertaining to defense counsel. Atty. Louis Goldstein of Roxbury represented the boy. He and Dist. Atty. Myron N. Lane agreed to the Nov. 15 continuance. Goldstein told the court that the defense would require proper investigation and preparation for the defense of this boy in a proper manner. Goldstein later told newsmen that he would ask for a district court hearing to establish probable cause — a move apparently designed to learn some of the government’s evidence against his young client. Following the brief arraignment, the youth was led downstairs to a detention room for transfer back to the Dedham jail, where this morning he went to confession and was given Holy Communion by Rev. Hippolyte Zawalich, pastor of St. Peter’s Polish Church, Norwood, where the youth served as an altar boy. The boy’s father told newsmen that he and his wife visited Peter at his jail cell yesterday afternoon. “He’s in a daze, I don’t think he knows what it is all about yet,” the father said.

Attired in a green-check jacket and white turtle-neck sweater, the same clothing he wore at the time of his arrest Saturday, the youth was handcuffed to Norwood Police Chief Mark Folan when he was brought to court for his arraignment. Also guarding him was State Police Sgt. Walter Bogdanchick. Peter raised his free hand to shield himself as a battery of news photographers flashed away at their arrival at the courthouse.

District Attorney Lane told newsmen that the youth would give no motive for the slaying but added “we have evidence to show what it is.” Peter, Lane said, planned the murder Thursday night, intercepting Geraldine at the two-car garage on her return from a double date. The young pair had gone out together two years ago, he said, and Peter still carried affection for her while she was dating other boys. The district attorney revealed that Peter refused to undergo a lie detector test when he was picked up for questioning. He said Peter became a suspect when investigators learned that he had a fresh scratch on his face. The boy claimed he had received the scratch playing football. The scratch tied in with the discovery that when Geraldine’s body was found she had a broken fingernail. In her struggle for life, she apparently had marked her killer. Peter denied being involved in the six previous sex attacks which had turned that neighborhood into a state of near panic since September.

As Peter was being taken to court, heart-broken relatives and friends of the girl, numbering about 1,300 and including many classmates of both Peter and Geraldine, filled St. Catherine’s Church, Norwood, for her funeral. A solemn high mass of requiem was celebrated by the Rev. William Carroll. Six boys, including Robert Durning, 16, of Walpole, whom Geraldine had dated the night she was slain, served as pallbearers. Six girls, including Mary Constantino, of Norwood, who had seen Geraldine a short-while before the murder, were honorary bearers. Burial was in Highland Cemetery, Norwood. Geraldine’s mother was near collapse as committal prayers were read over the white casket by the Rev. William J. Maguire. The accused killer and his victim lived in three-decker houses in the “Flats” section of South Norwood — Geraldine on Tremont Street and Peter on Washington Street at the corner of Tremont Street, just 200 feet away — a vegetable garden separating them. Neighbors, stunned by the killing on one side of the garden, were even more shocked that the murderer lived on the other side. For them it had become the garden of evil.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger