Peter Makarewicz Confesses to Murder of Geraldine Annese-This Day in Norwood History-November 7, 1954

YOUTH CONFESSES SLAYING

Peter Makarewicz, 15, who according to Dist. Atty. Myron Lane, has confessed the slaying of Geraldine Annese, also 15, of Norwood, Mass. Makarewicz is shown while being led to the scene of the crime by Norwood (Mass.) Police Chief Mark Folan (right) and an unidentified police officer (AP Wirephoto)

‘NICE’ BOY CHARGED WITH SEX MURDER OF SCHOOLGIRL

A lanky, 15-year-old altar boy and former Boy Scout was charged with murder Saturday after he allegedly confessed to strangling Geraldine Annese, 15, an ex-schoolmate, whose nude body was found Friday in a garage beside her home.

Dist. Atty. Myron Lane said that Peter Makarewicz Jr., good-looking six-footer, confessed to strangling the girl with his bare hands. Peter allegedly confessed after eight hours of questioning. Handcuffed to police later, he walked through a horrified crowd of his neighbors to the garage as investigators sought a reenaction of the crime.

SEX CONNECTED

Lane said:

“There was sex connected with the attack. He planned to do it that (Thursday) evening. We have evidence that shows he had reason (to kill the girl) although he didn’t say.”

Geraldine, a vivacious sophomore in a vocational school, had been out with other teenagers on Thursday night and left them about 9:45 p.m. When she failed to return home by 11:30 p.m. her father reported her missing.

Next morning, her body, clad only in socks, was found on the garage floor. A necklace was drawn tightly around her neck, but authorities did not believe the ornament was the instrument of death.

The district attorney quoted young Makarewicz as saying that he waited at the side door of the girl’s home until she returned, and then lured her into the garage where she was slain.

Peter was among several teenagers questioned Friday.

Peter and Geraldine went to grammar school together and until recently they had taken the same cooking course in school. They lived around the corner from each other and “dated” until she broke off the association six months ago, neighbors said.

Peter’s mother said today: “He used to walk home from school with her. He’s never been in trouble.” Neighbors referred to him as a “nice” boy.
As Peter walked with police to the garage this afternoon, Geraldine’s step-brother, Philip De Rose leaped at him, shouting: “My sister’s dead. My mother’s dying.” Geraldine’s grief-stricken mother has been given sedatives.

Police said that young Peter attempted to make a date with another girl last night, less than 24 hours after Geraldine met death.

Police Chief Mark Folan said suspicion had been directed to Peter by a palm and fingerprints found on a car parked in the garage.

Town Manager John B. Kennedy announced a state of police emergency in the town. He said at least six other attempted assaults had been made on women and girls in Norwood since Sept. 4.

There was some similarity to Geraldine’s death in the slaying in September at Springfield of babysitter Lynn Ann Smith, 14, and a four-year-old boy she was tending.

An 18-year-old youth, Kenneth Chapin, a friend and neighbor of ’ the Smith girl, and a pallbearer at her funeral, confessed to the slaying. He too, a slender, quiet youth, is undergoing mental tests required before a murder trial.

Fr. Hippilyte Zawalich, pastor of St. Peters Church, said young Makarewicz served mass there last Sunday, and “he was one of the nicest boys I have known.”

The priest said the boy had a slight inferiority complex and added: “I talked to him and straightened him out. Whenever he had some problem, he would discuss it with me and we would clear the matter up.”

The slain girl’s body was laid out in white, with a rosary twined in her fingers, today at a funeral home. Services were scheduled for her Monday in St. George’s Catholic Church, a Lithuanian congregation, at the same hour her alleged slayer is due for arraignment on a murder warrant.

Police said they had determined that he had been babysitting for his baby sister, Nancy, the night of the slaying and from his home saw the girl returning. He then went to the garage, they said, called to her and she answered the summons to her death.