This Day in Norwood History-December 27, 1932-Body of Nellie Keras Found Hidden In Cellar of Norwood Home

Neighbor of Child, 9, and Friend Arrested in Brutal Slaying

NORWOOD, Dec 27 With the discovery of her mutilated body wrapped In burlap and buried at the bottom of a woodpile in the cellar of the three-family house where she lived, Norwood police today solved the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Anealy Keras, 9, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Keras, who had been widely sought since she was reported missing Christmas night.

Ahmed Orsman, 39, a Turk and a friend of the Keras family who lived on the third floor of the house also occupied by the Keras family at 29 Oolah ave, was held without bail at the Norwood Jail on .a charge of first-degree murder.

Allie Orsman, 48, also a Turk, but no relative despite their names, was held on a charge of being an accessory before and after the fact.

Both Men Deny Crime

After two hours and 40 minutes of intensive questioning by Asst Dist Atty Edmund B. Dewing it was announced that the Orsmans had denied any connection with the crime. Dewing told newspapermen, however, that he was convinced that he was on the right track and would apply for warrants for murder against the two men in Dedham Court this morning.

Mr. Dewing said his office believed that the crime was committed Sunday and that the body of the little ‘girl was secreted in the cellar Sunday night.

He said he had no doubt but that criminal assault had been committed by both men. Dewing also pointed to the finding of the key to the section of the cellar in the pocket of one of the suspects as an important link in the case. He said that other clews were in the possession of the district attorney’s office which would make the case stronger.

At midnight Dr. George Burgess Magrath of Boston and Medical Examiner Arthur S. Hartwell, who had been working on the case, left the autopsy room and went to the scene of the murder. No statement from them was expected until late today.

Third ‘Man Sought

Meanwhile, police tonight were searching for third man who they believe joined with Ahmed and Allie in a Christmas party before the atrocious slaying of the .pretty 9-year-old girl.

Search for clews to the whereabouts of the missing girl was narrowed down at noon today to the section of South Norwood where the Keras family lived when Police Chief William H. Sullivan learned that Ahmeed Orsman had been friendly with the missing girl’s sisters.

Ahmed and his friend, Allie, were arrested soon after, the discovery of blood-stained clothing in the neighborhood indicated foul play. A search of Ahmeeds rooms in the house and the section of the cellar which he was able to rent on the few dollars he received as a welfare recipient in the town of Norwood led to the discovery of the young girl’s mutilated body shortly before 4 o’clock this afternoon,

Police Find Body

Discovery of the body was made by Sergt Thomas Lydon, Sergt William Barrett, patrolman Henry Breen and special officer Lawrence Balduff, who had been assigned to the case by Chief Sullivan. The body was bound tightly with a piece of hempen string, clad in disarrayed clothing, and jammed brutally into the burlap bag. Police said the body was disposed of in such a way as to indicate that the murderer had expected to make some safer and more permanent disposal of the body at his first opportunity.

Asst Dist Atty Dewing of Wellesley was called hurriedly from a session of the Norfolk County Court in Dedham, where he was trying a case, to take over prosecution of the case for the State, and Medical Examiner Arthur S. Hartwell of Norwood was called in to view the body,

Sisters Give Clew

The two Turks will be taken to the Dedham Courthouse tomorrow for formal arraignment. Ahmed is a widow -his wife having died a little more than a year ago. Police, said tonight that they had discovered that he frequently gave the young children of the Karas household small gifts of candy and fruit, bought from his meager income from the town Welfare Department. They said that he had made advances to the older sisters of the dead girl, Sophie, 13, and Olga, 14. There is a fourth daughter in the family, Anna, who is 9 years old.

The Keras family is of Lithuanian extraction and lived in a neighborhood peopled largely by families of foreign descent. The narrow end f Oolah ave, only 50 yards from the railroad tracks, in front of the green and white three-family house occupied jointly by Keras family and the man charged with the murder of their daughter, was surrounded by hundreds of curious and indignant neighbors.

Within a few moments after the news of the discovery of the body spread. Police reserves were rushed to the vicinity in case feeling should reach a point where an outbreak might occur. All through the day the Keras family had received calls from sympathetic friends and from police and newspapermen on the track of their missing daughter.

Visit to Fortune Teller

Mrs. Keras left the house for a few hours this morning to visit a fortune teller in Cambridge, where she hoped to receive information which might help in the search for her 9-year-old daughter. It was reported that the medium, one Fred Dixon, told the mother to look for a dark man about 40 years of age and warned the frantic mother that a blonde woman had knowledge of the girl’s disappearance, but was withholding it out of fear. The mother had returned to her home from her futile mission in Cambridge to learn that police were searching within a few yards of her dwelling.

An hour later they brought her the tragic news of her daughter’s death. An Ironic twist in the case, was the fact that Mr. Keras had asked Ahmed, the man now charged with killing little Nellie Keras, to call the police last Sunday night to report that she had disappeared from home. Records at the police station showed that Ahmed had phoned details of the girls disappearance at 8:10 Sunday night, several hours after the time when they believe the girl was murdered.

The district attorney characterized the murder as an extremely brutal one and commended the Norwood police for solving the mystery of the girl’s disappearance. The slain girl had long blond hair and was an attractive child, large and intelligent for her age.

At the Balch Grammar School, where she was in the eighth grade, her teachers said that she was smarter than the average pupil.

At a late hour tonight, the district attorney and Chief Sullivan were still grilling the two men, hoping to obtain a full confession of the crimes with which they are charged.

Mr. Keras and his daughter, Olga, the older sister of the slain girl, were called to the police station again to confront the accused pair. A Norwood police also were still waiting for the medical examiner’s autopsy report.