The Henry Bedard Jr. cold case is the unsolved 1974 murder of a 15-year-old Swampscott, Massachusetts boy who was beaten to death with a baseball bat while walking home from Christmas shopping. More than fifty years later, no one has been arrested or charged. In October 2025, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office exhumed Bedard’s remains so investigators could apply modern DNA technology to evidence that could not be meaningfully tested in 1974.
What Happened in December 1974
Henry Edward Bedard Jr., born June 25, 1959, was a student-athlete at Swampscott High School who played youth baseball and Big Blue football and worked at his father’s service station in Danvers. On December 16, 1974, he went Christmas shopping in Vinnin Square and stopped to buy a gift for his sister. He was last seen walking along Paradise Road in Swampscott toward a wooded area locals called Kite Hill. When he missed the family’s 5:30 p.m. dinner, his family grew alarmed.
His body was found the next day, December 17, 1974, under a pile of leaves in the woods off Suffolk Avenue, behind what is now the Swampscott Department of Public Works building on Paradise Road. He was still wearing the clothes and jacket he had worn to school. The family was initially told the death might have involved a gunshot wound, but it was later determined he had been beaten to death.
The Baseball Bat and Physical Evidence
Found near the body was the murder weapon: a 31-inch Hank Aaron Louisville Slugger, a Little League model, later identified by then–Swampscott Police Chief Peter Cassidy. The bat carries distinctive hand-carved markings on its handle that appear to include the letter “K.” Those markings have never been matched to an owner, and the bat has remained a focal point of reinvestigation efforts, with detectives resubmitting it for modern forensic analysis.1The Daily Item. After 47 Years, Swampscott Murder Still a Mystery
Cassidy, who led the early investigation, later told a reporter he was likely one of the last people to see Bedard alive, having waved at the teenager from his cruiser as Bedard crossed Paradise Road that afternoon. “He just went up that way, which is the direction of where we found him,” Cassidy said.2Boston 25 News. New England’s Unsolved: The Murder of Henry Bedard
Why the Case Went Cold
The killing was the first unsolved homicide in Swampscott’s history. Over the decades, investigators identified persons of interest but never gathered enough evidence to bring charges.1The Daily Item. After 47 Years, Swampscott Murder Still a Mystery No suspect or motive has ever been publicly identified. Swampscott Police Detective Sgt. Candace Doyle, who currently works the case with Detective Sgt. Jay Locke, has said she believes someone in the area still knows what happened. “It’s just such a small town… someone knows something and we just want them to come forward,” she said.3Yahoo News. New England’s Unsolved Murder: Henry Bedard
The 2025 Exhumation
On October 1, 2025, authorities exhumed Bedard’s remains from Swampscott Cemetery on Essex Street under a court order obtained by the Essex County District Attorney’s Office. The office said the request was prompted by “information recently received.”4CBS News Boston. Cold Case: Swampscott’s Henry Bedard Jr. District Attorney Paul F. Tucker said advances in DNA technology drove the decision: “The advances in technology and science, particularly with DNA, has led us to make the request for the court order of the exhumation.”5WCVB. Henry Bedard Jr. Body Exhumed in Swampscott
The remains were transported to Boston for a new autopsy. Investigators hope to recover biological evidence that may have been exchanged during the attack, such as hair or skin cells containing the killer’s DNA, material that could not have been meaningfully analyzed with 1974 technology.4CBS News Boston. Cold Case: Swampscott’s Henry Bedard Jr. Tucker said the office is “hopeful that these advances will lead to significant evidence.”6NBC Boston. Swampscott Cemetery Police Scene Investigation
The exhumation was overseen jointly by the Swampscott Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Cases Unit, the MSP Crime Scene Services Section, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.7Essex County District Attorney’s Office. Unsolved Murder of Henry Bedard Reexamined 50 Years Later
Where the Investigation Stands Now
The case remains an active, open investigation. No results from the 2025 autopsy or forensic testing have been publicly announced. Detective Sgt. Doyle has been distributing “Justice for Henry” fliers throughout town, and investigators continue to resubmit evidence for new DNA testing and review old interview tapes and handwritten tip reports.1The Daily Item. After 47 Years, Swampscott Murder Still a Mystery
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Case Unit tip line at 1-855-MA-SOLVE or by email at mspunresolved@pol.state.ma.us.7Essex County District Attorney’s Office. Unsolved Murder of Henry Bedard Reexamined 50 Years Later
The Family’s Long Wait
The killing fractured the Bedard family, who stopped talking about it for years and mourned in isolation, according to Bedard’s sister, Cheryl Paradise-Armas. She has since become the case’s most visible advocate, maintaining a memorial blog and pushing for public attention. Henry Bedard Sr., the victim’s father, was nearly 92 in a 2025 interview and said, “I always said I would like to know before I die.”8Yahoo News. New England’s Unsolved: Henry Bedard Family Speaks
Paradise-Armas wrote that she was “broadsided” by the exhumation decision and that it reopened “a vault in which you locked away all the emotion and pain caused by the original incident,” while adding that she understood its necessity: “I also understand that we all need closure no matter how painful the process may be.”8Yahoo News. New England’s Unsolved: Henry Bedard Family Speaks