Valarie Fiorenza was a 30-year-old Massachusetts model found dead on April 15, 1993, hanging in the basement of the Saugus home she shared with her boyfriend, patrol officer Paul Bennett. State police ruled the death a suicide. Her family, backed by an independent forensic pathologist, has argued for more than thirty years that she was killed and the scene staged, and that the investigation was compromised because the house belonged to one of the department’s own officers.
Who She Was and Her Relationship With Paul Bennett
Valarie began dating Paul Bennett, a long-time Saugus patrol officer, around 1991. They lived together at 28 Fairchild Avenue. Her parents, George and Linda Fiorenza, described Bennett as controlling and possessive. Friends called him obsessed and jealous, particularly over Valarie’s modeling work.1Dark Downeast. Valarie Fiorenza
Two Restraining Orders in the Months Before Her Death
On December 29, 1992, Valarie filed an application for a 209A restraining order against Bennett in Somerville District Court. Her sworn affidavit said that two days earlier Bennett had stalked and harassed her at several locations, thrown furniture, and threatened to “use all his police powers to destroy me” if she left. She also said he had threatened to spray hair spray on her face and set it alight with a lighter.1Dark Downeast. Valarie Fiorenza
She alleged that on December 29, 1992, Bennett had her arrested by lying to fellow Saugus officers, telling them she had hidden his service weapon. She said she was taken to the station in handcuffs wearing only her undergarments and released roughly ninety minutes later without charges. Her parents gave a more severe account of that night, alleging Bennett held a gun to her head and beat her for hours before police arrived.1Dark Downeast. Valarie Fiorenza
On April 12, 1993, three days before her death, Valarie filed a second 209A order, this one in Lynn District Court, again reporting physical abuse, stalking, and threats to set her on fire. Lieutenant Stephen Harper of the Saugus Police Department confiscated Bennett’s weapon and firearms permit after that filing.2Dark Downeast. The Suspicious Death of Valarie Fiorenza
How She Was Found
Valarie did not show up for work on April 14, 1993. Her manager called her ex-husband, Larry Cassidy, who contacted Saugus Police after he could not reach her. The next day, officers forced entry into 28 Fairchild Avenue and found her in a basement storage closet, suspended from a floor joist by a rope, a stool inches from her feet. The front and rear exterior doors had been barricaded from inside with two-by-four lumber jammed against the doorknobs.2Dark Downeast. The Suspicious Death of Valarie Fiorenza
Neighbors later reported seeing a Saugus police cruiser at the house on April 14, despite the active order barring Bennett from the home. Others reported seeing unidentified people entering the house on April 15 before officers officially discovered the body.2Dark Downeast. The Suspicious Death of Valarie Fiorenza
Why the Suicide Ruling Is Disputed
The Massachusetts State Police Essex County unit investigated under case number 93-106-X102-0107. Investigators found no criminal activity directly attributable to the death and officially classified it a suicide.1Dark Downeast. Valarie Fiorenza The Fiorenza family has alleged that the determination was reached before the autopsy was performed.3Websleuths. Valarie Fiorenza, 30, Saugus, 15 April 1993
The family hired Dr. Yongmyun Rho, a forensic pathologist who had served as deputy chief medical examiner for Queens, New York, and as Los Angeles County coroner, to review the autopsy findings independently.4Los Angeles Times. L.A. Names New York Deputy Medical Examiner as County Coroner Dr. Rho identified several inconsistencies with the suicide conclusion. He noted posterior rigidity and lividity over the lower extremities, which suggested the body had lain flat on its back for a significant time after death rather than hanging. He also noted the absence of pinpoint hemorrhages around the eyes, which commonly accompany death by hanging or strangulation.2Dark Downeast. The Suspicious Death of Valarie Fiorenza The family read these findings as evidence that Valarie may have been killed elsewhere and then strung up in the basement closet.5Dark Downeast. The Suspicious Death of Valarie Fiorenza
Three notes were recovered from the scene, including a poem scratched into a candle. The family has argued these were farewell notes connected to Valarie’s plans to move out, not expressions of suicidal intent. And while the exterior doors were barricaded from inside, the basement bulkhead was not, leaving a possible exit for anyone who staged the scene and left afterward.2Dark Downeast. The Suspicious Death of Valarie Fiorenza
No Discipline for Bennett
Despite the two restraining orders and the detailed allegations in Valarie’s affidavits, the Saugus Police Department did not discipline Bennett. John Vasapolli Jr., an attorney for the town of Saugus, said a restraining order against an officer was not a basis for disciplinary action, and acknowledged the town did not conduct its own internal investigation into the abuse allegations.1Dark Downeast. Valarie Fiorenza The family has argued the death investigation was inherently compromised because it took place in the home of a sitting officer.
Wrongful Death Suit and the Insurance Ruling
On April 11, 1996, George and Linda Fiorenza filed a wrongful death action against Bennett.2Dark Downeast. The Suspicious Death of Valarie Fiorenza That lawsuit set off a related insurance dispute. Bennett’s insurer, National Casualty Co., filed a declaratory judgment action in Middlesex Superior Court to avoid defending him. In August 1998, Justice Raymond J. Brassard granted summary judgment to the insurer, ruling that National Casualty had no duty to defend or indemnify Bennett because the wrongful death allegations arose from his private conduct and were “in no way related to Bennett’s law enforcement duties.”6Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. National Casualty Co. v. Bennett, et al.
Over the course of the family’s legal effort, five of the seven boxes of evidence they had collected reportedly went missing.2Dark Downeast. The Suspicious Death of Valarie Fiorenza
Where the Case Stands Today
Paul Bennett has never been arrested or charged in connection with Valarie Fiorenza’s death. The case remains officially closed as a suicide, and no criminal investigation is known to be active. The Fiorenza family has continued to publicly challenge the ruling for more than three decades, and the case drew renewed attention in the 2020s through online forums and podcast coverage, including an episode of Dark Downeast. Community members on Websleuths noted in 2024 that interest in the case had grown again in Massachusetts.3Websleuths. Valarie Fiorenza, 30, Saugus, 15 April 1993 Reporter Kevin Cullen covered the family’s challenge in The Boston Globe in April 1994 under the headline “Family fights a finding of suicide in Saugus,” and television crews visited Saugus the same year. The case has also been cited in academic forensic pathology literature as an example of a possible homicide staged to look like suicide.1Dark Downeast. Valarie Fiorenza