Man convicted of 1986 cold case murder. Sentenced to life in prison.

District Attorney Sam Sutter announced today that Robert Roy, 46, was convicted by a jury of his peers this afternoon of first degree murder. Mr. Roy was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Robert T. Kane to serve life in prison, with no possibility of parole.

Mr. Roy was arrested in October, 2007 for the previously unsolved 1986 murder of his estranged wife, Marni (Larkin) Roy. Marni (Larkin) Roy went missing on March 4, 1986. Her body was eventually discovered in April, 1990 by recreational divers in a privately owned quarry on State Road in Dartmouth. She was 19 at the time of her disappearance. The evidence presented during trial showed Mr. Roy lured his estranged wife into a field in Acushnet, where he killed her. Mr. Roy then dumped her body into a quarry in Dartmouth known as “The Ledge.”

The case went unsolved for more than two decades until newly elected District Attorney Sam Sutter’s Cold Case Unit re-opened more than 75 previously unsolved Bristol County homicides from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. During his first three years in office, Sutter’s Cold Case Unit has brought charges in seven previously unsolved homicides from prior administrations. Two of those seven cases have now gone to trial, both of which resulted in first degree murder convictions.

“As always, I would like to begin by expressing my deepest sympathy to Marni Larkin’s family for this senseless killing,” District Attorney Sutter said. “At last, after 25 years, they have received a measure of justice they deserved. Next, I would like to thank and congratulate all those police officers from Acushnet and Dartmouth, state police officers from my office, victim advocates and prosecutors from my office for their stellar and tenacious work in bringing this case through a successful prosecution. And, finally, I would like to applaud and thank Bill McCauley for his leadership, talent, drive and passion in solving this homicide and winning this trial. He is an extraordinary person and prosecutor as anyone who has ever worked with him can attest.”

The new investigation into Ms. Roy’s homicide was coordinated by District Attorney’s Sutter’s First Assistant District Attorney William McCauley along with Assistant District Attorney Pat Bomberg and Assistant District Attorney Margaret Peck, and included investigators from the State Police Unit assigned to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, the Acushnet Police Department and the Dartmouth Police Department.

First Assistant District Attorney McCauley, who heads up District Attorney Sutter’s Cold Case Unit and oversees all Bristol County homicide investigations, prosecuted the case along with Assistant District Attorney Peck.

The trial began on February 4 in New Bedford Superior Court and concluded yesterday with closing arguments. The jury deliberated for about five hours before returning its verdict this afternoon.