South Boston killer denied new trial, calling it a ‘horror story’ didn’t taint jury: SJC

Edwin Alemany’s Southie murder spree in the summer of 2013 was an American “horror story,” the state’s top court ruled Monday.

The killer kidnapper was denied a new trial by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in a 39-page ruling.

He will remain in the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, where he is serving life without parole.

Alemany argued elements of his insanity defense and the prosecutor’s attempt to “inflame the jury’s emotions” doomed him. The SJC said the trial judge did his job by urging jurors to focus on the facts.

“Describing the alleged crimes as part of a ‘horror story’ did not rise past the level of excusable hyperbole,” the SJC wrote.

Over 20 hours on July 23, 2013, Alemany terrorized three young women in South Boston.

He was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Amy Lord, 24, as she left her apartment. He beat her, forced her into her Jeep at knifepoint and ordered her to make a series of ATM withdrawals totaling $960 before stabbing her to death in Stony Brook Reservation in Hyde Park.

“The defendant took off Lord’s clothes, beat her, stabbed her more than forty times, strangled her, and left her naked body” behind on “an isolated path,” the SJC recounted.

“(He) left the area in Lord’s car, and over the next forty minutes he purchased gasoline in Roslindale … drove back to South Boston, and set fire to Lord’s car,” the SJC added. “The defendant then began to spend Lord’s money, paying cell phone bills; buying a new cell phone, lottery tickets … alcohol.”

That same July day he attacked a 22-year-old woman as she walked along Old Colony Avenue about 18 hours after he killed Lord. He also jumped a third woman as she entered her Gates Street home, stabbing her repeatedly before fleeing.

Alemany cut himself on the knife used in that attack and was arrested at Tufts Medical Center, where he — and the victim who identified him to police — sought treatment.

“I won. He didn’t win,” that young woman said at the sentencing.

Alemany attempted to cover up his crimes by saying he won the Lottery and he partied with a friend after slaying Lord, only to attack another woman. He was “a walking time bomb” well known to police, the Herald wrote that summer.

It all started at 4:23 a.m. that day when Alemany attacked his first victim, who fought him off. Amy Lord was his next target.

“Amy was the girl everybody wanted to be and the one I was lucky enough to call my big sister,” Amy Lord’s sister, Kimberly, said during her time on the stand at sentencing. “We will never be the same without Amy. Losing her has left us forever altered.”

Saying Lord will be “forever twentyfour years old” at the trial is true. Verdict stands, the SJC added.

As for his insanity defense, the SJC ruled the DA’s office proved Alemany’s “loss of capacity resulted solely from the voluntary consumption of alcohol or drugs.” That, the court added, means “the defendant may be held criminally responsible.”

Amy Lord
A white ribbon hangs on a pole in remembrance as mourners attend the wake for murder victim Amy Lord at Sampson's Chapel of the Acres Funeral Home in Springfield.
After the sentencing, Cindy Lord, mother of victim Amy Lord, embraces Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, Tuesday, June 9, 2015.
Kayleigh Ballantyne reacts while listening to Assistant District Attorney John Pappas address the court. She had read a victim impact statement, as did Amy Lord's mother Cindy Lord, front left, and sister Kimberly Lord, right, Tuesday, June 9, 2015.
Cindy Lord talks about her daughter Amy in her victim impact statement, Tuesday, June 9, 2015.
CONVICTED: Amy’s mother, Cindy Lord, reacts to the verdict.
TEARFUL TESTIMONY: Cindy Lord, above, took the stand yesterday in the first-degree murder trial of Edwin J. Alemany and viewed photos of the final hours in the life of her daughter, Amy Lord, whose battered body was found in 2013.
(Boston, MA - 5/21/15) Edward Landrey, who found the body of Amy Lord in Hyde Park, testifies during Edwin Alemany's murder trial at Suffolk Superior Court, Thursday, May 21, 2015. Staff photo by Angela Rowlings.
(Boston, MA - 5/21/15) Boston Police Det. Steven Blair testifies about ATM withdrawls made from Amy Lord's bank account during the murder trial of Edwin Alemany at Suffolk Superior Court, Thursday, May 21, 2015. Staff photo by Angela Rowlings.
(Boston, MA - 5/21/15) Michael Cassell, who had dated Amy Lord at the time of her murder, [HE WAS NOT CALLED HER BOYFRIEND IN COURT] bites his lip as he testifies during Edwin Alemany's murder trial at Suffolk Superior Court, Thursday, May 21, 2015. Staff photo by Angela Rowlings.
TRAGIC: Christina Kelleher, co-worker and friend of Amy Lord, cries during her testimony yesterday at Suffolk Superior Court.
HEART-WRENCHING: Dennis Lord listens in court yesterday to the opening statement of Suffolk Assistant District Attorney John Pappas in the murder trial of Edwin J. Alemany, accused of killing his daughter, Amy Lord.
(Boston, MA, 11/15/13) Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley press conference announcing that Edwin Alemany has been indicted in four attacks on young women in Boston -- including the murder of Amy Lord this summer in South Boston. Joining Conley were Assistant District Attorney John P. Pappas (left) and Boston Police acting Commissioner William Evans (not in photo). Friday, November 15, 2013. Staff photo by Ted Fitzgerald
‘YOU HAVE TO BE MINDFUL’: A Boston police cruiser is parked outside the South Boston apartment where Amy Lord, 24, lived. Lord was kidnapped and killed after leaving her apartment Tuesday morning.
The Mass card for slaying victim Amy Lord.
Amy's parents Cynthia and Dennis Lord (holding white roses) follow pallbearers carrying the casket to the hearse.
GOOD NIGHT, SWEET PRINCESS: Mourners tears yesterday at a funeral Mass for Amy Lord at St. Cecilia’s Church in Wilbraham. Above, her parents, Cynthia and Dennis Lord, leave the church after the ceremony.