Rutland Homicide Victim ID'ed, Arrest Made In Connection With Missing SUV
RUTLAND (CBS) -- The body found in a burning Rutland home Friday has been identified.
Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early's office reported Sunday that 53-year-old Diane Lamarche-Leader was found dead inside her Joanna Drive home. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has ruled the death a homicide, but the cause of death remains under investigation.
On Sunday, Lamarche-Leader's home was completely dark and all boarded up. Police say the 53-year-old was found dead inside the first floor of the Joanna Drive home after a fire broke out Friday.
Lamarche-Leader was murdered, but investigators are not saying how she died, police said. Police arrested a 35-year-old homeless man, Amador Roman, on Sunday and charged him with larceny over $250 and receiving stolen property after he was found with Lamarche-Leader's SUV. Since the fire, police had been looking for Lamarche-Leader's missing 2004 Toyota Highlander.
"This stuff never happens. It's just a quiet little town in Central Mass.," one neighbor said.
Neighbors said Lamarche-Leader had lived in the home since her messy divorce last February. They also said she was supposed to move out of the house the day she died.
"If it's a murder next door, then it is what it is," the neighbor said.
Roman will be arraigned on Monday in East Brookfield District court.
Police have not said whether they have any suspects in the woman's homicide.
State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office and Rutland Police are continuing the homicide investigation.
WBZ-TV's Paul Burton contributed to this report.
