Man accused of killing Renee Pellegrino is charged with another murder

Dickie Anderson Jr. has been arraigned on a second murder charge this morning in New London Superior Court.

In the newest case against Anderson, 40, of New London, police charged him with killing 29-year-old Michelle Comeau of Norwich in 1998. Anderson was charged June 1 with the murder of Renee Pellegrino.

Both of the women had been working as prostitutes and were victims of strangulation. Pellegrino's body was discovered in a cul-de-sac off Waterford Parkway South on June 25, 1997. Police found Comeau's body dumped along an access road to the Norwich Industrial Park near Dodd Stadium in May 1998. Anderson has acknowledged he knew both victims. He told police he was with Pellegrino on the night she disappeared from downtown New London.

Anderson was served with the new arrest warrant when he appeared in court this morning. When he was presented before judge Patrick J. Clifford for arraignment, he waved to his mother and a friend in the gallery and calmly answered a series of questions the judge posed after reading Anderson his rights.

The arrest warrants in both cases remain sealed through Sept. 14. Anderson will be represented by defense attorney John T. Walkley in both cases. He has not yet entered pleas in the cases because he and his attorney are mulling whether to ask the state to present its evidence against him at a probable cause hearing. Defendants in murder cases have the right to such a hearing within 60 days of their arrest. Anderson has waived the time period in both cases.

Anderson, a father of three, was working at a nursing home at the time of his arrest.