NL man accused in second cold case

When two prostitutes were strangled in the late 1990s, Dickie E. Anderson Jr. quickly became a suspect.

Police noted similarities in the cases early on. Both of the women used crack cocaine and sold their bodies for money. Both were strangled by their killer, who then dumped their bodies on out-of-the way roadsides. And both were associated with Anderson, a father of three who has a history of assaulting women.

In June, the 40-year-old New London man was charged with the 1997 murder of Renee Pellegrino. On Wednesday, police arrested him in the 1998 murder of Michelle Comeau in Norwich.

Anderson often partied with Pellegrino, according to acquaintances. He knew Comeau, 29, through his father, the late Dickie Anderson Sr., who sometimes provided Comeau shelter at his Norwich apartment.

Police had long ago developed Anderson as a suspect, but he was not charged until the Southeastern Connecticut Cold Case Unit, comprising state and local police and other law enforcement agencies, reinvestigated. Details of the allegations, set forth in arrest warrants signed by Judge Kevin P. McMahon, remain under seal at least through Sept. 14.

Comeau's mother, Christine Comeau, has kept in touch with detectives over the years but did not attend Wednesday's arraignment and could not be reached by phone.

Comeau's grandmother, Catherine Jakubiel, was glad to hear of Anderson's arrest. "My friends every so often say, 'If they would only catch him it would make you feel better,' " Jakubiel said during a telephone interview. She said her daughter suspected that Anderson had something to do with Comeau's death.

Anderson waved to his mother and a friend in the courtroom gallery Wednesday when he was presented before Judge Patrick J. Clifford for arraignment. He stood with defense attorney John T. Walkley, who has been appointed as a special public defender in both cases, and calmly answered a series of questions after the judge read him his rights.

Anderson has not entered a plea in either case, since he and his attorney are mulling whether they will require the state to present its cases against Anderson at evidentiary hearings. Defendants in murder cases are entitled to so-called probable cause hearings within 60 days of their arrest.

Anderson, who is being held at the Walker Reception Center on bonds totaling $3.5 million, has waived the 60-day time limit.

In May 1998, police found Comeau's body dumped along an access road to the Norwich Industrial Park near the Norwich-Franklin town line.

Friends said the 29-year-old mother of three was trying to overcome a life of mental illness. She suffered from Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder whose victims are prone to sudden, involuntary movements and vocalizations. She had lived in institutions and group homes from age 4 to 18. As an adult, she worked as a prostitute, trying to support her crack cocaine addiction.

She was released from prison a month prior to her death, and Anderson's father had offered her a place to stay. Anderson Sr., who is now deceased, sobbed upon hearing of her death in 1998. He told a Day reporter he had urged her to "stay off the goddamn sidewalk" but she would not listen.

Anderson Jr. knew Comeau through his father and told police he was with Pellegrino on the night she disappeared from downtown New London. His DNA and another person's DNA were found on her body, which was discovered on June 25, 1997, at the dead end of Parkway South in Waterford, not far from New London city limits.

Pellegrino, who was 41 when she died, had a law degree and was a gifted musician, but she suffered from depression after losing her father and sister in car accidents, her relatives said. She started taking drugs to help ease the pain and eventually turned to prostitution to support her addictions.

Pellegrino had been charged with prostitution and was released from prison the day before her death. She was last seen in the area of Green Street in New London several hours before her naked body was discovered by a police officer on patrol.

A friend of Pellegrino said she had seen Pellegrino and Anderson together and admitted they "did party a lot" when they were together.

Anderson has a lengthy criminal record. Most recently, in June 2008, he was convicted of first-degree unlawful restraint, third-degree strangulation and interfering with a police officer stemming from an arrest in New London. He was sentenced to a year in prison and was on probation and working at a local nursing home when he was charged this June with Pellegrino's murder.

k.florin@theday.com

i.larraneta@theday.com