Woonsocket experienced more ups than downs in ’18
2018 IN REVIEW: WOONSOCKET
Abreak in a cold-case murder, the promise of a regional job-training center and an infusion of fresh blood into the body politic were some of the top stories of 2018, and they will likely continue developing in the New Year.
Just when many were wondering whether anyone would ever be arrested for the March 23, 2016 stabbing death of Constance Gauthier, the Woonsocket
Police Department in July announced the arrest of two suspects in the murder of the young-at-heart 81-yearold. One, Tyler Grenon, 24, had been on their radar since the days after the homicide, when police took note of a peculiar request he’d been making of
Gauthier’s neighbors, asking to see footage from their home surveillance systems. The other was a friend of
Grenon’s – Matthew Dusseault, 21, of Cote Avenue.
While many questions remain about why they allegedly murdered
Grenon’s next-door neighbor, the manner in which the police homed in on the suspects was as unexpected as their arrest. Police turned to ancestry
DNA to find Dusseault, using genetic material his mother had voluntarily supplied to a genealogical research company to link him to the crime scene.
Gauthier’s homicide was particularly brutal. Investigators say the chairwoman of the city’s Personnel
Board was stabbed nearly 70 times in the head, neck and torso with two different knives. Grenon remains free on bail while Dusseault is held at the state prison as police and prosecutors prepare to seek formal indictments against them in early 2019.
There were other noteworthy crime stories that made headlines this year, but big news also emerged from the arenas of politics and economic development. One of them involves the ironic ascendancy of a figure who set out with modest expectations –
School Committee Vice Chairman
Donald Burke.
When 2017 was ending, Burke was on his way out as a school official because appointing authorities couldn’t agree on renewing his term
– Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt thought the panel would be better served with someone else. The City Council disagreed, demanding she reintroduce him for ratification. A chorus of supporters emerged to rally around Burke, a Massachusetts school teacher who humbly likened city schoolchildren to an extension of his own classroom.
The clamor led the council to call for the abolition of the short-lived appointive system of choosing school board members, reverting to traditional elections. Burke, 65, tossed his hat into the ring, won a seat and – nearly a
year to the day his appointive term ended – was reinstated vice chairman with the support of fellow board members.
On the city side of political life, Baldelli-Hunt won a third term, handily overcoming a feisty challenge from former City Council President Albert G. Brien in the general election. And voters reshaped the City Council more dramatically than they have in any electoral cycle in recent memory, replacing three of its seven members. One is Julia A. Brown, who turned 24 a few days after the election, making her one of the youngest-ever councilors. Another is John F. Ward, a veteran councilman returning after a fiveyear break, and the third is well-known insurance professional David Soucy – grandson of one mayor and nephew to another.
On the economic development front, the Northern Rhode Island Higher Education Center is still more of a promise than a reality – but what a promise. Gov. Gina Raimondo has committed $4 million to bring the public-private job-training partnership to the city, making the announcement with Baldelli-Hunt in July. The initiative has been likened to the Westerly Education Center, which trained more than 1,000 in shipbuilding skills for Electric Boat, except the Northern Rhode Island sibling facility is teaming up with Fidelity Investments, Amica, CVS Health and other regional employers for a more white-collar approach.
Expect Raimondo, Commerce Corporation of RI and Baldelli-Hunt to make an announcement next year about the location of the proposed facility. Will they retrofit an old landmark or embark on new construction? Will the location be close to the downtown or less central? Those are the big near-term questions. Stay tuned.
Another leading business story was the sale of Walnut Hill Plaza to Florida-based Out of the Box Ventures in a $5.7 million transaction in early summer. The sale occurred with roughly half the strip mall’s 303,500 square feet of retail space vacant, including the mega-shell of a defunct Sears store. Out of the Box said it may try to lift the shopping center from its doldrums at least partly by de-emphasizing retail – a sector still coming to grips with the growing dominance of online storefronts. But the company also said it would test the waters for adding a supermarket and a cinema to the shopping center.
There have been few tangible changes at Walnut Hill since the transaction closed in July, but don’t be surprised if Out of the Box makes news again in 2019.
All in all, the traditional downtown may have had a better year in positive developments than the Diamond Hill Road retail zone. A prime piece of restaurant real estate – the former Vintage – was sold to Nicholas Markopoulos, a Worcester restaurant-equipment vendor, whose culinary friend, Angelo Petropulos, will set up an Italian restaurant in the Market Square location. Tentatively called Sweet Basil, the restaurant is expected to open by mid-2019, after renovations. Other victories for Market Square: the city intends to convert the former Aly’s Pub into a boat ramp for the tourism riverboat Explorer, the Blackstone River Bikeway is pushing through and River Falls Restaurant was just sold to new owners who may add a nightclub and breakfast to the popular riverfront venue.
Also under the heading of crime, there was an incident in July that should serve as a reminder that no place in America is insulated from the twin threats of gun violence and the increasing level of hostility focused on members of law enforcement.
It was during a routine patrol in the pre-dawn hours of July 2 – a Monday – that police officers saw Tyler Chan- dler, then 22, casually toting a handgun as he strode along Cumberland Street. Thus ensued a five-hour-long game of cat and mouse in which Chandler exchanged gunfire with police in two separate engagements. Officers fired a combined 38 rounds during the volleys, while Chandler fired 11 rounds at the officers. He was unscathed, however, and former Deputy Attorney General Gerald Coyne later praised officers for showing exceptional professionalism and restraint.
One policeman wasn’t as lucky as Chandler, however. One of the rounds fired by the suspect struck rookie Officer Travis Young in the thigh. Though not life-threatening, the wound was serious enough to sideline him for months. After making a full recovery, he recently returned to duty.
A Middletown resident, Chandler was indicted on 11 felony counts by a Providence County grand jury, but there’s a strong likelihood the criminal changes will hang in limbo for some time – maybe forever: Chandler has been declared incompetent to stand trial, which means he is incapable of assisting in his own defense due to some cognitive deficit – exactly what it a matter of medical confidentiality. The courts of have asked state healthcare officials for an update on his status on Jan. 9.
Another of the year’s top stories also involved a crime – one that tragically left a seven-year-old boy, Hunter Benvenuti, orphaned in an explosion of family violence. On Sunday morning, Oct 7, with Hunter in another part of his father’s house on Bluestone Drive, Glenn Benvenuti allegedly shot his ex-wife, Michelle Benvenuti – Hunter’s mother – as she arrived to pick up her son. The boy had been there overnight for a custodial visit. He has since been taken in by relatives on his late mother’s side of the family.
At a briefing on the crime a few days later, Police Chief Thomas F. Oates called Michelle Benvenuti “the victim of the ultimate crime of domestic violence.”
“She’s been murdered,” he said. “You have a seven-yearold who’s missing both of his parents. Whatever psychological issues the father may have had – certainly not making any excuses for it – it’s tragic.”