Cambridge still has few answers in slaying
Authorities try to quell fears in wake of Danehy Park attack
Authorities told Cambridge residents rattled by this month’s slaying of a 6-foot-6 man found with blunt-force trauma to the head they still don’t know whether the attack was random or not. “These kinds of things are unnerving,” Mayor Marc McGovern told about 100 people at the Peabody School Thursday night, not far from where Paul L. Wilson, 60, of Cambridge was found lying on a path near a discarded baseball bat in Danehy Park shortly before 7 p.m. on Jan. 2. “They’re rattling … because for the most part Cambridge is a very safe city.” That came as little comfort to some residents, who called for better lighting in the park, even though police Commissioner Branville G. Bard Jr. said Wilson was found under light. He said uniformed and plainclothes police officers will continue to regularly patrol the park. “There’s a murderer out there on the loose,” said one woman, who declined to give her name. “How could they take down a 6-foot-6inch man? Don’t tell me this park is safe.” Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan made another public plea for information, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, that might lead to an arrest in the slaying. The baseball bat was found a short distance from Wilson, she said, but it remains unclear whether it was the slaying weapon. Robbery does not appear to be the motive for the killing, Ryan has said, noting that the victim was found with “possessions” on him, but it also wasn’t immediately clear whether the attack was random. Cambridge police Superintendent Steven DeMarco has said officers continue to patrol the park. The day after Wilson’s body was found, police leafleted the area with warnings about the killing. Danehy Park historically has been one of the safest recreation areas in Cambridge, police said. The last serious crime reported there was a 2009 aggravated assault. Wilson lived in a condominium on the other side of the sprawling, 50-acre park, which includes several athletic fields, jogging paths, a playground and a dog run. A woman who lives in the same building where Wilson did for about 20 years said he walked everywhere and would go into the park on nice evenings to do some stargazing. She and other neighbors described him as a nice person whom they could not imagine having any enemies. Authorities urged anyone who visited the park between 6 and 7 p.m. Jan. 2 or who noticed anything unusual in the preceding days and weeks in the park to contact investigators at 617-349-3300. Wilson was wearing shorts and a red winter jacket, hat and gloves, she said, so a passerby may have noticed him. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous can contact police at 617-3493359.