BOSTON -- When he was just 15 years old, Bobby Di Lorenzo, Jr.'s life changed with a single headline -- a newspaper article describing how his father's arm was found at a Woburn dump in 1972.
Di Lorenzo was just 3 years old at the time. He grew up thinking his dad had died in an accident, but that headline revealed a shocking truth: His father had been murdered.
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"It was a gruesome, gruesome death from what I've heard,†Di Lorenzo told NewsCenter 5's Bianca de la Garza.
Burlington Police Capt. George Devlin knows the case. The reports of Di Lorenzo's demise were horrific. "Two cars supposedly pulled him apart with chains or ropes. He was identified by tattoos on his arms."
When Di Lorenzo disappeared in 1972, a string of recent fire bombings terrorized Burlington and Woburn neighborhoods. Di Lorenzo was giving police information about the suspects as part of a deal that would get him out of a robbery bust.
Devlin had not thought of the case for years until 2008 when he started speaking casually to a man he met at a movie theater. The man introduced himself as Bobby Di Lorenzo Jr.
The case came flooding back to Devlin. The captain believes it was not a coincidence, "I knew there was a connection. It was meant to be when he said, 'That was my dad.'"
After 37 years, Di Lorenzo is desperate to solve his dad's murder. He said that he has unearthed a new clue.
He showed investigators a letter that his father wrote in 1972. Mysteriously, the letter was the only item stolen during a break-in at his mother's home. But recently, a second copy was found at another relative’s home. The letter piqued the officers' interest.
For all these years investigators have believed gang members likely killed Di Lorenzo after learning he had turned on them. It was a theory bolstered by the fact that Di Lorenzo had been severely beaten the year before he disappeared.
But now, nearly four decades later, the theory is being questioned. Investigators can't ignore that letter, in which Di Lorenzo claims law enforcement threatened him, forcing him to commit perjury. In the letter, DiLorenzo names names and claims he was framed.
Jim McNally, an investigator with the ATF said, “I think it's definitely part of this. It doesn't make any sense why he would make copies of the letter and send them to separate people. I think he wanted that to be out there. This was his way of saying something might happen to me and if it does take a look at this."
Di Lorenzo Jr. fears that after 37 years, he may be running out of time to find answers. “I’d just like to know what happened before it gets too late, before who ever knows is dying off. Just like to get the story out there and if someone knows come forward, please."
The Massachusetts State Police at the Middlesex district attorney’s office would like to hear any tips on this case. They can be reached at 781-897-6618.
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