The latest episode of True Conviction on Investigation Discovery features the murder of 75-year-old Irene Kennedy by Martin Guy.
At around 8:15 am on December 1, 1998, Irene went on her daily walk with her husband, Tom, of 50 years at Francis William Bird Park in Walpole, Massachusetts — something they had been doing for 10 years.
Irene and Tom separated and walked on different paths through the woods. After 15 minutes, they were supposed to meet near Bird Pond, but when Irene did not show up, Tom went looking for her.
He found Irene’s partially nude body about five feet from the dirt path. She had been beaten, strangled, and stabbed 32 times. Police said she also had two bite marks, one on each breast.
Nine days after Irene was brutally murdered, Norfolk County police arrested her daughter Kathryn’s brother-in-law Edmund Burke, who lived next to the Francis William Bird Park, after tracking dogs lead investigators to his home.
Burke was released from jail 41 days later, after the saliva from the bite marks and palm print found on Irene’s body did not match his DNA.
Investigators stated that the dogs only led them to Burke’s home because of his dead cats. When four of his pets died, he placed them in a freezer and was planning to bury them in the Spring as the ground was frozen at the time.
After being wrongfully arrested, Burke was rewarded $400,000.
Irene’s murder case turned cold until 2003 when the DNA evidence linked Martin Guy, who worked as a pizza delivery man, to the murder. He was already incarcerated for stabbing his neighbor, Christopher Payne, to death on September 20, 1999, and he was serving a life sentence.
Guy was charged with first-degree murder, and in 2006, a Dedham Superior Court jury found him guilty of killing Irene. He wanted a new trial, but the Supreme Judicial Court rejected his request. He was sentenced to life in prison.
True Conviction — Murder In New England, airs at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.