The body of 15-year-old Henry Bedard, Jr., whose 1974 murder remains unsolved, was exhumed Wednesday at a cemetery in Swampscott, Massachusetts, I-Team sources say.
An excavator was seen at Swampscott Cemetery next to an open gravesite, along with tents from the Swampscott Police Department and the Essex County District Attorney.
Police and Essex D.A. Paul Tucker said they were at the cemetery as part of a case they were working on “for quite a while.” Tucker confirmed that a body was exhumed and it was being taken to Boston for an autopsy. He did not say whose body it was.
Tucker said there’s no significance for why they chose this day for the exhumation but added, “the advances in technology and science, particularly with DNA, has led us to make the request for the court order of the exhumation.”
Bedard was last seen on December 16, 1974 on Paradise Road in Swampscott after Christmas shopping in Vinnin Square. Police said his body was found the next day in the woods off Suffolk Avenue, behind where the Department of Public Works building immediately stands. A baseball bat with “unique markings” on the handle was found near his body, according to police.
Bedard was a student at Swampscott High School and played football and baseball. He also worked at his father’s service station on High Street in Danvers.
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