Authorities Say They’ve Arrested a ‘Serial Killer’ in Massachusetts Who Preyed on the Vulnerable

A Lowell, Massachusetts, man already convicted in two killings more than a decade ago is now facing two additional murder charges — and authorities say the pattern qualifies him as a serial killer.

Kevin Lino, 38, is currently incarcerated for the 2012 killing of Normand Varieur in Boston and the 2014 killing of Jack Gilbert Berry in Missoula, Montana, according to Boston 25 News.

In August, prosecutors in Middlesex County charged Lino in connection with the deaths of two other men who were experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts, the district attorney’s office said.

“Mr. Lino is a serial killer,” District Attorney Marian Ryan told Boston 25 News. She cited the U.S. Department of Justice definition, which describes a serial killer as someone who has killed at least two people in separate incidents. “In this case we already have convictions in two. We’ve now brought charges in two more.”

Authorities emphasized that the allegations against Lino are not linked to the unrelated New England deaths that fueled online rumors of another serial killer earlier this year. Since March, remains of more than 10 women have been found across Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Police have said they do not believe those cases are connected and that several are not considered suspicious.

According to the new charges, prosecutors allege Lino killed Gary Melanson, 54, in Lowell in 2010. Investigators say the two were living at the same homeless encampment when Lino became angry that Melanson kept lighting fires to stay warm. Prosecutors claim Lino feared the fires would attract police or firefighters and tried to stop him. When Melanson continued, Lino allegedly attacked him with a metal baseball bat, striking him repeatedly and killing him.

Six years later, investigators tied Lino to the 2012 death of Douglas Leon Clarke, 30, in Cambridge, prosecutors said. Clarke was initially believed to have died from an accidental overdose involving multiple substances, including morphine, codeine, ethanol and gabapentin, and no foul play was suspected at the time.

But in 2018, investigators learned Lino had been living in the same encampment as Clarke near the Harvard Square MBTA station, according to the district attorney’s statement. Prosecutors allege Lino was angry about heroin users staying at the site and was trying to force them out. Authorities now believe he intentionally gave Clarke a lethal dose of heroin — commonly referred to as a “hot shot.”

Prosecutors say the investigation remains active and that there may be additional victims, Boston 25 News reported.