Holyoke Man Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Previously Unsolved 1983 Malden Homicide

WOBURN– A Holyoke man has pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter in connection with the previously unsolved 1983 homicide of Rodney C. Wyman, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan informed the public today.

Shawn Marsh, 48, of Holyoke, pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to a charge of manslaughter.  Woburn Superior Court Judge Thomas Billings sentenced the defendant to 15-18 years in prison.

“With this plea, the defendant has taken responsibility for his involvement in the shooting death of the victim,” District Attorney Ryan said.  “He has been held accountable for his actions because of the incredible commitment of the investigative team who pursued every lead and every new technological advance, along with the family of the victim, who never gave up hope that the person responsible for the death of their loved one would someday be brought to justice.  I commend the Malden Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office, and the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab for their thorough investigation and for their persistence and continued dedication for 30 years to pursuing and achieving justice in this case.”

On August 22, 1983, at approximately 10:46 pm, police responded to the Town Line Motel at 735 Broadway in Malden for reports of a shooting.  Upon their arrival, police located the victim who was evidencing an obvious gunshot wound. The victim, who was identified as Rodney C. Wyman, 29, of Simsbury, Connecticut, was transported to Malden Hospital where he was pronounced dead. 

An autopsy was conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (ME), who determined that the victim died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the chest, puncturing his heart, aorta and kidney.

Authorities launched an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the shooting, but were unable to determine the identities of the suspects at the time.  As technology and information sharing resources developed over the years since 1983, investigators gained access to 2 advanced fingerprint databases.  They were able to compare fingerprints recovered from the crime scene by using the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), resulting in a match identifying the fingerprints as belonging to the defendant.

With those evidentiary developments, coupled with the 28-year investigation, the defendant was charged.  Evidence showed that the defendant and another suspect broke into the victim’s hotel room with the intention of robbing the victim and his roommate.  The victim was shot and the suspects then attempted to remove items from the hotel room which resulted in the defendant leaving his fingerprints behind at the scene. 

The defendant was arrested without incident on September 17, 2011 in Holyoke by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office with assistance from Massachusetts State Police from Hampden County and the Holyoke Police Department. 

The prosecutors assigned to the case are Assistant District Attorney Elisha Willis and Assistant District Attorney Michael Kaneb. The Victim Witness Advocate is Anne Foley.