State Rep. Alan Silvia will speak at the Fall River Public Library next week on one of the city’s most infamous criminal cases, the so-called cult murders of 1979 and 1980.
The program, listed on the library calendar as “Fall River’s Cult Murders: A Presentation by Rep. Alan Silvia,” is scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the library’s Meeting Room at 104 North Main Street. It is an in-person event for adults 19 and older.
The talk is tied to the case later recounted in Henry Scammell’s book Mortal Remains: A True Story of Ritual Murder.
Silvia, a former Fall River police detective, helped investigate the killings and has spoken about the case before, including a 2019 program billed as “Mortal Remains: Behind the Scenes.”
Between October 1979 and February 1980, three young women connected to Fall River’s street scene — Doreen Levesque, Barbara Raposa, and Karen Marsden — were killed. Investigators and prosecutors said the deaths were linked to alleged satanic-cult activity. Carl Drew and Robin Murphy were convicted. Drew is serving a life sentence. The case became a national Satanic Panic story and was revisited in the 2021 documentary series Fall River, which raised questions about the investigation and the convictions.
The library describes the program as a look at one of the most talked-about chapters in Fall River history. No ticket information or registration requirement is listed on the public calendar. For more details, contact the Fall River Public Library at 508-324-2700.
