Lead Bristol County prosecutor in former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez case set to retire

After serving for 17 years as the First Assistant and Deputy District Attorney in Bristol County, William McCauley will be retiring from state service at the end of the calendar year, according to the Bristol County District Attorney’s office.

McCauley, who also worked as a prosecutor in Plymouth County for 11 years before joining the Bristol County District Attorney’s office in 2007, was the lead prosecutor in the successful murder prosecution of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez.

During his tenure in Bristol County, McCauley headed up the Cold Case Unit and, with the assistance of a team that he helped to assemble, was responsible for helping to solve numerous previously unsolved homicides from prior district attorney administrations. Some of those cold case homicides that are now solved include the 1986 Dartmouth murder of 19-year-old Marni Larkin Roy, the 1988 Fall River murder of 32-year-old Gayle Botelho by serial killer Daniel Tavares, the 2002 New Bedford murder of Marlene Rose, the 1991 Attleboro murder of Ismael Rencinos-Garcia and the 2001 New Bedford murder of Rose Marie Moniz. In all, during his time leading the Cold Case Unit, McCauley helped to solve more than a dozen cold case homicides.

McCauley was also instrumental in instituting District Attorney Thomas Quinn’s successful Untested Rape Kit Initiative, along with the office’s new Unidentified Bodies and Missing Persons initiatives. The rape kit initiative alone resulted in at least three criminal prosecutions for previously unsolved violent rapes and the Unidentified Bodies Initiative has already resulted in the identification of two homicide victims from 2005 and 1981.

During the past several years. McCauley also oversaw the day-to-day work of District Attorney Quinn’s Special Victims Unit and his work in tracking down serial cold case rapist Ivan Keith through the use of genealogical and Y-STR DNA resulted in a conviction and a 50-year prison term for the man responsible for multiple rapes in the 1990s.

In his final courtroom prosecution last month, McCauley successfully prosecuted Jonathan Niemic for the 2010 New Bedford stabbing death of Michael Correia.

As stated earlier, McCauley and co-First Assistant District Attorney Patrick O. Bomberg, both investigated, indicted and successfully prosecuted Aaron Hernandez for the 2013 shooting death of Odin Lloyd in North Attleboro.

“I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working with Bill for 17 years. His work ethic and dedication to cases to bring justice to victims is second to none. I want to express my appreciation for all of his years of service in both Bristol and Plymouth County that involved significant personal sacrifices over the years,” District Attorney Quinn said. “This was especially true during the successful murder prosecution of Aaron Hernandez. The citizens of both counties and the district attorney’s offices owe him a debt of gratitude. I wish him the best in a well-deserved retirement.”