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Texas board denies parole for Sarah Pryor murder suspect

Wayland Town Crier 8/17/11: Texas board denies parole for Sarah Pryor murder suspect. The former Sherborn resident considered a suspect in Sarah Pryor's murder more than two decades ago will remain in a Texas prison at least five more years. The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole voted to deny parole to John Whirty, said a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. It was the ninth time Whirty's case for parole has been reviewed in Texas. The next will be in August 2016, criminal justice spokesman Jason Clark said yesterday. Whirty, 66, denies killing Pryor in 1985, but Massachusetts investigators have called him a prime suspect in the Wayland 9-year-old's death. He has also been called a likely suspect in the disappearance of Stow teen Cathy Malcolmson two months before Pryor's abduction.

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Posted in News Police

Last Wayland murder remains unsolved

Wayland Town Crier 7/5/11: Last Wayland murder remains unsolved. It has been 26 years since the abduction and killing of 9-year-old Sarah Pryor, Wayland's last homicide before the weekend slaying of Lauren Astley. Sarah vanished from her Concord Road neighborhood in 1985. The Daily News reported that she was last seen walking north along Rte. 126 in Wayland, near the Lincoln town line. According to Daily News reports, search efforts were unsuccessful and the case went cold until 1995, when a man discovered a skull fragment while walking his dog through a wooded area in Wayland. The remains were exactly three miles from where Sarah was last seen. Three years later, investigators announced that DNA from the fragment matched Sarah's. In January 1998, she was laid to rest on the same day she would have turned 22. The case remains unsolved, despite a dubious confession and multiple suspects, including convicted Texas killer John Whirty.

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