William DeRoos, the murderer and former wife of Rita Curran, told reporters he had been killed by a drug overdose
A key piece of evidence was a cigarette butt that had been found near Curran’s body. The butt and other evidence were sent away for analysis. The test did compile a DNA profile of whoever had smoked the cigarette, but it did not match any samples in DNA databases compiled by law enforcement.
William DeRoos died in a hotel room of a drug overdose and will not be held accountable for his actions, even though he was responsible for the murder of Rita Curran.
Since the investigation was renewed in 2019, detectives re-interviewed DeRoos’ former wife, and she told them he had left their apartment for a brief period within a window of time when Curran’s roommates were out of her Burlington apartment.
But when investigators questioned DeRoos and his wife the next morning, the couple said they had been together all night and didn’t hear or see anything. After police left, DeRoos told his wife if they were questioned again, she should not admit that he had left the apartment “or they would go after him” because he had a criminal history, police said during a news conference Tuesday.
Instead of having a single detective work the cold case alone – the department’s usual strategy – he treated the crime as if it had just been committed, bringing in a team of detectives and expert technicians to review and discuss it, his investigation report says.
An outside genetic genealogy expert concluded that cigarette DNA had strong connections to relatives of DeRoos on the paternal and maternal sides.
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“Ultimately, those emotions are ones of relief, of pride for me (and) for this department, but mostly of gratitude to a family that has been through an incredible ordeal for more than half a century,” he said.
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A cigarette found near the body of a Vermont classroom teacher in her apartment nearly half a century ago has led police to her upstairs neighbor who they say killed her after a fight with his wife.
The family of the victim did not learn who killed their daughter until the event was held at Burlington police headquarters.
Tom said he didn’t think about the person who did this as much as he did about Rita, his parents and what they went through. “I pray for my parents and Rita.”
Trieb and his team of detectives, officers, technicians, and others began working the case as though it had just happened after all, since it remained open.
DeRoos and his wife, who no longer uses the name DeRoos, left Vermont shortly after Curran’s death. Their marriage ended after DeRoos went to Thailand. DeRoos married again after moving back to the United States.
DeRoos’s first ex- wife did not know that he had killed her husband, but was protecting him because of his criminal record, said Detective Thomas Chennette on Tuesday.
Now-retired U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who was the Chittenden County State’s Attorney when Curran was killed and went to the crime scene that night, attended the Tuesday event. He said that he had hoped that the case would be solved.