Dark Downeast - The Murders of Dominic Kirmil and Irvin Hilton (Massachusetts)

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

He committed his first murder at 15-years old, ending the life of an innocent shopkeeper as he and his buddies made their way around Lawrence, Massachusetts holding up convenience stories “for the thrill of it”. His lawyer would later plead for mercy on the accused teenage killer, but that mercy would have unintended consequences not so far in the future.George Nassar is a two-time convicted killer, yes, but some people believe this man who started his crime streak as a young teen might also be responsible for some 13 or more killings around Boston in the 1960s, too. His association with the man actually accused of those crimes only deepens the suspicion. View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/dominickirmilFollow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

He committed his first murder at 15 years old, ending the life of an innocent shopkeeper as he and his buddies made their way around Lawrence, Massachusetts, holding up convenience stores for the thrill of it. His lawyer would later plead for mercy on the accused teenage killer, but that mercy would have unintended consequences not so far in the future. George Nassar is a two-time convicted killer, yes, but some people believe this man who started his crime streak as a young teen might also be responsible for some 13 or more killings around Boston in the 1960s too. His association with the man actually accused of

those additional crimes only deepens the suspicion. I'm Kylie Lowe and these are the stories of Dominic Kermel and Irvin Hilton, as well as the crimes of George Nassar on Dark Down East. Mrs. Victoria Borasek didn't have time for the three young hooligans who came into her grocery store, one wielding a pistol. This is a stick-up, they barked. They'd startled her, and she'd screamed in response, but one look at the trio left her doubting they were serious about the threats they cast her way. After the initial shock, Victoria regained her wits. Thinking it was all just a prank, she grabbed a broom and chased the boys out to the street.

Just 20 minutes later, though, a second stick-up in the same part of town had a much different result. It was 8 p.m. on April 15, 1948, and 62-year-old Dominic Kermel was working alone at his shop at 99 Park Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts, when three boys came in and ordered a few sodas. They looked to be about 18 and 20 years old, and one was wearing a trench coat. A bit overdressed in the mid-April weather, but not terribly unusual. Dominic was an immigrant, born in Lithuania in 1886. Though the pieces of Dominic's story are all but lost in the news coverage of his death, I found one entry on a genealogy database that revealed a few

small details about him. He and his wife Mary had four children, two boys and two girls. Dominic's family lived in the apartment above his shop. Some sources refer to the store as a butcher or meat shop, but you could get other items there too, like sodas, as the boys had ordered. As Dominic made his way back to the icebox and collected the coke bottles, popping the caps and letting them land with a metallic tink-tink on the counter, he noticed something was different about the energy inside the shop, and it started when the three boys arrived. As he returned to deliver their sodas, the boy in the trench coat had his arm extended. At the end of it, a revolver pointed squarely at the shopkeeper. The boy shouted at Dominic, throw the cokes out, this is a stick-up. Dominic half-listened to the

boy's instructions, crashing a bottle down on top of his head. The boy staggered at the sudden impact but did not retreat. Instead, he opened fire on Dominic, landing several bullets into his body before fleeing the shop. They didn't even attempt to take any money from the register before they left. According to the Boston Globe, Dominic clung to life on the floor of his shop, enough to ring a bell that connected to his apartment directly above the shop where his wife and daughter were at home. Before his family could respond, though, two different boys entered the store to find Dominic leaning against the icebox. He begged them to get help, and the pair ran off in search of a phone to call police.

Emergency responders transported a still-conscious Dominic Kermel to the hospital. He was losing a lot of blood and had bullets lodged in his thumb, elbow, and chest. Despite his condition, Dominic had enough time left to tell police what happened and describe two of his assailants. Dominic said that one was around 19 years old, 5 foot 5 inches tall, 140 pounds, and had a dark complexion. The other was older, Dominic estimated maybe 21 years old, with fair skin. He wore a trench coat. Dominic Kermel succumbed to his injuries several hours later. The investigation into the elderly shopkeeper's murder began in earnest the next day. As the investigation began, the crime was quickly connected to the holdup at Mrs. Borasek's store and another holdup earlier in the week, based on the similarities in the description of the perpetrators and the M.O. Police tried to determine if the boys fled on foot or by car, but it was unclear how they got away from the scene of their robberies and the shooting that left Dominic Kermel dead.

On Friday, April 16th, police spoke with dozens of people and potential witnesses, and these early conversations gave them a lead on at least one of the suspects. According to the North Adams transcript, investigators released a bulletin in Massachusetts and New Hampshire with descriptions of the boys based on Kermel's recollection before he died. The suspected shooter evaded police for about a month before he came crashing into the investigation, literally. On May 20, 1948, Lawrence, Massachusetts, patrolmen Charles Keenan and Walter Silva responded to a rollover accident along Route 2 in Ayer, Massachusetts. The driver was a 15-year-old boy named George Nassar, and the car he'd crashed did not belong to him. George was unharmed in the crash,

but noting that the vehicle was stolen, officers placed George Nassar under arrest for auto theft. The teenager was processed and booked, and during the search of his person, police found two.38-caliber bullets in his pocket. They also found a nickel-plated revolver at the scene of the accident. It had been a month since the shooting death of Dominic Kermel, but the unsolved homicide was fresh in the minds of law enforcement.

The description of the suspected shooter matched the teenage boy they'd just pulled from a wrecked stolen car. The firearm matched the one used to kill the elderly shopkeeper, too. Officer Keenan decided to question George Nassar about the shooting. The Lowell Sun reported that 15-year-old George Nassar confessed during that questioning, also implicating his friends, 16-year-old Jerry Polino and 15-year-old William F. Kenny. All three boys signed written confessions, stating that the holdups were just for the thrill of it, not to actually get any money. The first robbery was on April 1st, April Fool's Day. George confessed to being the sole perpetrator of that one,

and then the next was on April 10th, this time with all three boys in attendance. They made away with $40. On April 15th were the two stick-ups, first at Mrs. Borasek's grocery store and then at Dominic's shop. In George Nassar's alleged confession, he admitted to firing the shots that ended Mr. Kermel's life. Despite the signed confessions for the multiple robberies around Lawrence, the three teens appeared in district court for their arraignment and then pleaded not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder.

They were ordered held without bail and awaited their day in court. In September 1948, the three boys were indicted on the charge of murder and several months later, in January 1949, each of the charged killers made a plea agreement, retracting their previous not-guilty pleas and instead pleading guilty to the charge of second-degree murder. The death penalty was not abolished in Massachusetts until 1984,, had the first-degree murder charges stuck,

the boys would have faced a possible penalty of electrocution. According to reporting in Susan Kelly's book, George Nassar's lawyer argued that given his age, there was hope for rehabilitation. The three boys were barely teenagers at the time of their crimes, just 15 and 16 years old, when they decided to go hold up a few shops for the thrill of it. An innocent man died as a result. George Nassar's lawyers' pleas for mercy paid off, at least for George. The death penalty was off the table, but all three teenagers were sentenced to life in state prison. George Nassar made the most of his time behind bars at Massachusetts Correctional Institution

Norfolk in Dedham, Massachusetts. Susan Chaplin writes in her book that he buddied up with the chaplain's assistant, a Unitarian minister. He helped out with the prison newsletter, The Colony, and became the editor sometime in 1956. George Nassar was no longer a teenage boy in 1961 when he went before the parole board. He had 12 years of good behavior to show during his time in state prison. And apparently, that was enough, because George was granted parole that year, walking out a semi-free man in 1961. George Nassar settled in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston sometime after his release from prison in 1961. Three years later, a crime with striking similarities to the murder of Dominic Kermel went down 40 minutes outside of Boston, in Andover, Massachusetts.

According to the Boston Globe, 44-year-old Irvin Hilton was attending to his duties as a service station operator when a man walked into the station around 3.45 p.m. on September 29, 1964. What happened next was in full view of two witnesses, Mrs. Rita Buatt and her 14-year-old daughter, Diane. As the mother and daughter pulled into the gas pumps, they could see two men inside the Lubertorium, the bay of the station intended for doing oil changes. One man, who appeared to be wearing the uniform of someone who worked at the station, was kneeling on the ground in front of the other, who had a gun. The man with the gun

shot once, and then three more times. When he turned around, the shooter realized he had an audience for the horrific act he'd just committed. Court records state that the man bounded towards Mrs. Buat's car, making his way to the driver's side door. With quick action, Mrs. Buat locked the door as the man raised the gun and pointed it at her. He pulled the trigger twice, but the gun did not fire. In a frustrated rage, the man banged on the window and pulled at the handle, trying to get at the mother and daughter. They crouched down, ducking below the windows, as the shooter turned his attention towards the neighboring highway.

When Rita and her daughter finally peeked from their vehicle again, the man was gone. Two other men pulled into the filling station while the murder was in progress, but seeing the chaos and violence, they quickly backed up and out of harm's way. Still, they were there long enough to see the shooter get into a vehicle, a black car with Virginia plates. One of the men scribbled down the plate number, knowing it would be critical information for police when they called to report the shooting. The service station attendant, Irvin Hilton, died as a result of his injuries. An autopsy showed that he suffered six gunshot

wounds, as well as stab wounds. Between Rita Buatt, her daughter, and the two other male witnesses, police were able to get a solid description of Irvin Hilton's assailant. He was described as about 5 foot 7 or 8 inches tall, around 135 pounds, and possibly in his 20s or 30s. The shooter wore a dark trench coat. On the night of the murder, court records detail that Mrs. Buatt and her daughter were shown photos of possible suspects in the killing, but they were unable to identify any of them as the man they had seen pull the trigger and attempt to get into their car. They worked with a sketch artist to prepare a composite sketch of the man, which was published in several newspapers the next day. Meanwhile, police tracked down the car with the license plate number documented by the other witnesses.

It came back as stolen the very same morning as the murder. The car belonged to a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. Boston Globe writer Jeremiah V. Murphy reported that the car was known to have a.22 and.32 caliber pistol inside when it was stolen. The murder was committed with a.22. A police officer in Lawrence, Massachusetts was on duty overnight on September 30, 1964, when he picked up a copy of the local newspaper and began to thumb through the heavily inked pages. Court records indicate that this officer was in no way affiliated with the investigation in Andover, nor was he a detective, but when he flipped to the page containing a black-and-white sketch of a wanted killer,

he had a hunch. The officer pulled open a cabinet of old files, scanning down the list of names for the case he was thinking of. There it was. George Nassar. He removed the mugshots from the file, a full face and profile view. To his eyes, George was a dead ringer for the man in the sketch, wanted for the killing of a service station attendant. He shared the photos with his superiors, and they agreed. The resemblance was enough to take action. Lawrence police didn't first consult with Andover authorities or even notify them of the hunch they were preparing to act on.

The Lawrence PD went straight to the key witnesses. They showed Rita the photos of George Nassar and asked if he was the man they saw shoot the gas station attendant. Was it the man who tried to shoot them? Rita didn't answer immediately. She wasn't sure. Her eyes darted between the different mugshot angles. She brought the photo into better lighting to get a clearer look. That's when she decided that yes, that was the killer.

George Nassar was the man she saw shoot Irvin Hilton. In a different room and without knowing her mother's answer, Rita's daughter also identified George Nassar as the killer. Only then did Lawrence police contact the Andover authorities and hand over the photo. Later that day, Andover police showed Rita and her daughter a photo lineup. Again, the mother and daughter picked out the mugshot of George Nassar. With the sketch and positive photo identification by two key eyewitnesses, police closed in on George Henry Nassar. He was 32 years old and living at 51 Deering Road in Dorchester, Massachusetts, when police knocked on his door,

arrest warrant in hand. He turned himself over to police custody without incident and faced a judge in Lawrence District Court that morning. Once again, George Nassar was charged with murder. At his hearing the following day, George pleaded innocent and was held without bail. Meanwhile, the community was outraged as more details of the case came out. A convicted killer sentenced to life was free after just 13 years, and here he was, charged with yet another murder that so closely mirrored the first. The Boston Globe reported that police chief Charles F. Hart tried to block the parole back in 1961, but was obviously unsuccessful.

Local political figures and state representatives demanded a review of every pardon and parole for the preceding decade. The key eyewitnesses to the crime, as well as other witnesses, testified during Georgia's pretrial hearings. The transcript telegram reported on their testimony, including the words of Rita Buatt. Quote, I saw the man shoot once. The other man fell on his side. The man stood over him and fired three more times.

He turned and saw us and walked towards our car. He put his hand on the door and I locked it. He looked in the window and pointed the gun at us and pulled the trigger twice. I heard two clicks. I told my daughter to get down on the floor as far as she could, end quote. When asked if the man sitting in the courtroom, George Nassar, was the same man she saw that afternoon, Mrs. Buatt responded, quote, there is no doubt in my mind, end quote. However, another witness testified that the shooter couldn't have been George Nassar. His roommate at the time, a Boston social worker named Francis Touchet, said that George was at home with him at 4 p.m. on the day of the murder.

That was the exact time the killing took place, and over 30 minutes from his apartment. This was challenged, though, as Francis Touché originally told police that George didn't return home until 5 p.m. on the day of the murder. Francis chalked this up to nervousness. Quote, End quote. Just a note, Touché previously worked inside the Walpole State Prison when George Nassar was serving time for the murder of Dominic Kermel. And Francis also served as George's counselor since his parole. George Nassar awaited his trial as a group of people

rallied around him, defending his innocence. The Lowell Sun reported that a group called the Committee for Reasonable Justice was even raising money for his defense fund. George ultimately secured famed trial lawyer F. Lee Bailey as counsel. A few months later, in January of 1965, George was placed at Bridgewater State Hospital for observation and a mental health examination. He was deemed competent for trial, and almost a year after the killing, George Nassar's second murder trial began in June of 1965. The owner of the stolen car that George was seen driving away from the scene of the murder testified that he kept a.22 caliber Spanish-made Astra pistol inside the vehicle. A member of the state police ballistics squad testified that the six bullet shells found at the scene were fired from

an Astra. Rita Buatt and her daughter testified to what they'd witnessed that afternoon. According to the Boston Globe, the young girl's testimony caused the jury foreman to get sick. He had to be escorted from the courtroom to regain his composure and was ultimately sent to the hospital for observation. The judge ordered that the trial continue, despite the absence of the foreman. The young girl identified George Nassar, the man sitting at the defendant's table, again as the killer of Irvin Hilton. You don't see it often, but the accused killer decided to testify in his own defense. He told the judge and jury that he was sick in bed at the time of the murder, from about 2 p.m. that day until the next morning,

and that his roommate and counselor, Francis Touchet, could vouch for this. When placed on the stand, Francis did corroborate the story. The murder trial concluded in June of 1965. The jury deliberated only six hours before returning their verdict. Guilty, with no recommendation for mercy. Hearing the verdict, George Nassar stood and addressed the court, insisting on his innocence. The Boston Globe reported that George rambled on about his, quote, affinity for the young girl who testified against him. Quote,

I know what it's like to be young and to be surrounded in a courtroom where the innocent are guilty. End quote. Without mercy, the only sentence for George Nassar was death. He'd be placed on death row at Walpole State Prison alongside five other men, waiting for their numbers to be called. Three years later, in May of 1968, George Nassar and his attorney, F Lee Bailey won their appeal for a new trial. It went all the way to the highest court in the state, citing issues with the initial investigation, the evidence, and trial proceedings. Among the issues was the Lawrence police approaching the two eyewitnesses that held up the prosecution's case with that photo of George, not in a lineup. George's defense argued that this was a suggestive tactic. The defense also argued that the original trial judge should

not have allowed testimony that George had previously been convicted of murder. Regardless of the arguments that won him a new chance to prove his innocence, the second trial ended in the same verdict. George Nassar was again found guilty of murder. However, this time the jury recommended clemency. The judge agreed and resentenced George to life in prison, taking him off of death row. Before he was charged and twice convicted of killing Irvin Hilton, and during the years of George Nassar's freedom between 1961 and 1964, a wave of even more brutal murders took hold of Massachusetts' biggest city.

Thirteen victims were later attributed to a singular killer operating around Boston in the early 60s. You've likely heard the name before. These are the crimes of the so-called Boston Strangler. These women ranged in age from 19 to 85 years old. They were sexually assaulted and strangled with their own garments or belongings. Albert DeSalvo was already in jail on rape charges in October of 1964 after a survivor identified him from a photo. While awaiting trial, DeSalvo confessed to being the Boston Strangler. His first confidant was a friend he made at Bridgewater State Hospital, one George Nassar. The BBC reported that George and Albert had some sort of deal. There was a $10,000 reward offered for information in the Boston Strangler case.

The pair thought that meant $10,000 per victim, and with 11 presumed victims at the time, they believed the reward was $110,000. If George turned Albert in, they'd work out a deal to split the reward money. That was a good enough deal for Albert, I guess. George Nassar was still in contact with his big shot defense attorney, F. Lee Bailey, and so he shared Albert's confession, insisting that Bailey come and have a conversation with the self-confessed serial killer. Bailey agreed and met with Albert in March of 1965. During that first meeting, Albert DeSalvo confessed to the 11 known victims, along with two other previously not connected by investigators.

His confession was specific and clear, but he included only a few details not otherwise known to the public. F. Lee Bailey agreed to take Albert on as a client and managed to negotiate an agreement. DeSalvo would provide his confession for the 13 strangling murders around Greater Boston to police, but it could not be used as evidence against him. Instead, his defense tactic was to share the confession with the jury and convince them that his client, Albert DeSalvo, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. It was a bizarre defense tactic.

An attorney arguing that his client was innocent of rape by reason of insanity because he was responsible for at least 13 murders. Convoluted logic that I can't quite wrap my head around. But as reported by the BBC, F. Lee Bailey later said his hope was that DeSalvo would end up in a long-term institution for medical professionals to figure out why he committed the murders. Well, the bizarre tactic didn't work. Albert DeSalvo was convicted on all charges, the rape and robbery charges, not the Boston Strangler murders, and he was sentenced to life in prison. There's quite a bit more to the case of Albert DeSalvo, but this episode isn't about his alleged

crimes. He was never actually charged with the murders attributed to one killer known as the Boston Strangler. His confession could not be substantiated by physical evidence at the time. And what's more, he recanted his confession in 1973, just before he was killed while serving his life sentence. Is he or isn't he? Some are convinced that Albert DeSalvo is the so-called Boston Strangler, who claimed the lives of 13 women between the years of 1962 and 1964. Others believe that there were multiple perpetrators of the crimes, and some believe that there is a far more likely suspect. Some believe the Boston Strangler is George Nassar.

It's a fact that George and Albert knew each other and spent time together while at the Bridgewater Hospital. The timeline of the Boston Strangler crimes line up with the years George was on parole and free to roam around Boston. But really, there are far more doubts concerning the guilt of Albert DeSalvo than there is evidence pointing to George Nassar. Some details do make me wonder, though. As reported by Jay Lindsay for the Associated Press, a prison psychologist who once analyzed both Albert DeSalvo and George Nassar found that George was a, quote, misogynistic, psychopathic killer who was a far more likely suspect than DeSalvo, end quote. It's theorized that George fed Albert explicit details of the crimes so he could confess. Albert was

apparently obsessed with fame and wanted notoriety, believing it would lead to a book and movie deals that would allow him to care for his family upon conviction of his other crimes. In 2001, DNA evidence taken from the body of the so-called Boston Strangler's final victim was tested against a sample from Albert DeSalvo. It was not a match. George Nassar has given a handful of interviews during his time in prison for the murder of Irvin Hilton. Each time the daring reporter asks him if he's responsible for the strangling murders, his response is the same. In October 2018, WBZ-TV reporter Cheryl Fiandaca met George for a

conversation about his old pal, Albert DeSalvo. He was frail beneath his prison-issued gray sweatsuit as she asked him, are you the real Boston Strangler? George responded, quote, Course not. If I had been, theoretically, on the sprawl with Al, we were in criminal conspiracy together, and I found out that he was murdering women and getting away with it, I'd have given him a quick and painless death right there." Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Sources cited in this episode, along with additional sources referenced,

are linked at darkdowneast.com so you can do some digging of your own. If you have a personal connection to a Maine or New England case that you would like me to cover on this podcast, send me an email at hello at darkdowneast.com. Thank you for supporting this show and allowing me to do what I do. I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers in cold missing persons and homicide cases. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.