Dark Downeast - The Murders of Stella Bolton & James ‘JJ’ Moore (New Hampshire)

Episode Date: February 16, 2021

NEW HAMPSHIRE COLD CASE, 1991: February 16, 2021, marks 30 years since two beloved figures of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire community were found dead, victims of an attack in their own home.This is the case of Stella Bolton and James ‘JJ’ Moore, a special release mini-episode of Dark Downeast.Report what you know with the New Hampshire Cold Case Tip Form View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/stellaboltonjjmooreFollow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-caseDark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

Thank you. it's lack of evidence, limited archived media coverage, scarce public info, emails and messages to sources with no reply. Even after hours of digging into a case, sometimes there just isn't enough information out there for a full episode. But that doesn't mean these cases aren't worth covering. I actually find it to be the total opposite. If information is limited, that makes it all the more critical to shine a light on the names and the stories of these victims. So I've decided that when I do encounter these cases, I will bring them to Dark Down East as short special release episodes. This is the first. February 16th, 2021 marks 30 years since two beloved figures of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire community were found dead, victims of an attack in their own home. This is the case of Stella Bolton and James J.J. Moore. 68-year-old Stella Bolton moved to the United States from Trinidad where she was born.

Reports say she was known as everyone's grandmother. Stella loved to make cookies for the kids in her neighborhood. She played bingo and spent lots of time cooking at her home, a small four-bedroom bungalow at 74 Rock Hill Avenue in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a community known at the time as Mariner's Village. Stella lived with her longtime roommate, 73-year-old James J.J. Moore. J.J. was retired from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and was a veteran of three wars.

In his retirement, he was known to sit out on the front porch of that bungalow, crack a beer, and relax. He had a thing for cars, too. His neighbors told reporters he bought a new car almost every year. According to everything I read, Stella and JJ were nothing more than roommates and friends. They had a relationship built on looking out for one another. Stella took care of JJ when he needed it. He had diabetes. And they both just shared a generous nature. People loved them.

At 1.30 a.m. on February 16, 1991, a two-alarm fire was blazing at 74 Rock Hill Avenue in Mariner's Village. 24 firefighters battled flames for over an hour, but the blaze left the small four-bedroom bungalow in charred remains. Inside, first responders found the bodies of Stella Bolton and J.J. Moore. The fire marshal's office determined that the fire started in the left rear bedroom and spread to a neighboring house. But the two roommates didn't die as a result of the fire. The medical examiner determined they had been stabbed before the fire was set. The Attorney General's Office declared the deaths a double homicide. According to a 2011 article, the suspected murder weapon was discovered by a boy in the neighborhood.

He called police to report the bloodied knife with an 8-inch blade that he found nearby. Police believed that the murders were committed by locals, and the key to solving the case would be somebody speaking up about what they knew. But loyalties ran thick in that neighborhood, and perhaps a fear of speaking up played a role. Uncovering the truth about what happened to Stella and JJ through interviews proved unsuccessful. It's essential to the discussion of this case to address the potential bias

that existed at the time of Stella and JJ's murder, and that may continue to impact the case even today. Information about the investigation might have been limited, but the negative public perception of that neighborhood that the victims called home was right out in the open. In a 2011 Portsmouth Herald article, the reporter spoke to sources who referred to Mariner's Village as, quote, Portsmouth's ghetto and, quote, cardboard village, unquote. Those quoted statements were made by people who didn't live there, and those labels dismissed and unfairly characterized a place that so many people called home.

A woman named Lisa Horwitz wrote a letter to the editor to the Portsmouth Herald a few weeks later. She said in that letter, quote, The neighborhood referred to in the article as sometimes called Portsmouth's ghetto and cardboard village was my home for 20 years and the place where I raised my two sons. It was a working-class neighborhood where people knew each other and cared about each other. The children who lived near Stella and JJ would shovel the pathway to their front door each winter storm. These two people were loved. I know this because they were my neighbors, unquote. Mariner's Village was formerly Seacrest Village, and before that, Wentworth Acres,

which was built during World War II by the Federal Public Housing Authority as living quarters for the hundreds of workers at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. After the war, it was turned into the Seacrest Village Private Rentals. Leading up to the 1980s, part of the property was renovated and updated to become Mariner's Village. One article noted that couples saving for homes, college students, the elderly, single parents, employees at the entry level, a diverse community of individuals, made their home in that village given the affordable rents.

If you're from the Portsmouth area or you've lived in one of its surrounding suburbs, you might remember the Mariner's Village name from another story that made massive headlines 10 years before Stella and JJ's murders. On January 30, 1981, around 2.55 in the afternoon, the sky over Portsmouth, New Hampshire lit on fire. Police officer Albert Pace told J. Dennis Robinson and Jack Goturch at Seacoast Online, quote, there was a cascading liquid fire was coming from a jet bomber that had just taken off from former Pease Air Force Base. It crashed into the densely populated Mariner's Village and Seacrest communities. Seconds before impact, the two pilots ejected the aircraft in their escape pod and survived the crash. And by some miracle, the crash, explosions, and resulting fires didn't kill a single person. However, several families lost their homes.

Pease Air Force Base compensated the families for damages caused by the disaster. It's called Osprey Village now. J.J. and Stella's bungalow was torn down, and new condos were developed where Mariner's Village once stood. In 2011, at the 20-year mark of Stella and JJ's deaths, a new detective was assigned to the case. Detective Aaron Goodwin told the Portsmouth Herald, quote, Sadly, I think their kindness led them to being targeted. They were very generous people. Speculation and theories included Stella being a target as the result of her bingo winnings. The former Portsmouth deputy police chief, Stephen Du Bois, said 10 years ago that he hoped new DNA analysis technology might bring this case closer to a conclusion. I believe he was referring to a law passed in 2010

that would allow police to collect DNA samples from all convicted felons in New Hampshire prisons. Advancements in forensic DNA technology would then allow those samples to be compared to samples found at crime scenes. If the killer was at any point incarcerated after 2010 and DNA evidence existed at the scene, it could lead to long-awaited answers in JJ and Stella's case. But as far as I can uncover, Stella and JJ are still awaiting justice. I haven't yet confirmed

if this DNA comparison was ever conducted. Both law enforcement officials whose names I mentioned are no longer on the case. Stephen Du Bois resigned as police chief in 2015. Erin Goodwin was fired the same year. The circumstances of both Du Bois' resignation and Goodwin's termination have to do with a woman named Geraldine Weber. According to news reports, Aaron Goodwin apparently influenced Geraldine Weber to change her will and final estate plans. He visited her over a hundred times before she died while he was on duty. Those visits and her change in plans would result in him being left most of her $2.7 million estate. According to reports,

Geraldine had dementia. Aaron Goodwin was not related to Geraldine. Former police chief Du Bois claimed there had been a thorough investigation and they found no wrongdoing on Aaron Goodwin's part. But other officers later testified there was no investigation. The Portsmouth Police Commission later found Goodwin in violation of three regulations in the police department's duty manual and three regulations in the city's code of ethics. A judge rejected Geraldine Weber's estate plans, and Goodwin did not receive that inheritance. However, Goodwin did go to court, and a final 2017 ruling said that Goodwin was actually fired improperly. He was awarded back pay. The arbitrator wrote in the decision, quote, Although I have determined the department did not have just cause to terminate Officer Goodwin,

it is not because he did nothing wrong. It is because the rule was not enforced correctly, and he was improperly supervised when he was not informed his conduct was violating department rules and he needed to denounce Ms. Weber's bequests, unquote. I share that information about Du Bois and Goodwin for context, because for more than half of the last 10 years since Aaron Goodwin was assigned to Stella Bolton and J.J. Moore's cases, he was all wrapped up in that inheritance controversy, and then he was terminated. But I do have to say entirely to his credit, and despite the controversy that led to his termination, Aaron Goodwin did seem dedicated to the case when he was on it. Aaron had binders of newspaper clippings and photos, tape recordings of interviews, transcripts. He had an entire desk

dedicated to evidence in this case. He told a reporter for Patch.com in 2011, quote, I have a picture of JJ and Stella on my desk. Over time, it becomes more than just a case, where it gets inside of you, and you want to solve it, unquote. I contacted the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit and Portsmouth Police about this case and haven't yet received a response. Now, I waited until the very last second to publish this episode so I could include any comments from the current detective assigned to their cases. But nothing yet. So if and when I hear back, and as soon as I do, I will update you.

There's a Facebook profile page dedicated to JJ and Stella, where those who knew and loved them can leave comments and post photos. And though the page itself hasn't published a post since 2012, the comments by friends and neighbors of Stella and JJ shared nothing but love for the pair. Amber F. said, quote, I remember Stella mornings going over to their house and Stella making me scrambled eggs. She was an amazing cook. 25 years later, and I still can't get my eggs to taste that good. I miss them terribly. Unquote. Tasha P. posted, quote, Her niece Nicole would come from New York and visit Stella for the summer, and I would spend most of my time with them.

Stella was strict, but when she loved you, she loved you. One day during my high school years, she walked all the way from her house to Profile Avenue to come see me. I remember doing the dishes and I could just see her walking to my house. I was in disbelief, lol. But that visit made an impact on me because it showed me how much she really cared. She sat and talked to me while I was doing the dishes. My mom was at work. R.A.P. Stella and Coco, unquote. Michelle B. posted about JJ always sitting out front in his chair with a beer at 5 p.m. Never before 5 p.m., she wrote. And Michelle shared a story about Stella's love for feeding

the pigeons. She even made the front page of the Portsmouth Herald. They called her the bird lady. But one day, someone complained, and Stella wasn't allowed to feed the birds anymore. A $20,000 reward remains active for information leading to an arrest in the unsolved homicide cases of Stella Bolton and James J.J. Moore. If you have information that could aid in the investigation of Stella Bolton and J.J. Moore's murders, report it. Call the Portsmouth Crime Stoppers hotline at 603-431-1199 or Portsmouth Police Detectives at 603-436-2511. I'll also link the New Hampshire State Police tip form in the show description for this episode. If you can, please share this episode.

And I'll be posting their photos on the Dark Down East Facebook page and Instagram if you want to share those too. We cannot let the names Stella Bolton and JJ Moore get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East.