Burned body of woman found near Bridgewater train tracks

Police are asking for the public to help identify the burned remains of a woman found near railroad tracks in Bridgewater late Tuesday night.

The Plymouth County District Attorney’s office said yesterday that Bridgewater Police received a 911 call at about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday for a report of suspicious activity in the area of the railroad tracks at Oak and Crapo streets in Bridgewater.

Responding officers found a woman aflame, hands bound behind her back and her feet tied together.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her body was removed to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner where the manner and cause of death will be determined.

“The identity is unknown,” Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said. “We believe it to be a female and she has significant burns on her body. She was bound near the railroad tracks when she was discovered.”

Cruz said that the woman was likely killed elsewhere and was dumped and burned at the site.

“This doesn’t look random,” said Thomas Shamshak, a private investigator and former Winthrop police chief. “The depravity of the act of tying someone up and torturing them might be to extract information, or an act of revenge, debt, narcotics-related, interpersonal, but certainly the act of tying them up and burning them is really a heinous example torture.”

Shamshak said that an autopsy would reveal whether the victim was burned alive when the medical examiners look for smoke damage in the lungs.

“The lack of concern in hiding the body offers a treasure trove of potential evidence,” Shamshak said. “The fact that she was found by the railroad tracks, to me, says that the perpetrator is communicating some kind of message and wanted the remains to be found.”