She was found dead in 1999. Now a grand jury has indicted a 53-year-old man in the cold case.
PROVIDENCE − A 53-year-old Providence man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1999 strangling of Kathleen O'Dowd Boleman.
The indictment and arrest of Kevin Williams in the decades-old killing is the outcome of a cold-case investigation led by Providence police Detective Angelo Avant.
Williams, who is held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, is accused of strangling the 41-year-old woman behind Roger Williams Middle School on Thurbers Avenue in Providence.
Her body was discovered on a nearby sidewalk – close to a mural that had been painted to memorialize a middle-school student killed in 1994.
From cold case to grand jury indictment
Williams had emerged as a suspect early in the investigation. Still, investigators could not gather enough evidence to charge him, according to a news release issued jointly Thursday by Providence's police chief, Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr., and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha.
In recent years, say authorities, Avant had examined evidence, re-interviewed witnesses and developed new witnesses, working with prosecutors.
A Providence County grand jury handed up a sealed indictment charging Williams with homicide on April 12.
Superior Court Judge Kristin E. Rodgers issued an arrest warrant.
On Tuesday, Providence police detectives arrested Williams on Rhodes Street without incident, police say.
Starting a homicide investigation from "ground zero"
A Providence police officer had found the victim's body on the sidewalk along Richardson Street at 1 a.m. in 1999.
At the time, police identified the victim as Kathleen J. Souza of Warwick. Authorities declined to divulge the cause of death to protect their investigation.
A police spokesman, Capt. John Ryan, said investigators had no witnesses and were starting from "ground zero."
He said, "It's going to take a little time to piece together."
On Thursday, Neronha was struck by the amount of time that had transpired since the death.
“The passage of time does little to lessen the pain felt by those who have lost a loved one at the hands of another," said Neronha, "particularly when such crimes go unsolved for many years.”
He and Perez thanked Avant and Providence police for their work.
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Held without bail
Williams, who faces a charge of first-degree murder, was arraigned Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Maureen B. Keough, who ordered him held without bail.
After that, he was charged in District Court, Providence, with violating a domestic no-contact order, police said.
In August, Providence police arrested Williams and charged him with domestic simple assault, third offense, domestic vandalism, third offense, and disorderly conduct, according to online court records.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence police make arrest in 1999 Kathleen Boleman cold case
