SALEM, Mass. — The man accused of killing two men who were found dead behind a Massachusetts Walmart in April was held without bail during a court appearance on Thursday.
Jay Blodget, 30, of Salem, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder during his arraignment Thursday in Essex County Superior Court, District Attorney Paul Tucker said in a statement.
Blodget, who is homeless, is accused of of killing Andrew Ross Guempel, 41, of Arizona and Jonathan Thompson, 42, of Oregon, Tucker said.
Their bodies were found by a dog walker who reported stumbling upon a human body in the woods near a Walmart on Highland Avenue in Salem on April 23.
The victims’ bodies were found with signs of blunt force trauma and stab wounds and “hidden in the woods by various items and dirt,” a prosecutor said during Blodget’s arraignment in Salem District Court on April 24, soon after his arrest.
A prosecutor in April alleged that Blodget made a statement to investigators “implicating himself in the two murders.”
A motive for the killings was unclear on Thursday.
Boston 25 has reached out to Blodget’s defense attorney, Michael Phelan, for comment.
About a week before his arrest for murder, Blodget was arrested for breaking into a storage unit just across the street from where the double murder happened.
Salem Police allege that Blodget used a hacksaw to cut open the storage unit while trying to move himself in. Police recovered nearly $1,000 in cash. Blodget told officers he earned the money panhandling.
Blodget was arrested and later released on personal recognizance.
On Thursday, Judge Kathleen McCarthy-Neyman ordered Blodget held without bail.
He is due back in court on July 24.
Since the beginning of March, several bodies have turned up across New England, fueling online chatter that a serial killer could be on the prowl.
Some of the bodies, including unidentified remains, have been found in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
In Massachusetts, a woman was found dead near a bike path in Springfield on April 22, skeletal remains were located along the Massachusetts Turnpike in Framingham on April 10, and a human skull was uncovered in the woods of Route 3 in Plymouth on March 6.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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