SALEM, Mass. — Accused killer Jay Blodget was held without bail without prejudice while standing before a judge on Thursday to face two counts of murder.
Blodget, 30, who is homeless, is accused of murder in the deaths of two men whose bodies were found in the woods near a Walmart in Salem on Wednesday, according to the court.
The men who were found dead have not been identified.
Wearing a black hooded jacket with red lettering, Blodget, with long red hair and a beard, spoke briefly during his arraignment in Salem District Court when asked by a court employee whether he had an attorney or whether he would represent himself.
“Sir, from my understanding, I’ve already been appointed a lawyer, this gentleman here,” Blodget said, nodding to his defense attorney, Michael Phelan, who stood next to him.
Investigators later interviewed Blodget, who “made a statement implicating himself in the two murders,” the prosecutor said in court.
When asked by Boston 25 Reporter Bob Ward if he knows anything about these incriminating statements, Blodget’s defense attorney, Michael Phelan, said, “I don’t.”
“I know they’ll provide me with a 90-minute interview that he had a chance to speak to police,” Phelan said.
The court entered a not guilty plea on Blodget’s behalf regarding the criminal complaint for murder filed Thursday.
Prosecutors filed a motion to impound the documents in this case, including the application of criminal complaint, citing an ongoing investigation that is “less than 20 hours old.”
“There is information that would be potentially put out into the public when we haven’t even talked to all the witnesses,” the prosecutor said in court.
Judge Randy Chapman allowed the motion to seal the documents.
On Wednesday afternoon, officers responded to a call from a dog walker who reported stumbling upon a human body in a wooded area near the Walmart on Highland Avenue in Salem just before 2:30 p.m., according to prosecutors.
Investigators from Salem Police and State Police assigned to the district attorney’s office eventually found two people “with apparent blunt force trauma and stab wounds” who were dead.
“They were hidden in the woods by various items and dirt,” the prosecutor told the court.
Investigators later interviewed Blodget, who “made a statement implicating himself in the two murders,” the prosecutor said.
Blodget is due back in court on May 28.
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 Tuesday, a human skull was uncovered in the woods of Route 3 in Plymouth on March 6, and skeletal remains were located along the Massachusetts Turnpike in Framingham on April 10.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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