The man accused of killing a 66-year-old Vietnam veteran and retired postal worker who went for a morning jog in a Rhode Island park nearly a decade ago was found guilty Friday by a judge who rejected the mental illness defense. of the suspect.
Michael Soares, 37, was charged with first-degree murder for stabbing and beating John “Jack” Fay in May 2013, whose body was found in a dumpster in Warwick City Park.
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The case baffled investigators until 2019, when DNA recovered from a hammer found near the scene was linked to DNA that one of Soares’ relatives had contributed to a geneological database.
Michael Soares, 37, was found guilty of the 2013 murder of 66-year-old John “Jack” Fay in a park in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Soares has been held without bail since his February 2019 arraignment. He originally pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea at the start of his trial with waiver of jury on January 4 to not guilty by reason of insanity.
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Psychiatrists for both the defense and the prosecution testified that Soares was schizophrenic. The defense psychiatrist said Soares thought someone was going to kill him and that people could read his mind.
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However, the prosecution psychiatrist noted that Soares tried to hide the body and flee the country after the murder, indicating that he was aware that what he had done was wrong.
