(Police sketch) A basic sketch showing the area around Hume Brook in Newton where the body of Arlene Clevesy was found in June 1972. The case has been declared solved and closed.

CONCORD — While serving a sentence of life in prison for the August 1972 murder of a Massachusetts man, Albert Francis Moore Jr. told a number of people he was the guy who was also responsible for the death of 48-year-old Arlene Clevesy, whose body was found in the woods near Hume Brook, in the small southeast New Hampshire town of Newton.

But when state police cold case investigators reopened the Clevesy case in 2015 and went back to speak with Moore, he denied responsibility not only for Clevesy’s death, but also for the Massachusetts man he was convicted of killing years earlier.

But even without Moore’s input, police had garnered enough information and evidence, both older and more recent, that convinced them Moore did in fact kill Clevesy, who, despite the passage of time, “is still immensely missed, loved and remembered,” members of her family said in a statement.

As for Moore, he died in prison of prostate cancer in November 2019 at age 88, police said.

“Based upon all of the evidence gathered during the investigation into this 1972 homicide, investigators are now convinced that Mr. Moore killed Ms. Clevesy on June 4, 1972, in Newton,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell said in announcing the development.

Although Moore has died, and therefore cannot be prosecuted for Clevesy’s murder, Morrell said the case has been closed “as ‘solved,’ but without arrest or prosecution.”

According to Morrell’s statement and investigators’ reports, Clevesy was last seen alive in the early morning hours of June 4, 1972, “in the company of Moore.”

Clevesy, at the time of her death, “had been happily married for almost a year,” and lived with her husband, Harold Clevesy, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which is just two towns away from Newton, where her body was found.

On the evening of June 3, the reports state, the Clevesys went to the Hotel Whittier in Haverhill for drinks. Between 9-9:30 p.m., Harold went home, but Arlene “stayed out,” which investigators were told she often did.

But when she didn’t return home, Harold grew concerned and called her sister to see if she or anyone else had heard from her.

Around the same time, a local fisherman named Stephen Bennett was on his way to Hume Brook when he spotted what he thought was a mannequin in the water.

But when Bennett realized it was a person, he called local police, who in turn notified state police, the reports state.

Trooper William Thompson arrived a short time later, and began the first stages of an investigation that would remain open for nearly 50 years.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.