10-14-2011, 09:07 AM
Boston Herald this morning:
COLEBROOK, N.H. — Celina Cass’ heartbroken mother is disputing her estranged husband’s account of the night the slain 11-year-old vanished, saying he wasn’t in bed early but instead was up drinking with friends at their West Stewartstown home.
“He was visiting on the porch with two friends. They were drinking on the porch. They were socializing,” Louisia Noyes said yesterday of Celina’s stepfather, Wendell Noyes. Louisia Noyes told a TV interviewer last month that she and her husband had split up since Celina’s killing.
Wendell Noyes — who has not been identified as a suspect in the homicide probe — said in his earlier TV interview he had nothing to do with Celina’s murder and believed an intruder was to blame.
Spotted yesterday at the family’s home, Wendell Noyes responded to a reporter’s questions saying: “I’m just waiting. I’m just waiting. I’m just doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Granite State investigators declined comment last night, but they told the Herald this week they don’t have enough evidence to make an arrest. They also urged anyone with information about the case to come forward, even if they think it’s only a small detail.
Yesterday, Louisia Noyes — who met with investigators last month on the day investigators determined Celina was killed — expressed a mother’s anger about her daughter’s unsolved slaying.
“It’s frustrating, haunting and unbearable,” she said. “I’m very frustrated because I don’t get any answers for my daughter’s murder.”
Wendell Noyes’ truck was one of two seized in the investigation. The other belonged to Kevin Mullaney, who was living with the family at the time of Celina’s death, the son of Louisia Noyes’ former boyfriend. Mullaney’s truck was released, Louisia Noyes said.
Mullaney declined to speak to a reporter yesterday, even as friends and family urged him to do so. Mullaney’s father said authorities have urged his son not to speak with media.
Louisia Noyes said Mullaney has cooperated with police. “He’s done a polygraph. He’s been strip-searched,” she said.
In her first sit-down interview since authorities determined Celina was killed, Louisia Noyes also revealed the girl’s body was in such a poor state that police would not allow her to see it — even after a funeral director’s restorative efforts.
Noyes also said police declined to show her the blanket found around Celina when police pulled her from the Connecticut River near her home Aug. 1.
“I asked if I could ID the blanket and see if it came from my house. They would only let me ID her pajama bottoms and her underwear,” she said.
There was no sign of a struggle in her home, she said, and if there was one, she didn’t hear it from her bedroom.
“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “If only I hadn’t had the fan or the TV on, I would have heard something.”
“I want justice and I want my baby back,” she said. “I want the person who did this to die. Someone threw her away like a piece of trash.”
![[Image: bf103e_080611girldeadcs04.jpg]](http://multimedia.heraldinteractive.com/images/20111013/bf103e_080611girldeadcs04.jpg)
noyes yesterday lurking at the house
![[Image: f1cd99_101311murdersc007.jpg]](http://multimedia.heraldinteractive.com/images/20111013/f1cd99_101311murdersc007.jpg)
COLEBROOK, N.H. — Celina Cass’ heartbroken mother is disputing her estranged husband’s account of the night the slain 11-year-old vanished, saying he wasn’t in bed early but instead was up drinking with friends at their West Stewartstown home.
“He was visiting on the porch with two friends. They were drinking on the porch. They were socializing,” Louisia Noyes said yesterday of Celina’s stepfather, Wendell Noyes. Louisia Noyes told a TV interviewer last month that she and her husband had split up since Celina’s killing.
Wendell Noyes — who has not been identified as a suspect in the homicide probe — said in his earlier TV interview he had nothing to do with Celina’s murder and believed an intruder was to blame.
Spotted yesterday at the family’s home, Wendell Noyes responded to a reporter’s questions saying: “I’m just waiting. I’m just waiting. I’m just doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Granite State investigators declined comment last night, but they told the Herald this week they don’t have enough evidence to make an arrest. They also urged anyone with information about the case to come forward, even if they think it’s only a small detail.
Yesterday, Louisia Noyes — who met with investigators last month on the day investigators determined Celina was killed — expressed a mother’s anger about her daughter’s unsolved slaying.
“It’s frustrating, haunting and unbearable,” she said. “I’m very frustrated because I don’t get any answers for my daughter’s murder.”
Wendell Noyes’ truck was one of two seized in the investigation. The other belonged to Kevin Mullaney, who was living with the family at the time of Celina’s death, the son of Louisia Noyes’ former boyfriend. Mullaney’s truck was released, Louisia Noyes said.
Mullaney declined to speak to a reporter yesterday, even as friends and family urged him to do so. Mullaney’s father said authorities have urged his son not to speak with media.
Louisia Noyes said Mullaney has cooperated with police. “He’s done a polygraph. He’s been strip-searched,” she said.
In her first sit-down interview since authorities determined Celina was killed, Louisia Noyes also revealed the girl’s body was in such a poor state that police would not allow her to see it — even after a funeral director’s restorative efforts.
Noyes also said police declined to show her the blanket found around Celina when police pulled her from the Connecticut River near her home Aug. 1.
“I asked if I could ID the blanket and see if it came from my house. They would only let me ID her pajama bottoms and her underwear,” she said.
There was no sign of a struggle in her home, she said, and if there was one, she didn’t hear it from her bedroom.
“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “If only I hadn’t had the fan or the TV on, I would have heard something.”
“I want justice and I want my baby back,” she said. “I want the person who did this to die. Someone threw her away like a piece of trash.”
noyes yesterday lurking at the house