Connecticut prisoner to be charged with six additional murders

By Richard Weizel

MILFORD, Conn. (Reuters) - A Connecticut prisoner who pleaded guilty to manslaughter a decade ago will be charged on Friday with killing six more people whose bodies were found in a wooded area behind a strip mall, authorities said.

Police said William Devin Howell, 45, a drifter who spent considerable time in Connecticut, will be charged with multiple counts of murder during an afternoon court hearing in New Britain Superior Court.

The seven alleged victims, including the woman whom Howell pleaded guilty to killing, disappeared in 2003 during a time when he was working odd jobs in central Connecticut.

New Britain Police Chief James Wardwell said authorities had obtained arrest warrants for Howell for six additional killings, and that three of the victims were sexually assaulted.

Police in May identified Howell as a suspect in the deaths after partial remains of four bodies were found buried in a wooded area behind a shopping mall where the bodies of three women were discovered eight years ago.

A hunter came upon the remains of the first three victims in 2007.

The remains of the other four were found in April when authorities searched the site in New Britain, 12 miles southwest of Hartford, with an FBI dog trained to sniff out cadavers.

Howell pleaded guilty in 2005 to killing Nilsa Arizmendi, 33, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, although her body had not been found at the time. He is serving a 15-year sentence.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Mohammad Zargham)