Local News

Bulger's arrest long awaited by alleged victims

Posted: 06/23/11 at 6:00 am

BOSTON -- The news of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger’s arrest has been a long time coming for the families of several of Bulger's alleged victims.

Bulger will face a long list of charges when he appears in court Thursday, but most chilling are the 13 murders with which Bulger has been linked.

In the years since his disappearance, horrifying details have emerged on the killings -- including those of two young women his associate Steven "The Rifleman" Flemmi had been involved with.

Debra Davis disappeared in 1981, when Bulger and Flemmi allegedly lured her to a vacant house in South Boston.

There, Flemmi says Bulger strangled her with his bare hands.

Another young woman, Deborah Hussey, was strangled in nearly the same way after allegedly using her gang connections to her advantage, something Bulger reportedly saw as a liability.

Hussey was not only Flemmi's girlfriend at the time, but his step-daughter as well.

In 2000, Bulger confidant Kevin Weeks led authorities to two different grave sites in the area.

Davis' body, along with another victim, was unearthed under the Neponset Bridge in Quincy.

The bodies of Deborah Hussey and two others were discovered in the basement of a Dorchester home that same year.

At the time her body was discovered, the Davis family said that the FBI may hold some blame for her death because they failed to keep their informant - Whitey Bulger - under control.

"Possibly my sister could be alive today if the FBI was doing their job properly," Davis’ brother, Robert, said at the time.

There's been no word from authorities on the murder charges since Bulger's arrest late Wednesday, but for many families, the news of his capture is a closing chapter in a long and painful journey.

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