| Police knocked on the door and it was soon answered
by Kendall’s mother. The officers informed Kendall's parents and
sister of the purpose of the visit. They were taken to the
Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department while the
police began their search. Within the hour, they located the first
body. The house was immediately surrounded by police and secured.
“We were resolved to preserve the scene at any cost,” said Lt.
Siegrist. Rather than work the house throughout the night, the New
York State Police decided to process the crime scene beginning
at daylight.
99 Fulton was a two-story green colonial home
situated in the middle of the block, sandwiched in between two other
similar houses. It looked like any other home on the block,
although it had a slightly run-down appearance. According to
the Town of Poughkeepsie assessor’s office, the house, which
was built on less than a quarter acre, sold in 1975 to a McKinley H.
and Paulette Francois for $11,500. The neighborhood is average
when compared to others in that section of town and many homes in
that same area rent to college students.
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| Fulton Avenue |
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In the morning, the police, dressed in sterile white
suits and wearing anti-putrefaction masks, entered the home. The
house was filled with garbage that was strewn everywhere, on the
floors, furniture, in the sinks and closets. Clothes were piled on
every inch of floor space and sheets were pulled over the windows.
One detective remarked in all his years on the job, he
had never seen such wretched living conditions. The stench was
overpowering, it permeated every room, every corner and seeped out
into the street like some toxic cloud.
Within one hour, hundreds of people gathered outside the
building. The word had spread that Kendall Francois had been
arrested for murder. Dozens of people from the media descended
upon the neighborhood. Spotlights and cameras soon lined the street
as the police went about their morbid business. Relatives of some of
the victims arrived to watch the gruesome story unfold. A woman's body was found in the attic. Then another. And
still
another. Some spectators ran
from the scene, gagging on the oppressive smell of death and
garbage.
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District Attorney William Grady told the newspapers:
“Based on what the suspect told us, the eight bodies are inside
that house.” Slowly, in a grim
pageant of death, the bodies were removed from the house. The
corpses were in various states of decomposition, some far advanced
beyond the putrefaction stage. Insect activity was widespread and
there were indications of rodent presence. The bodies were located
in several different areas of the structure, often covered with
clothes or blankets.
The New York Daily News said, “When cops went to the
green, aluminum-sided house at 99 Fulton St., they were nearly
bowled over by the stench of rotting flesh.” Detectives knew that it would
be days before identifications could
be made. Estimates of time of death in such cases are difficult,
if not impossible, to determine.
There is only one rigid rule: the longer period of time between
death and the estimate, the more inaccurate the estimate will be.
Also present in the growing crowd on Fulton Avenue was Patricia
Barone, mother of Gina Barone, who was reported missing back in
December, 1996. Mrs. Barone stood bravely with her family but she
was prepared for the worst. “In my head, I’d come to terms with
it. I had a feeling she was gone all this time. I always felt that when the good Lord thought I was ready to hear it, I’d hear it,”
she told reporters from the N.Y. Times.
Over the next five days, the police investigators
continued their search for bodies and evidence. The crowds got
bigger, the media was everywhere. Relatives of victims gathered
outside and held vigils in remembrance of their loved ones. On
September 5, the eighth and last body was removed from the Francois
home. By then, the first body found was identified as Catina
Newmaster, the last girl to be reported missing.
Identifications of Gina Barone, Sandra French and Catherine Marsh
quickly followed. A few days later, Wendy Meyers, Kathleen Hurley
and Mary Giaccone were also identified.
Police made another
gruesome discovery: one body, later identified as Audrey Pugliese,
34, was from New Rochelle, NY; she had not been reported
missing. How she came to be inside the house, no one knew. Only the
enigmatic Kendall Francois could provide a clue, but he wasn’t
talking. Kendall was charged with second-degree murder on the
morning of September 2. Represented by an attorney, he would not
make any further statements. But he was well known in the city of
Poughkeepsie. One prostitute told the Journal, “Most of us
knew him. We did crack together.”
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