The Wrong Crowd: The Tragic Abduction and Murder of Maryann Measles
In October 1997, 13-year-old Maryann Measles was abducted and murdered in Connecticut. The identity of her killers and circumstances of her death were both shocking and horrific
*Warning: This Article Contains Sensitive Subject Matter*
Background
On October 19, 1997, 13-year-old Maryann Measles disappeared from a parking lot in New Milford, Connecticut, while waiting for her mother to finish grocery shopping. The case went cold until nine months later, when, in July 1998, Maryann’s remains were discovered at Lake Lillinonah in Bridgewater, Connecticut, wrapped in a blanket and weighted down with chains.
An investigation would reveal that Maryann had been raped, tortured, assaulted, and drowned before her body was dumped into the Housatonic River, which connects to Lake Lillinonah. It would also be revealed that Maryann was not abducted and murdered by a stranger; instead, she was betrayed by those she considered friends.
Maryann Measles
Maryann Jeanine Measles was born on March 22, 1984, to Martin and Cindi Measles in Sharon, Connecticut. From her first moments, her family loved her deeply. Cindi, her mother, often said that holding Maryann for the first time was a feeling she had never known before.
Maryann grew up in New Milford, Connecticut, with her three younger sisters, Jennifer, Victoria, and Chelsea. They lived in a neighborhood where everyone pretty much knew each other. To her friends and family, Maryann was known for her big laugh and boundless energy.
The Wrong Crowd
By the time she was 13, Maryann was spending a lot of time with a group of older teenagers and young adults. These older friends seemed exciting, and all grown-up, and Maryann wanted to feel like part of the group. Some of the girls in this group were dating older boys who were in their late teens or early 20s. Maryann’s mother, Cindi, began to notice her daughter’s new circle of friends and became increasingly concerned.
By early October 1997, the situation had grown serious. Maryann went to her mother with something heavy on her heart. Tearfully, she told Cindi that two of the older boys in the group, Alan Walter and Keith Foster, had been sexually involved with her. Both were legally adults, one 19 and the other 21, and what had happened to her wasn’t just inappropriate, it was illegal.
Cindi was devastated but took the situation seriously. After talking it through with Maryann, Cindi and Maryann went to the New Milford Police Department to file a statutory rape report. The first official complaint was filed against Walter, and Maryann and her mother planned to return soon to add Foster to the report.
Word spread fast, and the older boys were angry that Maryann was planning to press charges that could get them in legal trouble. A statutory rape charge could mean prison time, registration as a sex offender, and a permanent criminal record for them. The girls in the group were furious too, not just because of the legal risk but because some of their boyfriends were the ones involved with Maryann.
By mid-October, the group had completely turned its back on Maryann. Some members, feeling threatened or betrayed, whispered about her, shot her angry looks, and, in some cases, openly threatened her. This left Maryann isolated among people she once considered friends.
Abduction
On October 19, Maryann was at the New Milford Town Green when three members of her former friend group, Maggie Bennett, Alan Walter, and June Segar, approached her in Bennett’s minivan. They began to yell taunts and threats as the van circled Maryann.
Frightened, Maryann found a payphone and called her mother to come pick her up. Cindi arrived and picked up Maryann. They then drove to the Big Y supermarket in nearby Veterans Plaza to pick up some groceries. Maryann waited in the car while Cindi went inside the store.
The parking lot was busy with shoppers and parents unloading groceries. But while Cindi was inside shopping, one of Maryann’s former friends, 24-year-old Ronald Rajcok, pulled up beside her in his Pontiac Trans Am. Before Maryann could process what was happening, he opened the door and grabbed her. She screamed, begged, and told him to let her go, but none of her words worked. Rajcok forced her into his vehicle.
When Cindi returned to the car, she was surprised to see that Maryann was gone. Confused and worried, she drove home and asked Maryann’s sister if she had seen her come back. When the answer was no, Cindi immediately knew something was wrong. She didn’t wait. She went straight to the police station to report Maryann missing. At first, officers treated the situation like a runaway case, but Cindi insisted that Maryann wouldn’t just leave like that.
Torture and Murder
After Ronald Rajcok shoved Maryann into his Pontiac Trans Am, he drove to a pull-off on River Road in New Milford near the Housatonic River. There, the rest of the group was waiting for them. Including Alan Walter, Keith Foster, Dino Dupas, Dorothy Hallas, Maggie Bennett, June Segar, and Jeffrey Boyette.
They didn’t just shout at her or shove her around. They beat her. They raped her. They struck her again and again, even as she cried, pleaded, and begged for mercy. Some of the men took turns assaulting her while others stood by. One participant later described just how Maryann tried to fight back, only to get her arms twisted as she was lifted against her will.
She was repeatedly raped by Walter, Foster, and Dupas, and beaten and verbally taunted by the girls present. As the attack wound down, some of the men moved Maryann closer to the river’s edge and forced her knees down into the shallow water of the Housatonic River, where Walter Alan held her head under for minutes, drowning her.
When Maryann stopped struggling and her body went still, the group then wrapped her body in a blanket and bound it with heavy chains and a padlock. They attached a cinder block to weigh her down, making sure her body stayed beneath the river’s surface, and dumped her into the Housatonic River.
Search for Maryann
The search for Maryann Measles went on for nine agonizing months. The Measles family plastered hundreds of missing-person flyers all over New Milford, on light poles, store windows, and bulletin boards.
Law enforcement spent about 700 hours searching, conducting more than 80 interviews, and following up on roughly 60 leads in the first weeks and months. Police questioned those who had been close to Maryann, including members of her friend group. Investigators learned that several of those individuals had been near the supermarket around the time she disappeared. But getting clear answers was not easy.
Their stories didn’t line up. Some of them said they hadn’t seen her, while others gave vague or conflicting accounts. However, with Maryann still missing and no physical evidence from the parking lot to indicate what had happened, authorities had little to work with.
A Grim Discovery
On July 15, 1998, nearly nine months after Maryann vanished, her remains were discovered by a boater in Lake Lillinonah in Bridgewater, Connecticut. She had been wrapped in a blanket and weighted down with chains.
She was found near the area where Lake Lillinonah connects with the Housatonic River. Because the remains were so badly deteriorated, Maryann was positively identified through dental records.
An autopsy determined the cause of death to have been asphyxiation, and the death was ruled a homicide by the Litchfield State’s Attorney. In December 1998, a $50,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest.
Investigation and Arrests
Despite the discovery of Maryann’s remains, the investigation into her murder remained cold, and in July 2001, four years after she had been found, new detectives were assigned to her case. Based upon new evidence, in October 2002, representatives of the Connecticut State Police announced that arrest warrants had been signed and executed for eight individuals in connection with the murder of Maryann Measles.
Seven were taken into custody in Connecticut, and Jeffrey Boynette, who was living in Texas, was arrested there and extradited to Connecticut to face charges. Law enforcement had spent years gathering statements and evidence, and now prosecutors started talks with many of the people in custody about how their cases would move forward. Some agreed to plea agreements, meaning they admitted their involvement and accepted a set sentence, while others chose to go to trial and let a judge and jury decide their fate.
Legal Proceedings
The first significant step came in February 2004, when Alan “A.J.” Walter, seen by prosecutors as one of the group’s central figures, agreed to a plea deal. As part of this deal, Walter pleaded guilty to felony murder, first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault, and tampering with physical evidence, and by doing so, he avoided the possibility of the death penalty.
Instead, he was sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors said this deal helped build the cases against the others, making it easier to pursue justice without years of legal delay. Over the next few months, more individuals accepted agreements that resolved their cases without full trials.
Jeffrey Boyette entered a plea in June 2004. He pleaded no contest to felony murder, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping, and risk of injury to a minor. This meant that he did not admit guilt but accepted that sufficient evidence existed for a conviction, and he was later sentenced to a 50‑year term, with half of that time suspended and a portion of the sentence served on probation afterward.
In September 2004, Dorothy Hallas pleaded guilty to felony murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping, and risk of injury to a minor. She was sentenced to 25 years with 5 years of probation. Maggie Bennett was charged with first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, risk of injury to a minor, tampering with a witness, and tampering with evidence. Because of her cooperation, she was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
In accordance with her plea agreement, June Segar pleaded guilty to felony murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping, and tampering with a witness. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Like Alan Walter, Deaneric “Dino” Dupas was also charged with capital murder, and like Walter, Dupas also accepted a plea deal to avoid a possible death sentence. He pleaded guilty to felony murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault. He received a 47-year sentence.
Ronald Rajcok, the man who had abducted Maryann, was also given a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to felony murder, first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping, risk of injury to a minor, and tampering with a witness. In exchange, he was sentenced to 36 years in prison.
Not everyone agreed to a plea. Keith Foster refused an offer and instead opted for a trial. During his 2006 trial, Foster claimed that he had not been present at the time of the murder. After hearing the evidence, the jury found him guilty on all counts. The judge sentenced him to 110 years in prison, by far the longest sentence in the case. Even after that conviction, Foster continued to challenge the court’s decisions, but in August 2009, the Connecticut Supreme Court rejected his appeal and upheld the conviction.
Aftermath
Decades after Maryann Measles’ death, her family and members of the community continued to honor her memory. On October 19, 2023, which marked the 26th year since Maryann’s disappearance, her family organized a candlelight memorial on the Town Green in New Milford to honor her memory. Attendees lit candles, wore ribbons with her name, and shared memories of her smile and laugh, reminding the town that even years later, her absence was deeply felt.
In recent years, the story has also found its way into modern media beyond news reports. An episode of the series “Mean Girl Murders” aired in 2023, retelling Maryann’s story for a new generation. Also, in 2025, an episode of a documentary series on the Investigative Discovery channel featured Maryann’s case, bringing attention to the events and those involved.
These programs offered more context and interviews with people who lived through it, helping viewers understand not just what happened, but why it mattered so deeply to the community.
Sources:
“Episode 180: The Murder of Maryann Measles.” True Crime New England, 27 Feb. 2025, https://www.truecrimene.com/episodes/oqssi6llqb1pofq57p85khvpxdrf4m
Friedman, Jordan. “Maryann Measles’ Friends Abducted and Killed Her: A&E.” AETV, 9 Oct. 2025, https://www.aetv.com/articles/middle-schooler-maryann-measles-friends-abducted-and-killed-her
Keane, Kaitlin. “Maryann Measles’ Family Pays Tribute to CT 13-Year-Old 26 Years after Her Murder: ‘She Was a Person.’” Ct Insider, 20 Oct. 2023, https://www.ctinsider.com/newmilford/article/maryann-measles-family-vigil-new-milford-ct-18433434.php
This is a very tragic story and beyond comprehension. How on earth was a little girl even allowed to hang around these clearly deranged adults in the first place. I have no words.
Justice was not served. 😐