Richard Vega : “Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Richard Vega for Judy Chamberlain Murder in Boston Seaport”

Jury selection to begin in trial of Richard Vega for 1988 murder of Judy Chamberlain

Jury selection is expected to begin Monday in the trial of Richard Vega, the man charged with the 1988 murder of Judy Chamberlain in what is now Boston’s Seaport, according to prosecutors.

Vega, aged 61, was charged in 2021 with first-degree murder in Chamberlain’s slaying. On July 20, 1988, she was found strangled to death in the basement of the Fargo Building at 451 D Street in what was formerly South Boston and is now the Seaport. A maintenance worker discovered her body in a large sump pump, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a statement.

Prosecutors said biological evidence collected during the initial investigation of the 1988 murder matched that of Vega, who was known by a variety of aliases, including Carl Vega, Ricardo Vega, and Ricardo Mazzerino. Additional evidence gathered during a re-examination of the case also allegedly linked him to the building where Chamberlain’s body was found, according to the district attorney’s office’s statement.

“This trial represents a good outcome for DNA science and a good outcome for those investigators who worked this terrible crime when it occurred and those who took it up again upon developing the new evidence,” Hayden said in the statement. “But most importantly it is a solemn moment for Judy Chamberlain’s family and friends, who after so many years will have the opportunity to see a defendant answer for Judy’s tragic death.”

Biological evidence gathered during Chamberlain’s autopsy indicated she was sexually assaulted by her killer within 24 hours after she was last seen alive. A DNA sample collected during the initial investigation was submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Indexing System, which compares samples from unknown assailants with the DNA profiles of known offenders, according to the district attorney’s office.

In 2011, Vega was identified as a suspect after the CODIS database matched the suspected killer’s DNA to Vega’s DNA profile, the statement said.

Vega was required to submit a DNA sample after he was convicted in 1990 of three counts of rape for attacking a 72-year-old woman in Revere in 1987. He was sentenced to 19.5 to 20 years in state prison for the offenses, according to the district attorney’s office.

As it grew close to Vega’s expected release from incarceration, prosecutors petitioned to have him civilly committed. A jury found him sexually dangerous in 2008, and he remains civilly committed to this day, the district attorney’s office said.

According to prosecutors, the re-examination of Chamberlain’s murder was successful in collecting additional evidence needed to present the case to a Suffolk County grand jury, including witness testimony allegedly linking Vega to the Fargo Building, where he had done work as a flooring subcontractor. The grand jury returned an indictment against Vega on Aug. 30, 2021, charging him Chamberlain’s murder.