WORCESTER – Two women were found stabbed to death in a Webster Square apartment building on Saturday.
Investigators are searching for a Belmont Street man in connection with a case authorities have classified as a homicide.
According to police, the bodies were found around 1 p.m. in an apartment at 1060 Main Street. This is the address of Webster Square Towers, a large apartment building for seniors operated by the Worcester Housing Authority.
Shortly after officers arrived at the apartment, medical personnel declared both women dead.
Early Sunday, Worcester police issued a public alert for 60-year-old William Rodriguez, whose last known address is 40 Belmont St., as a suspect.
“Rodriguez should be considered armed and dangerous,” the warning states.
Police are asking anyone with information about Rodriguez to contact investigators at (508) 799-8651.
In 2004, a man of the same name, William Rodriguez, was charged with the murder of his wife at the Beechwood Hotel. Three years later, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison.
He and his wife, Carmen L. Rodriguez, 34, were employees of the Plantation Street Hotel. He was a dishwasher, she worked in housekeeping.
On February 10, 2004, William Rodriguez, then 39, attacked his wife with a knife in the kitchen of the Beechwood. At that time, a restraining order was in place against the husband.
In court, prosecutors said the attack was motivated by a failing marriage and Rodriguez’s fear of being separated from his three children. The confession came one day before the scheduled trial; court records at the time showed William Rodriguez was planning a psychiatric defense.
The couple lived at 64 Tacoma St.
Worcester police would not publicly confirm the connection between Saturday’s case and the 2004 Beechwood Hotel massacre, citing rules restricting the release of information about domestic violence cases.
Meanwhile, the Worcester Housing Authority released a brief statement about the killings on Sunday morning.
“The Worcester Housing Authority is deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of two women found in an apartment on one of our properties,” the authority wrote.
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