After more than three decades, an arrest has been made in the 1987 murder of Janet Brochu of Waterville.
The 20-year-old was out with friends on Christmas Eve in Waterville when she separated from the group and disappeared. It would be more than two months later, in March of 1988, when Brochu was found deceased in the Sebasticook River in Pittsfield.
Yesterday, May 13, based on an ongoing investigation by the Major Crimes Unit-Central and the Unsolved Homicide Unit of the Maine State Police, a Somerset County Grand Jury indicted Gerald Goodale, 61, for murder. Goodale, who is currently incarcerated at the Maine State Prison in Warren, has been charged with Brochu’s murder.
Goodale is currently at the Maine State prison serving a sentence for the 1988 murder of Geraldine Finn.
State Police Detectives met with Goodale on Friday and informed him of the charges in relation to the Janet Brochu case. Goodale was part of the initial police investigation into Brochu’s disappearance and murder but it wasn’t until new evidence was recently developed that enabled detectives the ability to present this case to the Grand Jury.
“This case represents years of combined work by state, local and county investigators, prosecutors and skilled scientists who never relented in their pursuit of the truth and for justice for this victim, her family, and friends,” said Maine State Police Colonel John Cote.
