BEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - A suspect in a cold case murder from 1971 has now been indicted in connection with threats investigators said he made from behind bars, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.
The DA said Arthur Massei, 77, had been allegedly communicating by letter with a woman outside the prison where he was being held following his arrest in March of 2022 in connection with the murder of Natalie Scheublin, who was bound, beaten and stabbed to death in her Bedford home in 1971.
The letters, the DA said, “revealed an escalating level of threats from Massei toward the recipient of the letters if she did not perform tasks to his satisfaction.”
The DA said investigators found Massei asked for help recruiting someone to pretend to be a witness and falsely testify that she had information that Massei had been framed for murder. The DA said Massei allegedly offered to pay $1,000 to such a witness.
Massei separately told multiple outside parties to collect on illegal debts, according to the DA. The DA said the debts were linked to loans Massei allegedly issued before his arrest at interest rates “far beyond the amounts allowed by state law.”
The DA said Massei allegedly threatened to send a third party to do harm to the woman he was communicating with by letter. The DA continued, saying Massei allegedly said he would get to the woman “like a bullet.”
“With these indictments today, we allege that Arthur Massei took premeditated, purposeful steps to try to obstruct justice by seeking to procure false testimony in his upcoming murder trial,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said. “We take allegations of intimidation and threats very seriously and these additional charges reflect that.”
The DA said Massei’s new alleged crimes include solicitation to suborn perjury in a capital case and attempted extortion.
Massei was arraigned on Tuesday on the new charges. He is scheduled to face a judge again in May.
Massei is currently being held without bail pending trial.
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