Copyright NBC News
Rhode Island investigators announced breakthroughs in two cold case investigations on Wednesday, identifying the suspected killers of two women in 1984 and 2007. The killings of 24-year-old Debra Stone in 1984 and 49-year-old Cynthia McKenna in 2007 were reexamined by Attorney General Peter F. Neronha’s Cold Case Unit, which launched in 2023. Debra Stone Stone’s body was found floating in the water in Narrow River in Narragansett on Sept. 2, 1984, officials said at a news conference Wednesday. She was wrapped in a sleeping bag and anchored with a cinder block. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined she was strangled. Investigators believe she died on Aug. 29, 1984 — the last time she was heard from. During the initial investigation, an informant named the killer as Robert Geremia, who was also known as Bobby Myers. Investigators say an informant told them he helped Geremia dispose of Stone’s body in 1984. This person also told police he was scared of Geremia, and provided key details that matched the evidence. Geremia, who was interviewed during the original investigation, told police that Stone had died of an overdose, though the medical examiner ruled that out. Geremia, according to investigators, used to sell Stone drugs. When the case was reexamined in 2023, investigators interviewed 32 witnesses and found their statements consistent with the original case, leading them to believe that Geremia killed her. However, he died in 1995, so he cannot be charged. “For over four decades, Debra’s family remained without answers after her life was tragically cut short,” Narragansett Police Chief Kyle Rekas said. “Through re-examining evidence and re-interviewing witnesses, our collaboration with the Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit has delivered answers for all who loved Debra. I commend our detectives and officers, as well as our partners in the Attorney General’s Office, for their tireless efforts in closing this case.” Cynthia McKenna McKenna was found unresponsive in her North Providence apartment on Feb. 27, 2007. Investigators determined she died of “asphyxiation due to blocked airways.” During the original investigation, witnesses described a “hostile” relationship between McKenna and a suspect, Robert J. Corry, whom she dated. Later that year, investigators found a letter they believed was written by Corry that confessed to the killing. He was never charged. In 2024, the Cold Case Unit and North Providence Police Department reopened the case, using new technology to match a DNA profile from a relative of Corry’s to DNA found on the envelope, confirming that the letter was written by Corry. Corry died in 2014. “This case represents the best of our collaborative investigative efforts with the Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit,” North Providence Police Chief Alfredo Ruggiero Jr. said. “Using the latest forensic technology, our team has finally found answers for Cynthia’s family. I am thankful for the hard work of our detectives, as well as in the Attorney General’s Office, throughout the investigation.”
