A Rhode Island beach town police department searched for clandestine graves following rumors of a New England serial killer spreading through social media.
The rumors were fueled by the discoveries of eight bodies across Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts between March and April. This led to hysteria about a potential New England serial killer on platforms like Facebook and TikTok. Local and state police have not connected any of the eight deaths, and it remains uncertain how many of the victims died due to homicide.
“Narragansett Police learned of concerning posts circulating online during the past week. These posts were made anonymously in a Facebook group dedicated to New England Serial Killers,” mentioned the Narragansett police in a Facebook post on Thursday. “Only the group administrator had access to the actual username of the individual. The post hinted at the possibility of multiple bodies being buried in the Black Point area of Scarborough Beach.”
A private Facebook group previously dubbed “New England Serial Killer,” which has since lost its name due to Facebook policies, has more than 65,300 members. Last week, an anonymous member of the group made an eerie confession that prompted the Narragansett police to investigate.
Narragansett police say “detectives have also been in communication with the FBI regarding this matter.” ( John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe)
The Facebook group has garnered more than 15,000 new members over a few weeks.
Kuzman noted that within the Facebook group, “there must be some sort of confirmation bias, because you’re in the group for that reason,” and members may be making connections between cases that are not relevant.
Searches for “New England serial killer” on Google spiked around April 7, according to data from the search engine.
