Advertisement Unsolved murder raises questions about possible police cover-up Lynne Ann Fournier stabbed to death inside home Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Two days before Christmas in 1969, the Fournier family's world imploded when 3-year-old Lynne Ann Fournier was found stabbed to death in her Somerville home.Watch the report"Didn't happen down the street. Didn't happen in the park. It happened in the house. That's the scary part about it," said Bonnie Bernardini, her sister.Lynne Ann's pregnant mother had gone Christmas shopping and left her young children with the downstairs neighbor at their two-family home on Bromfield Road. "We were basically out in the backyard. You know, boys, we tend to run around," said Robert Fournier, one of her brothers. "And she was left on the back stairs. And that's the last time we saw her."According to a 1969 Boston Globe report, the downstairs neighbor, William Hughes was working on a painting at the kitchen table while the children played outside.Hughes' wife returned home to find her husband "...suffering an epileptic seizure.""'The next thing I know, he's in the basement yelling to me, "The baby... get an ambulance," Mrs. Hughes recalled'" in the Globe.Lynne Ann was stabbed four times. Twice in the chest and once in the back and stomach.Hughes' wife told the newspaper "...someone had slashed baby carriages (in the basement)" months earlier.The weapon was never found. The killer was never caught."A 3-year-old was murdered. Nobody went to jail for it," said Ed Fournier, another brother.It's especially painful for her siblings this year, with June 17 marking what would be Lynne Ann's 50th birthday."It being her 50th year, we'd like to be able to turn around and say we know. We know what happened," said Ed Fournier, who was 5 when his sister was killed.Ed Fournier went to Somerville police a few months ago and met with a detective who began looking into the unsolved murder.At the time of the murder, investigators did question the downstairs neighbor William "Billy" Hughes who died in the 1990s.The detective told the family there didn't seem to be any follow-up to the interview.And that raised even more questions for the detective and the family, especially when the family learned that Hughes had two relatives on the Somerville Police Department. His father was a patrolman and his uncle was a captain."And then you find out he's obviously got connections in the police force. Obviously it is red-flagged immediately. And we want answers as to why this case didn't progress like it should of," said brother Robert Fournier."Do you think this was a cover-up?" investigative reporter Mike Beaudet asked the family."Absolutely. Hands down. Hands down," the family said.William Hughes' son told 5 Investigates that he hopes his father did not kill Lynne Ann Fournier, but he would like some sort of resolution for both families.Somerville police declined to comment, referring us to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office."The family is concerned there was some sort of cover-up here. How do you respond to them?" Beaudet asked Middlesex DA Marian Ryan."Well I think we don't know that at this point and we may never know some of what took place 50 years ago," replied Ryan, who was born and raised in Somerville."I don't think I've ever driven by that street without thinking about the little girl who was murdered on that street," Ryan said.Ryan says this is now an open and active investigation."They are working right now looking at all of the information and kind of going backwards and seeing what we have. So we are pursuing this matter right now," she said.The Fournier family wants answers, even if justice eludes them."Somebody knows something. There's still people alive (now) that were back then that either worked for the department, relatives, they know. We're hoping since it's been so long that somebody will come forward," said Ed Fournier.5 Investigates has learned investigators will be draining an oil tank in the Fournier's old Somerville home to see if the murder weapon is inside it.