More than 50 years after a Bedford woman was found slain in the basement of her home, charges have been filed in the case, the Middlesex District Attorney and the Bedford police announced Tuesday.Arthur Massei, 76, of Salem was arrested Tuesday and charged in connection with the 1971 slaying of Natalie Scheublin, District Attorney Marian Ryan said.”More than half a century ago, Natalie Scheublin, a wife and mother, was violently murdered in her own home,” Ryan said. “Today, we were able to tell her son and daughter that we were finally able to take the first step in holding the alleged perpetrator accountable for her death.”Alison Young, whose family now lives in the house where Scheublin died decades ago, said the announcement of Massei’s arrest was big news in the small town of Bedford.”The case was reopened and there was some chatter here and there,” Young said. “It’s good to know that this guy is behind bars. I know it’s been 50 years, a long time, so it’s good to know it’s been resolved.”On June 10, 1971, Raymond Scheublin, then the president of Lexington Trust Co., returned from work to find his wife dead in the basement of their Pine Hill Road home.The 54-year-old mother of two adult children had been bound, gagged, beaten and stabbed, investigators said.The victim’s 1969 Chevy Impala was taken from the home and later found at the Bedford VA hospital. Although it appeared the car had been wiped clean, fingerprints were recovered, including one that was later matched to Massei’s left thumb using modern fingerprint matching technology, Ryan said.Massei initially denied having been in Bedford or having any knowledge of the murder. But he later claimed he was solicited by an organized crime associate to kill the woman and make it look like a break-in. Investigators said there is no evidence supporting that claim. Ryan said the investigation surfaced a woman who said she was involved with Massei in the 1990s in bank defrauding schemes, and he bragged to her that he had killed someone.”During that period of time, she came to know Mr. Massei fairly well, that Mr. Massei routinely carried a knife with him and that he had bragged in her presence that he had once killed a person with a knife,” Ryan said.Massei was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury. He was arrested at his home Tuesday without incident, Ryan said. He will be arraigned in Woburn District Court on Wednesday. Raymond Scheublin died in 2011 at the age of 92. The couple has a daughter and a son.

More than 50 years after a Bedford woman was found slain in the basement of her home, charges have been filed in the case, the Middlesex District Attorney and the Bedford police announced Tuesday.

Arthur Massei, 76, of Salem was arrested Tuesday and charged in connection with the 1971 slaying of Natalie Scheublin, District Attorney Marian Ryan said.

Advertisement

“More than half a century ago, Natalie Scheublin, a wife and mother, was violently murdered in her own home,” Ryan said. “Today, we were able to tell her son and daughter that we were finally able to take the first step in holding the alleged perpetrator accountable for her death.”

Alison Young, whose family now lives in the house where Scheublin died decades ago, said the announcement of Massei’s arrest was big news in the small town of Bedford.

“The case was reopened and there was some chatter here and there,” Young said. “It’s good to know that this guy is behind bars. I know it’s been 50 years, a long time, so it’s good to know it’s been resolved.”

On June 10, 1971, Raymond Scheublin, then the president of Lexington Trust Co., returned from work to find his wife dead in the basement of their Pine Hill Road home.

The 54-year-old mother of two adult children had been bound, gagged, beaten and stabbed, investigators said.

The victim’s 1969 Chevy Impala was taken from the home and later found at the Bedford VA hospital. Although it appeared the car had been wiped clean, fingerprints were recovered, including one that was later matched to Massei’s left thumb using modern fingerprint matching technology, Ryan said.

Massei initially denied having been in Bedford or having any knowledge of the murder. But he later claimed he was solicited by an organized crime associate to kill the woman and make it look like a break-in. Investigators said there is no evidence supporting that claim.

Ryan said the investigation surfaced a woman who said she was involved with Massei in the 1990s in bank defrauding schemes, and he bragged to her that he had killed someone.

“During that period of time, she came to know Mr. Massei fairly well, that Mr. Massei routinely carried a knife with him and that he had bragged in her presence that he had once killed a person with a knife,” Ryan said.

Massei was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury. He was arrested at his home Tuesday without incident, Ryan said. He will be arraigned in Woburn District Court on Wednesday.

Raymond Scheublin died in 2011 at the age of 92. The couple has a daughter and a son.