Jan. 17, 2000 By Amy Worden
APBNews
WELLFLEET, Mass. (APBnews.com) -- Snow and single-digit temperatures have temporarily halted the search for more victims of a man convicted in two Maryland murders who has told police he killed other people in other states. Hadden Clark, 47, is serving 70 years for the murders of 6-year-old Michele Dorr and 23-year-old Laura Houghteling. He was brought to Cape Cod last week after telling investigators he had buried other victims on property belonging to his grandfather.
In both, cases Clark led police to the remains of his victims -- both buried near their homes in suburban Washington. Police found Dorr's body last week in a shallow grave in a Silver Spring, Md., park, where it was buried after her disappearance in 1986.
Clark reportedly told investigators he buried some of his victims here on bucolic Cape Cod, even drawing maps of the alleged grave sites. But back-to-back snowstorms have hampered the current search of the 7-acre property adjacent to a national park. Police have been returning periodically since Clark's arrest seven years ago.
"Nothing is going on in Wellfleet today," said Police Chief Richard Rosenthal. With temperatures in the single digits and several inches of snow on the ground, he does not expect the search to resume in the near future. "They're using cadaver recovery dogs, and the odor of flesh in cold weather is hard to detect. It's also hard to dig in freezing ground," said Rosenthal. Two rings found in December.
A search Dec. 15 turned up no human remains, but investigators found a bucket containing two rings belonging to Houghteling, according to law enforcement sources.
Meanwhile, Connecticut State Police spent about five hours with Clark on Sunday in an unsuccessful effort to a find a woman he said he had buried there more than two decades ago.
"The information he offered us was not fruitful or relevant to any crime," said Lt. Ralph Carpenter of the Connecticut State Police. Clark had told police he killed a woman in Connecticut in the late 1970s and buried her there. Investigators brought him to the area -- which they would not reveal -- Sunday and questioned him extensively, but found nothing, police said.
"We were prepared to dig," said Carpenter. "Nothing turned up related to any specific unsolved crimes. As of now, we haven't linked him to any case here." A transient serial killer
Federal, state and local police are trying to separate fact from fiction -- a process they say could take a long time.
"We're dealing with a serial killer here. We don't know how many people he killed," said Rosenthal. "The fact is, he was a transient and moved around. How much is truth and how much of it's not? He was a very active guy for quite a long period of time. They have to see exactly what he's been up to."
Rosenthal said he did not know where Clark was taken after being questioned in Connecticut, but confirmed he was not brought back to Cape Cod or Massachusetts. Neither Maryland investigators nor the Massachusetts State Police could be reached for comment today.
Amy Worden is an APBnews.com staff writer
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