The shocking 1971 murder of Rita Curran not only left her Burlington, Vt., community shaken, it left friends and family wondering who wanted the beloved middle school teacher dead — a mystery that persisted for more than 50 years.
In the intervening years, questions swirled around the 24-year-old’s killing — and so did speculation. But when investigators finally cracked the case using DNA from a cigarette butt found near Curran’s body, her family said they were finally able to find closure.
“The random violence of her murder left a stain on our community, and it devastated her family,” said Jon Murad, acting chief of the Burlington Police Department at a news conference announcing the murder suspect’s identity in 2023,we reported at the time. “For 50 years they have waited for justice.”
A Beloved Victim
Photos of Rita Curran on a stand at the press conference on Feb. 21, 2023.
Lilly St. Angelo / USA TODAY NETWORK
Curran was a talented person who touched the lives of all who knew her, officials said at the Burlington Police Department’s 2023 press conference.
“She was a teacher and a singer, and a giver, and she was loved,” Murad said.
Curran returned home from a barbershop quartet practice around 10 p.m. on the night she was killed, according to local media outlet VTDigger. Two of Curran’s roommates went out to eat shortly after Curran returned home and didn’t discover her body until after midnight. Investigators said Curran was beaten, sexually assaulted and then strangled to death.
Police had few leads besides the cigarette butt found next to Curran’s body. But forensic science wouldn’t catch up for decades, allowing her killer to evade authorities until his DNA popped up on the cigarette in 2023 — leading investigators to trace his identity back to Burlington.
Before the case was solved, however, Curran’s murder — which occurred near the University of Vermont campus — shook the university community. Soon after, theories swirled that her case might be related to that of a famous serial killer with ties to Burlington.
Ted Bundy Speculation
Tom Curran, brother of 1971 murder victim Rita Curran. Wilson Ring/AP/Shutterstock
While police floundered for answers, some community members began to create their own. One stretched connection pointed to Ted Bundy as a potential suspect in Curran’s murder.
At the time of her killing, Curran was working part time as a maid at the local Colonial Motor Inn, which, according to VTDigger, is located near Bundy’s birthplace in Burlington. Although Bundy lived across the country, the serial killer wasn’t arrested until 1975, leading some — including Curran’s sister Mary — to believe Bundy might somehow be connected. The outlet reported that Mary even wrote a letter to Bundy years later, asking if he had killed her sister. The FBI reportedly responded, telling Mary that Bundy didn’t deny it.
The Truth Comes Out
Rita Curran.
Vermont State Police
After more than half a century waiting for answers, Curran’s family would eventually learn that her murderer wasn’t a famous serial killer: He was Curran’s upstairs neighbor.
Burlington police announced at the 2023 press conference that DNA evidence pulled from the cigarette butt found near Curran’s body matched William DeRoos. Once investigators began digging into DeRoos’ history, they learned that he lived in the apartment above Curran with his wife Michelle. DeRoos’ wife told police at the time that her husband was home with her all night, according to The Guardian, providing an alibi for her husband the night of Curran’s murder.
After she was confronted about the cigarette butt, Michelle told police that she and her husband got into a heated argument that night and he stormed out of their apartment and didn’t return for some time, according to VTDigger.
“I think she lied at the time because she was young,” Burlington Police Detective Cpl. Thomas Chenette said at the 2023 press conference. “She was naive. She was newly married. She was in love.”
Murad, the police chief, said in 2023 that investigators believe that DeRoos “continued to hurt people” and “to be a dangerous person,” although there’s no evidence that suggests he killed again.
After the murder, DeRoos eventually divorced his wife and moved to Thailand, where he became a Buddhist monk, according to authorities. He later returned to the United States and died in a San Francisco hotel room in 1989 from a drug overdose.
In 2023, Burlington Police Detective Lt. James Trieb said authorities are “all confident that William DeRoos is responsible” for killing Curran. “But because he died in a hotel room of a drug overdose he will not be held accountable for his actions,” Trieb added.
