Fears are mounting over the possibility of a serial killer on the loose across a tri-state area after several bodies were found close by in a matter of weeks.

Dozens of residents across New England are raising the alarm that there could be a murderer lurking somewhere in the region after the human remains or dead bodies of eight people were found across the three states, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, in the past few months.

Here’s everything we know about the matter so far.

Where were the bodies found?

Throughout March and April, the human remains of eight bodies, believed to be mostly women, were found in four towns in Connecticut, (New Haven, Norwalk, Groton, and Killingly), Foster in Rhode Island and Framingham, Plymouth, and Springfield in Massachusetts.

Not all of the bodies have been formally identified yet, and while many have been found in the two-month period, that fact does not indicate they died around the same time.

The body of Paige Aliehs Fannon was found in the water (GoFundMe)

Scuba divers recover body from Norwalk River

The body of a woman, identified as 35-year-old Paige Fannon, was found by a police scuba team on March 6 from the Norwalk River, the New Haven Register reported.

Police were looking for Fannon, who was a resident of West Islip on Long Island, after she was reported missing in New York the day before her body was discovered.

Her clothes and personal items were also reportedly found on the riverbank.

Hunter finds human remains in Plymouth

On the same day Fannon was found, officers over in Plymouth were called out to reports of human remains found by a hunter in the woods.

The hunter initially believed the bones were that of an animal before realizing and alerting the authorities, PEOPLE reports.

It was later determined the bone was the top half of a human skull with its jaw and nasal area missing.

The age, gender, and identity of the victim is yet to be confirmed.

Remains of woman found in a suitcase in Groton

Over in Groton, about 80 miles east of Norwalk in the state, police recovered a body from inside a suitcase near a cemetery on March 19, as per WTNH.

The authorities believe the remains are of that of a woman between 40 to 60 years old.

Denise Leary was reported missing in September (New Haven Police Department)

Dead body of missing woman found in New Haven woods

On March 20, authorities in New Haven found the decomposed body of Denise Leary.

Cops were called to block 100 of Rock Creek Road by residents who said they found human remains while clearing brush in a wooded area behind the house, a statement from New Haven Police said at the time.

They added the remains were ‘in an advanced state of decay’, but later confirmed it was the body of the 59-year-old.

Leary reportedly vanished in September and had a history of mental health issues and paranoid schizophrenia.

She was last seen at her home near Rock Creek Road, reported WFSB at the time.

Body of 56-year-old woman found in Rhode Island woodland

The body of Michele Romano was found on March 26 in a wooded area off Plainfield Pike in Rhode Island, as per WJAR.

The mom-of-two reportedly vanished eight months prior and was reported missing by a concerned family member.

A resident, Tom Slater, told the news outlet how his dog may have found the remains earlier.

“I know my dog has been acting strange when he comes out here,” he said. “He’s always sniffing over that way. I don’t know how long the body has been over there but he would pick up on it.”

Romano’s friend, John Michelotti, also called for justice to be served.

“She didn’t just die and end up in the woods,” he said. “Someone has to be held accountable for what happened to her.”

Friends and family are demanding justice for Michele Romano (Facebook/Justice for Michele Romano)

Unidentified remains in Killingly

Another investigation is currently underway over in Killingly after Connecticut State Police confirmed the discovery of human remains.

Cops are yet to determine the gender, age, and circumstances of death.

Woman found unresponsive in Springfield

Then, most recently on Tuesday (April 22), a woman was found unresponsive off a bike path in Springfield at the 1500 block of Hall of Fame Avenue.

Officers and medical professionals declared the woman dead at the scene, Springfield Police Department spokesperson Ryan Walsh confirmed, with an autopsy yet to determine the cause of death.

Her death presents the eighth body to be discovered across the region in two months and the third within the state of Massachusetts.

Why do people think there is a serial killer?

Some fear the suspicious discoveries of the mostly female victims indicate a serial killer could be on the loose in the the neighboring states.

A Facebook group previously dubbed ‘New England Serial Killer’ started the speculation and had more than 65,000 members before its name had to be changed due to rules and regulations in place on the social media site.

Other groups have since cropped up in its wake, with one warning about ‘sinister shadows lurking in the Southern New England tri-state area,’ adding that the community is ‘gripped by fear and uncertainty.’

Peter Valentin said the discoveries is ‘curious’ (Fox News Digital)

Peter Valentin, chair of the Forensic Science Department at the University of New Haven, also highlighted to Fox News Digital that Springfield police have not revealed a cause of death for the Springfield woman, nor if her death was a homicide.

Valentin told the outlet: “I am curious about what was recovered around the body. There might have been paraphernalia suggestive of activity that is deemphasizing homicide (perhaps incorrectly) to the investigators because that article is quite tepid.

“It is filled with very cautious language (surely taken right from police press releases), which might be intentional to not feed into what is now turning into intense scrutiny over every suspicious death in New England.”

He also said that police responding to reports of an unresponsive person is ‘strongly suggestive of someone who did not have any post-mortem artifacts that would negate the need to check for vital signs needed to make a pronouncement’.

“If someone is in full rigor mortis, there is no need to try to find a pulse because the presence of rigor mortis means they are unequivocally dead. So this is a very recent death, unlike the others that are being attributed to the [New England] serial killer,” he added.

What police say about the New England serial killer

Authorities have not revealed any connection between the deaths, with Walsh telling the outlet that ‘internet rumors are just that’.

Connecticut State Police have also tried to squash rumors, saying ‘there is no information at this time suggesting any connection to similar remains discoveries, and there is also no known threat to the public at this time.’

There’s one job that hundreds of serial killers could be doing to fly under the radar, according to recent data.

True crime TV shows might have given us a rough idea of the red flags to look out for in a possible serial killer – like someone who shows no empathy could be a bit of a giveaway that they’re a straight up psychopath.

Problem is, it’s not always that easy to spot, and psychotic mass murders have different ‘motivations’ for murder and can turn on the charm to mask their psychopathic tendencies.

Still, cops consider the typical profile of a serial killer is most likely a white male, between the age of 25 to 34, ‘charismatic, charming, intelligent and mobile’, according to a Federal Probation study.

Serial killers have different ‘motivations’ for their murders (Getty Images)

Now, a new best-selling book has unearthed some invaluable data on the matter, finding serial killers in one particular job could be going undetected.

Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director who led some disturbing investigations over the two decades he worked as an agent, published his well-researched novel Long Haul last year with some alarming insight into a gruesome pattern of unsolved murders along American highways.

His research, based on FBI data, reveals there could be hundreds of homicidal killers that have evaded capture – because they work as long-haul truck drivers.

Frank Figliuzzi worked in the FBI for more than 20 years (Cheney Orr/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The data, which compiles several cold cases across the US’ roads, reveals that although the percentage of truckers who become killers is small, many of the states’ notorious murderers have roamed across Nevada, reports 8NewsNow.

Possible victims include Patrick Carnes, 86, of Reno, who vanished after driving in tandem with a long-haul truck along ‘The Big Lonely’ Interstate 80 in 2011, while Judith Casida, 62, had disappeared from the area five years earlier. Both their vehicles were found in the same field.

Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that homicidal truck drivers were picking off their victims along the I-80.

The book suggests hundreds of trucker serial killers could be at large (Getty Images)

According to data fro the FBI’s Highway Serial Killings Initiative and Figliuzzi’s research, young women, either sex workers or hitchhikers, are considered the typical target of serial killer truckers, of which there could be 450 killers yet to be caught for their crimes.

“I’ve seen some gruesome things in 25 years as an FBI agent,” Figliuzzi said. “Really gory crime scenes.”

As part of his research, he spoke to vulnerable women who populate truck stops who had survived such attacks.

He found many of the women have drug addictions or move around a lot, so their family are less likely to report them missing in such an event.

Describing the different types of serial killers, he explained further: “One indeed likes to control the outcome and loves the power and will prolong [the] torture, rape, and other horrors. The other kind of serial killer simply wants to kill. He enjoys [the] power of life and death, and he kills quickly.”

The Yorkshire Ripper in the UK was a lorry driver (Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

One such grim example is Robert Ben Rhodes who went so far as to build a torture chamber in his truck where he murdered two hitchhiking couples, in Utah and Texas, and has been suspected to be behind dozens of other cases.

“Rhodes… picked up a 14-year-old girl hitchhiking [and] hooked her up to fish hooks inside his torture chamber in his rig,” Figliuzzi added. “Over the course of several weeks across many states, he raped and tortured her, leaving her for dead in an abandoned farmhouse.”

In the UK, the notorious Yorkshire Ripper serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe, was a lorry driver who targeted prostitutes between 1975 and 1980.

The author now hopes his novel will prove an educational tool, adding: “If I have one message to any law enforcement officer listening, it’s [to] get your unsolved cases, especially involving roadside killings, into the FBI database.”

A man who accepted a ride with a serial killer who preyed on young hitchhikers ending up asking the murderer why he was spared.

And his answer was absolutely chilling.

In 1975, a then 19-year-old Steve Fishman was hitchhiking from Boston to Norwich, Connecticut, and was relying on the kindness of strangers to get him there.

He would be picked up by a man driving a green Buick sedan who introduced himself as Red.

Fishman has explained that the pair got to talking and the man even admitted that he had recently gotten out of prison.

Fishman wondered why the serial killer didn’t chose him as his next victim.(Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

As a young budding journalist, Fishman started to see the potential for a story, imprisoned man reintroduced into society, but he never actually asked what he went to prison for.

The ride only lasted about 15 minutes but it would be six months later that Fishman would realize he was sat inches away from a pedophile, rapist, serial killer.

Fishman saw that same man on a news alert that identified him as Robert Frederick Carr III, a murderer who had confessed to kidnapping and raping dozens of people, as well as killing four people. He particularly targeted young hitchhikers.

When he realized this, Fishman understandably wondered why he hadn’t become another victim. A few years later he would finally get his answer in a jailhouse interview.

Speaking to CNN, Fishman said: “One of the questions that I had for him was, ‘Why not me?’ And that feels like a really bizarre question to ask. But I did.

After the ride Fishman saw Carr on a news alert and learnt of his crimes (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

“And he basically shrugged and said, ‘I thought you were too big.'”

Certainly a chilling answer that comes with the realization during that 15 minute ride Carr was likely sizing the 19 year-old up.

At the time of the lift, Carr was on parole after serving time in Connecticut for rape.

His murder victims included Tammy Ruth Huntley, 16, who he raped and killed, before burying her in a shallow rural grave.

He also killed two 11-year-old boys, Todd Payton and Mark Williams, in 1972 and buried them in isolated graves in Louisiana and Mississippi.

He killed his fourth victim Rhonda Holloway, 21, shortly after Fishman met him. He buried the body in Connecticut.

After confessing to his crimes, Carr took police around the country to show them where he buried his victims.

Carr died in prison of prostate cancer in at the age of 63.

Social media users have questioned US president Donald Trump’s health once again after another image of his hand began circulating online.

Earlier this year, when Trump sat down with French president, Emmanuel Macron, on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, images from the meeting were shared online.

Not long after the press conference, people began discussing a mark on Trump‘s right hand, which some likened to a dark bruise.

One person wrote on X: “Scrolling Getty and couldn’t help but notice this photo of a huge bruise on Trump’s hand today.”

While another said: “Some photos over the last few months show bruising on Trump’s hand… Always seems to be on the same hand.”

And a third added: “Trump has a massive bruise on the back of his right hand. How did he get that?”

Others claimed the president had concealed the mark with cosmetic products, with a Getty Images photograph described on the site as being ‘covered in make-up’.

At the time, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other president in history.

“His commitment is unwavering, and he proves that every single day.”

“President Trump has bruises on his hand because he’s constantly working and shaking hands all day every day,” Leavitt added in a follow-up statement.

The White House issued a statement last month following speculation over Trump’s hand (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

However, after the mark was spotted again this week, social media users have expressed their concern online.

During a meeting with Irish leader Micheál Martin, people noted that the mark was visible on Trump’s hand.

According to skin expert, Dr Anatalia Moore, the mark could be down to Trump’s age.

“For many patients into their 70s, particularly if they are not what we call a ‘fit 70’; simply a knock on a door frame could also cause a significant bruise. Our limbs, hands included, are what tend to get knocked more easily as balance and coordination also deteriorate as we get older,” Dr Moore told the Mirror.

The mark could be seen again on Wednesday (12 March) (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

“Initially a bruise will appear dark and purple red, the bigger the collection of blood under the skin the larger the bruise and the deeper its hue. The body then clears away the blood and repairs the damage and in doing so converts the red blood cells into easily transportable waste products; this is what contributes to the colour change in bruising.

“As the bruise heals we then see a green yellow colour appear. As we age, this healing process is slowed down, leading to bigger bruises happening that take longer to heal.”

UNILAD has contacted The White House for comment.