Murder of Holly Piirainen


Holly Kristen Piirainen was a 10-year-old American murder victim from Grafton, Massachusetts. She and her brother had been visiting their grandparents in Sturbridge, Massachusetts when Holly was murdered.
Piirainen and her brother had gone to a neighbor's house to see puppies. Her brother had returned to the cottage where the grandparents lived, but Piirainen did not. One of Piirainen's shoes was found by the side of a road.
Searching for Piirainen took two months. On October 23, 1993, Piirainen's remains were found by hunters in Brimfield, Massachusetts. The killer still has not been found.
Since Piirainen's death, the Holly Piirainen Scholarship Fund was established in her memory by her family.

Later investigative leads

On January 3, 2012, Hampden County Attorney Mark Mastroianni announced that forensic evidence found near Piirainen's body had been linked to David Pouliot, a suspect who died in 2003. Investigators have not disclosed the nature of the forensic evidence, nor the type of testing that linked Pouliot to the evidence. Investigators said that, although Pouliot is a person of interest in the crime, as of 2012 he has not yet formally been named a suspect. Pouliot frequently hunted and fished around the area where Piirainen's body was found.

Connection to Molly Bish case

Fellow Massachusetts resident Molly Bish was murdered seven years later. Her body was also found in a wooded area in Hampden County. Police considered the possibility that the two cases could be related. Pouliot is considered a person of interest in both cases. It was discovered that Bish had written a letter to Holly Piirainen's family following Holly's disappearance. This is an excerpt from Molly Bish's letter: