10/05/2025
Henry Bedard, Jr, didn’t return home on Monday, December 16, 1974, from an errand he’d run in the small north shore town of Swampscott, Massachusetts. The 15-year-old, who loved Christmas and giving gifts, had dropped off film to be developed, and picked out a gift for his older sister - a bottle of her favorite perfume. He was seen after 3pm first by a police lieutenant as he crossed Paradise Rd, and shortly after, by a few locals working near the DPW lot.
When Henry missed dinner and didn’t call home - something he never did - his family became worried. Henry would be found the next day by some kids walking in the area of Swampscott view by the DPW yard, not far from where he was last seen. His body was hidden, covered up by his killer. It was soon learned Henry had been badly beaten with a bat found at the scene. The bat had very unique markings on its handle.
Now, more than 50 years later, there is a major update in Henry’s cold case. Crime reporter Bob Ward, of Boston 25 News, broke the story Wednesday about developments in Henry’s 1974 unsolved murder, as the Essex County District Attorney’s Office and Swampscott Police were exhuming Henry’s body for further investigation. Listen to episode 93 as we break down the case and what investigators could be looking for in the renewed investigation to solve this decades-long mystery.
Photos from Episode 93:
Henry, Bob Ward’s reporting, Boston 25 News clips, Bedard family photos, his sister’s favorite perfume, the Hope House of Swampscott, and the star-studded, blockbuster film, The Towering Inferno, was released on the day Henry was killed.
https://shows.acast.com/crime-of-the-truest-kind/episodes/68e024d1035190b6f0745e3e
