Jury selection begins in trials of sex offender charged in 1988 South Boston strangling

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of a 61-year-old convicted sex offender charged with strangling a woman and leaving her body in the basement of a South Boston building back in 1988.
Richard Vega is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing Judy Chamberlain, whose body was found in a large sump pump in the basement of the Fargo Building at 451 D St. on July 20, 1988. Â
Vega, who was also charged with raping an elderly woman in Revere in 1987, was identified through DNA evidence as a suspect in the South Boston strangling in 2011, but prosecutors felt they needed more evidence to bring charges. The investigation continued through District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ cold-case reinvestigation effort PUSH – the Project for Unsolved Suffolk Homicides – more evidence was uncovered and presented to a grand jury. Vega was civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person in 2008 when his prison sentence of up to 20 years for the 1987 rape in Revere was ending.

Maureen Dahill is the founder of Caught in Media. Once a longtime wardrobe and prop stylist for brands such as Rue La La, TJ Max & Hasbro, she is a devoted lover of vintage clothing, Martini Mondays, Castle Island, AND a 4th generation South Boston native. Mother of three, married to Peter G.
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