Sharon Norris, also known as Sharon Kuykendall.

Fitchburg remains are identified...Woman last seen in '06; police treat case as homicide By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | July 23, 2008

The remains of a body found last week in a wooded area behind a main street in Fitchburg have been identified as those of a city woman who was last seen about two years ago.

Timothy Connolly, a spokesman for the Worcester district attorney's office, said yesterday that police used dental records to identify the remains as those of Sharon Norris, also known as Sharon Kuykendall. He could not provide her age yesterday, but said she lived in the Water Street area, not far from where her remains were found.

Connolly said that the state medical examiner's office is still investigating the cause of death, but that police are treating the case as a homicide. A local police detective said Norris was known to police and had a history of drug use and prostitution. She was last seen around August of 2006.

Police said two children playing Friday morning in the woods behind Water Street, near Duck Mill Road, discovered the remains. The body was wrapped in a carpet-like material and a garbage bag.

The Norris case bears a resemblance to the slayings of other area prostitutes whose bodies were found dumped near woods in a similar fashion.

In 2002, the remains of Elizabeth Fardy, a Fitchburg prostitute, were found in nearby Westminster, and the remains of Theresa Stone, a 39-year-old prostitute, were found in Fitchburg in 1996.

Police in nearby Worcester are investigating the deaths of prostitutes whose bodies were found in a similar fashion, in what may be the work of a serial killer. The bodies were found in wooded sites in Worcester and Middlesex counties.

The district attorney has identified a suspect in the killing of Stone. Alex F. Scesny, 38, of Berlin, was called a person of interest after police matched his DNA to that of evidence found on Stone. Police have also said they are investigating whether he has ties to the other killings of prostitutes. Bristol County detectives are investigating whether Scesny played a role in the killing of prostitutes there in the 1980s.

Scesny has not been charged in the killing of Stone. He is being held on an unrelated rape charge in Worcester County. A family member has told the Globe that there is no evidence Scesny played a role in the killings and that the case was being hyped by the media.

Connolly said yesterday that there is no evidence linking the death of Norris to the killings of the other women.

"It's too early in the investigation to make any assumption on this death at all," he said.

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