Little is known about Daniel Cruz, a 44-year-old Northampton man who was discovered slain on March 10, 2018, four months after his death.
Cruz’s cause of death and the person who caused it remain unknown. Most people still don’t know who Cruz was.
Since Cruz’s shot and burned body was found in a Hatfield field, investigations by a Hampshire County grand jury and Massachusetts State Police investigators affiliated with the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office have continued in secrecy.
This is a summary of our current understanding:
On March 10, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Hatfield police received a complaint about a fire at Bridge Lane. However, when officials got there, they found that the fire was really a man’s burned body. Following the dispatch of state police, an investigation was conducted.
Locals voiced concerns about the body’s proximity to their homes following the horrific discovery. The popular walking trail that runs parallel to the Connecticut River is right next to the spot where the corpse was discovered.
Cruz was identified as the victim in the case by the Northwestern District Attorney’s office, about two weeks after the body was first discovered.
Few more information were given, but the district attorney’s office declared that state police detectives assigned to its office were conducting an investigation and that the death was being investigated as a homicide.
Two Northampton women were charged with lying to detectives about their whereabouts on the night of the murder, the Northwestern District Attorney’s office revealed about two months after Cruz’s body was first discovered.
In Hampshire Superior Court, 22-year-olds Alondra Gil and Mercedes Diaz-Wright are accused of deceiving authorities.
Gil is accused of lying to a grand jury on April 2 and misleading them about her locations the night of Cruz’s death and the whereabouts of other individuals “considered to be suspects in the homicide of Mr. Cruz,” according to court filings. Gil is charged with perjury.
