DA: Bedford murder case dating back some 50 years has been solved

BEDFORD, Mass. — A break in a decades-old mystery in the small town of Bedford. The murder of a woman dating back to the early 1970′s has been solved.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced the arrest in the cold-case murder at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

The victim was Natalie Scheublin, 54, a mother and wife of a local banker, who was found murdered in her basement by her husband on June 10, 1971.

The suspect is a 76-year-old man named Arthur Massei from Salem.

Massei was arrested Tuesday without incident, but the district attorney says he’s been on the radar of police for some time.

Ryan says fingerprint evidence, and a renewed focus on witnesses in the case led to the break in the case.

Police believe the murder stemmed from a break-in.

Scheublin had been tied up, and a gag was around her neck when she was discovered, according to Ryan. She had been stabbed with a knife and hit in the head.

Ryan said Massei had been identified as a candidate for review in the murder after fingerprints from the case were checked against an FBI database in 1999. The prints were from the crime scene and a car missing from the Scheublin house.

Later, Massei was interviewed and denied ever having been in Bedford or having any knowledge of the murder.

The DA says police had occasion to speak with Massei again and he alleged he had been “solicited” by an organized crime associate to murder the wife of a banker and to make it look like a break-in. Massei claimed he turned down that offer.

District Attorney Ryan made clear investigators have never found any evidence to corroborate that story by Massei and there is no indication Mr. Scheublin, who has since died, had anything to do with his wife’s death. Mrs. Scheublin is survived by her son and daughter.

The DA says police kept chasing leads. Ryan said that in 2019 her office again focused on this murder case.

Ryan says police eventually identified a woman who admitted she had been involved with Massei in schemes to defraud banks during the 1990′s. She told police Massei almost always carried a knife and that “he had bragged to her that he had previously killed someone with a knife,” said Ryan.

That information, along with other facts in the case, was presented to a grand jury which returned the indictment charging Massei.

We spoke with some of his former neighbors who couldn’t believe an actual cold case was nearby.

“I love seeing the program in the TV cold case it’s my favorite show,” said Salem resident Gloria Hernandez. “But it’s terrible how people try to live their normal life like a normal person, oh wow it’s very scary. I’m panicked because you never know who’s around you.”

Scheublin’s husband died 10 years ago never knowing what happened to his wife, but their children told D.A. Ryan they are grateful they never gave up.

“We make a commitment that we will not give up and we do not give up,” said Ryan. “It has to be equally clear to perpetrators that we are not giving up. It may take us 50 years, but we are always trying to move cases forward.

Da Ryan and police tell us most witnesses and even investigators on this case have died in the last 51 years, so this was proof that even when a case turns cold, families should keep the faith.

Massei will be in court Wednesday.

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