WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – A change of plea hearing will take place on Thursday for the suspect for an unsolved West Springfield murder from 1966.
Donald Mars of Bedford was arraigned on first degree murder charges back in November of 2022.
Mars was indicted by a Hampden County Grand Jury after being accused of killing 10-year-old Betty Lou Zukowski of Chicopee.
According to the Hampden DA in May of 1966 Betty Lou left her family’s home on Front Street.
She was headed to a friend’s house but never came home.
Four days later his body was found off the shore of the Westfield River in West Springfield. The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined she was killed by a number of blunt force traumas and then drowned.
Soon after a sketch of the suspect was provided and over 30 years later West Springfield Police received information linking Donald Mars to the murder.
In November of 2022 Mars was formally indicted and charged with first degree murder.
A change of plea hearing is set to happen at 9 am on Thursday but the DA’s Office expects it to take some time due to Mar’s current health.
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