Episode 45: The Murders of Stella Bolton and James Moore
The city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is known as one of the more populated places in the small New England state. Similarly to most large towns and cities, each neighborhood can hold a lot of different types of people of all backgrounds. 68-year-old Stella Bolton, a native from Trinidad, lived with long time friend 73-year-old James “J.J.” Moore, a retired Navy veteran.
Despite living together, Stella and J.J. were not a romantic couple. In fact, J.J. was good friends with Stella’s husband, and when he passed, the pair moved in together in the neighborhood of Mariner’s Village. Stella was a kind lady, known for feeding birds and being a grandmother-like figure for a lot of the children who knew her. J.J. was a friendly man who was known for his generous spirit and sitting on his porch, saying hello to all of the passing neighbors. The two roommates enjoyed playing bingo together, and they both liked to bake cookies and give out treats to the kids that lived in the neighborhood.
On February 16th of 1991, a two alarm fire broke out in Mariner’s Village. Firefighters and police were called at 1:30am and brought to Rockhill Avenue. To their horror, they found a badly burned house, and in the debris and ash, two bodies were discovered. Soon after the fire was extinguished, the identification of the burned remains seemed to reveal that Stella Bolton and J.J. Moore had perished in the fire. A later autopsy led to the startling realization that the pair did not die from the fire, but rather from several stab wounds.
It immediately became clear that the fire was no accident- it was arson. Whoever had murdered the pair attempted to cover up the crime by setting the house on fire, and was unsuccessful in that method. Police were confused and concerned… who would do this to such a lovely couple of people? To this day, investigators are still trying to figure out a possible motive for the murder, and the perpetrator(s) who committed the terrible crime.
Anyone with any information about the murders of Stella Bolton and James Moore is asked to please call Seacoast Crime Stoppers at (603) 431-1199 or by calling Detective Rochelle Jones at (603) 610-7503.
Image sources:
wmur.com - “New Hampshire unsolved case file: Who killed Stella Bolton and James ‘JJ’ Moore?”
cityofportsmouth.com - “Unsolved Homocides”