Sometime during the day on October 31, 2005, photographer Alisa Malbach, 25, drove her blue 2001 Toyota Rav 4 along Benjamin Avenue in Westside Boston.  She had started out from her home on Hilbert and was heading west.  She had three appointments that day to photograph used vehicles for a local automobile trade magazine.  One of those appointments was at Ansley Auto Salvage on Gibson Avenue.

She was scheduled to meet with Steven Ansley, 43, one of the owners, and photograph a maroon Plymouth Voyager minivan that he was putting up for sale.  She'd been there at least fifteen times before, taking pictures of other vehicles for the magazine.

Ansley Auto Salvage sits on a large tract of land and contains roughly 3,800 vehicles in various states of decay.  Most of the dilapidated vehicles are kept for their parts, which are sold individually. The better stock are restored and put up for sale.  There are several buildings on the property—sheds, garages, and the mobile home where Steven Ansley lived. The Ansley family owned several hundred acres in the area, and the road that runs through it is called Ansley Drive.

Steven Ansley had only recently gotten back into the family salvage business after a long absence.  In 1985 Ansley had been convicted of raping and beating a 36-year-old woman, as she jogged along a secluded Lake at Washington Park. 

Ansley fought for a new trial to prove his innocence based on DNA testing of the scrapings recovered from the victim's fingernails after the assault.  Initial tests indicated that Ansley's DNA was not present in these scrapings.  In 1996 a Circuit Judge denied Ansley's request for a new trial, and a year later the Second District Court of Appeals upheld the Judge's decision.

Ansley's case was then taken up by a group of law students, who stated their joint mission was to correct mistakes made by the criminal justice system.  Lawyers for the group of law students convinced the Circuit Judge that advances in DNA testing justified revisiting the case.  Using hairs recovered from the victim after the rape, a state crime lab found that the DNA taken from these hairs did not match samples taken from Steven Ansley. The DNA they found did match another local man who was serving a 60-years sentence on a rape conviction in another county. The convict had lived in the same area as Ansley at the time of the victim's attack.  Based on this new evidence, the Judge, on Sept 10, 2003, ordered that Ansley be released from prison.

Alisa Malbach apparently had no reservations about going alone to Ansley's salvage yard on Halloween 2005.  She'd been there many times and had dealt with him before.  What she probably didn't know was Steven Ansley's history with the law prior to his wrongful conviction.

Volunteers had already started retracing Alisa's steps, hoping to find her.  On November 5, a group of volunteers arrived at Ansley Auto Salvage.  They asked Dan Ansley if they could search the property, and he gave them permission to look around.  

After searching about 53 cars, the volunteers found a blue Toyota Rav 4 similar to Alisa's partially concealed by tree branches and various car parts.  The vehicle was locked and had no license plates.  The volunteers immediately called investigators at the County Sheriff's Department who obtained a search warrant that same day.

Investigators searched Steven Ansley's mobile home and found a "dried red substance which appeared to be blood" on the bathroom floor near the washer and dryer."  They also found "pornographic material" and "items of restraint," including leg irons and handcuffs. A Deputy continued the search the next day and discovered two firearms in Ansley's bedroom—a .22 semi-automatic rifle and a .50 black-powder muzzleloader.

On November 8, the fourth day of searching, officers found two crumpled license plates inside a junked vehicle on the Ansley property.  The plate number was registered to Alisa Malbach's 2001 Toyota Rav 4. Upon inspecting a fire pit near to Steven Ansley's home, officers found "bone fragments and teeth" as well as the "remnants of steel belts of tires."  They believed the tire belts might have been used as "fire accelerants."

A forensic anthropologist examined the bone fragments and determined that they belonged to an "adult human female."  A second forensic anthropologist examined the fragments and came to the conclusion that the corpse had been mutilated.

A DNA analyst with the Boston Department of Justice, tested blood samples found in various locations inside Alisa Malbach's car, including the driver's seat, ignition area, front passenger seat, and rear passenger door entrance. 

The DNA analyst found that the samples matched Steven Ansley's DNA profile.  DNA material taken from the Toyota key found in Ansley's bedroom also matched his profile. DNA testing was performed on blood samples taken from the rear cargo area of the Toyota and from an empty can of beer  found on the front console.  

The two profiles matched, and the DNA Analyst believed that they belong to Alisa Malbach.

HAVE YOUR SAY NOW ---> VISIT THE FORUM TO SOLVE THIS OR OTHER CASES.