New England’s Unsolved: Travis Monroe

WORCESTER, Mass. — At the corner of Fales and Gunnarson in Worcester, a small memorial built into a telephone pole, now marks the spot where a 17-year-old high school student was found fatally injured after a night out with friends at a nearby movie theater.

To this day, the facts around Travis Monroe’s violent death remain murky.

Travis’ mother, Christi Berry, is determined to find the truth.

“His life mattered. Things happened. But in the end he should get the dignity and respect for justice and accountability,” Berry told me.

On October 1, 2006, Travis Monroe was found in the middle of Fales Street.

According to an autopsy report Travis had extensive injuries to his head and hands, and marks to his back.

Worcester Police initially investigated Travis’ case as a motor vehicle/pedestrian accident, a hit and run.

But the possibility that Travis may have been assaulted before he was found in the street was also considered.

Travis’ death certificate lists cause of death as blunt impact of head with fractures of skull and lacerations and brain.

Manner of death is undetermined.

Months after Travis’ death, according to a police report, the Medical Examiner said there was a higher likelihood that Travis was killed by a motor vehicle strike, but she could not be 100 percent certain.

Seventeen years later, no one has been held accountable for Travis Monroe’s death.

“Never, ever, ever did I expect he would be a casualty of violence, never,” Berry said.

Christi Berry has spent years collecting documents and building files on her son’s case.

She believes the facts don’t add up, and she’s concerned her son could have been murdered.

“Something ain’t right,” Berry said.

First responders found Travis’ body in the middle of Fales Street.

But Travis’s mother received photos from the Medical Examiner’s office that suggests his body was on top of a nearby sewer grate.

And that raises the disturbing question of what did his body move?

At her home, Christi showed me transparencies of the sewer grate and her son’s back, and how she says they match up.

She tells me witnesses told police that they saw Travis stumbling in the neighborhood before he was found, but he had no drugs or alcohol in his system.

And she believes the injuries to her son’s head look like he was beaten.

“When your gut feeling tells you things aren’t right, go look for the evidence. When the evidence shows you are on the right path, you must get the public to see that there’s a bigger story that they’re not being told,” Berry said.

Christi Berry is trying to convince authorities to take a deeper look at her son’s case.

“What does justice look like for you and for Travis?” I asked.

“I’m not looking to put people in jail. Justice is not always going to jail. Justice is learning to take accountability, to say what you have done is wrong and then, right what you done wrong,” Berry said.

“I want change. I want the truth That’s what I want done. That’s what needs to come out in his case to give him the respect that he deserved,” Berry added.

Worcester Police sent me the statement below when I asked about this case:

“The death of Mr. Travis Monroe remains under investigation by the Crash Reconstruction Unit. The medical examiner’s office concluded that the cause of death could not be determined. Based on evidence, investigators believe this was a hit-and-run incident.  Any information received, regardless of how minor it may appear, is pursued to the fullest.  It is the hope of the Worcester Police Department that anyone with information about this case comes forward. Anyone with information on this case can send an anonymous text to 274637 TIPWPD + your message or send an anonymous web based message at worcesterma.gov/police. Calls can also be made to investigators at the Worcester Police Crash Reconstruction Unit at 508-799-8674.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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