Sundel reports that prosecutors believe Lino intentionally administered the lethal injection, masking murder as addiction.
Previous Murders and the Pattern Investigators See
Lino is already serving time for two earlier murders:
- Normand Varieur, killed in Charlestown in 2012
- Jack Gilbert Berry, a homeless man killed in Missoula, Montana, in 2014
All four known victims — Melanson, Clarke, Varieur, and Berry — were unhoused. Each was killed in a separate incident, and each by a different method: blunt force, poisoning, overdose staging, and other forms of violence.
Criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University explained to Bob Ward:
“The homeless are vulnerable. They’re easy targets. They’re defenseless.”
He added that when unhoused people disappear,
“We just don’t have the same response. We might not even know that they are dead.”
A Possible Fifth Victim?
Travis Mateer, a Montana journalist and former homeless outreach coordinator, told Ward he fears another unhoused man — Monte Swanson — may also be a victim.
“I think that Monte Swanson is dead, and I think Kevin Lino was involved,” Mateer said.
