N.H. Cold Case Unit asks public for help in solving brutal 1995 killing of Boston man
Lei had been shot multiple times, strangled, and his throat was cut, according to New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella, who described the slaying as 'an execution-style killing marked by both brutality and precision.'
'The evidence at the scene, including ligatures and shell casings from a single firearm, suggested this was anything but random,' Formella said in a statement.
To this day, Lei's murder remains unsolved and the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit is appealing to anyone with knowledge about the murder to come forward.
'During the initial investigation, there were credible indications that people may have withheld information out of fear — fear of retaliation, fear of being associated with illegal gambling or gang activity, or fear of prosecution," Formella said in a statement Wednesday.
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
'Others may have worried that they wouldn't be believed, or that coming forward could jeopardize their safety or reputation. To those individuals: we are asking you to come forward now—anonymously, if necessary."
Advertisement
Anyone with information is asked to call the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit tip line at
Investigators from the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit, in partnership with the Salem Police Department and New Hampshire State Police, have been using modern forensic techniques and collaborating with law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts as they continue their probe, and they hope people will come forward with information that can help solve the case, Formella said.
Advertisement
'We believe there are still people out there who know what happened to Paul, or who heard something in the aftermath that could help,' Formella said. 'If you were part of Paul's world, knew him casually, or simply heard something—no matter how minor it seemed—your voice matters. The passage of time does not erase the need for justice. Even the smallest detail could be the key to finally solving this case.'
Formella emphasized that tips can be submitted anonymously.
'You do not need to reveal your identity to make a difference,' Formella said. 'Help us bring the truth to light. Help us deliver justice for Paul's family after three long decades.'
#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; false;clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width: 100%;}
/* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */
Sign up for Cold Case Files emails:
*
indicates required
Email Address
*
First Name
Emily Sweeney can be reached at
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
34 minutes ago
- New York Post
Accused pervert teacher Christina Formella makes high school yearbook despite charges for raping teen
Accused pervert teacher Christina Formella may not work at Downers Grove South High School in suburban Chicago anymore, but she can still be seen in its latest yearbook — not once, but three times. Formella, who married her high school sweetheart in August, was arrested in March for raping a teenage student roughly 50 times. She surrendered her 'professional educator license' on June 17, according to documents obtained by The Post from the Illinois State Board of Education. 4 Christina Formella appears twice in the new yearbook. Obtained by the New York Post She's been charged with 55 crimes, including aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sex abuse and grooming. If convicted, Formella, 30, could be sentenced to 60 years. The school's recently released 2024-25 yearbook features Formella's headshot as well as group photos showing her posing with the boys' soccer team and JV girls' soccer teams she coached. 4 Formella also posed with the boys' soccer team. @hiemilynoelle/True Crime w/ Em Formella's husband has stood by her side during court appearances. Prosecutors have alleged Formella started grooming the victim when he was 14. 4 She also appeared with the JV soccer team. Obtained by the New York Post Investigators allege she raped the teen at least 45 times at the school where she was a special education teacher. 4 Formella's husband has been supporting her in court. LP Media She also raped the boy five times at her home during school hours, according to prosecutors. Formella, who denied assaulting the teen and has claimed she was being blackmailed by her accuser, insisted she was being targeted because she was 'good-looking.' The illicit relationship began in January 2023, and the boy ended it in September, prosecutors said. A school spokesperson told The Post the printing of the yearbooks began in March, prior to the arrest. 'Even so, Formella was an employee of the school district, and so is included in the yearbook,' the spokesperson said.
Business Insider
11 hours ago
- Business Insider
A Combs trial glossary: ex-PA tells jury what 'SEAL Team Six' and 'Gucci bag active' mean in Diddy-speak
Sean Combs ' jury got a lesson in Diddy Speak on Friday, courtesy of the sixth former personal assistant to testify against him in the rap mogul's Manhattan sex-trafficking and racketeering trial. "Zans," "Gucci bag active," and "SEAL Team Six" — ex-PA Brendan Paul was tasked with explaining all these Combsworld slang terms and more. Paul's testimony was tactically important. Prosecutors used his descriptions of drugs, sex, and grueling work schedules to bolster the narcotics-distribution, sex-trafficking, and forced-labor allegations of a racketeering charge that carries a potential life sentence. The testimony also offers a primer in deciphering Diddy. Here are some insider references the PA translated for jurors: 1. Gucci-bag active Paul, who worked as Combs' gofer from 2022 into 2024, once texted Kristina Khorram, chief of staff at the mogul's music and lifestyle empire, to let her know that their boss was up and at 'em. "PD active now," he texted. "Like, wild king mode active?" Khorram responded, according to the February 2024 text chain shown to jurors on Friday. "Or Gucci bag active?" "In between the two, if that makes sense LOL," Paul answered. Paul explained from the witness stand that Khorram was asking if Combs was busy preparing for the evening's "wild king night" (see below) or if he had also been dipping into a certain pouch-sized, black leather Gucci bag. Asking if Combs was "Gucci bag active" was Khorram's way of finding out, "Is he partying? Is he getting high?" Paul told the jury. Multiple PAs have testified that the Gucci bag was always stocked with drugs and went with Combs wherever he traveled. The bag, now known as Government Exhibit 10A-103-M1, contained an assortment of cocaine, ketamine, methamphetamine, and Xanax when federal agents seized it from Combs' Miami home in March 2024. It also had three orange pills stamped with the word "Tesla" that tested positive for ecstasy. 2. Wild king nights Combs is accused of sex trafficking two girlfriends, R&B artist Cassie Ventura and "Jane Doe," by forcing them to have sex with male escorts as he watched, masturbated, and recorded them. Jurors have previously heard that between 2008 and 2018, Combs and Ventura used the term "freak offs" to describe these drug-fueled, dayslong performances at the center of the sex-trafficking case. By the time Combs began dating the second accuser, "Jane," in 2021, they were called "hotel nights," at least for a while, prosecutors said. On the stand on Friday, Paul provided a clue as to when — and why — the name changed from "hotel nights" to "wild king nights." "After Cassie's lawsuit, they stopped being in hotels," Paul said, referring to Ventura's highly publicized November 2023 suit, which accused Combs of beating her and forcing her to have sex with male escorts in luxury hotels across the country. Combs settled Ventura's lawsuit for $20 million the day after it was filed, but it still had grave consequences, sparking a barrage of similar sex-assault suits and the federal investigation leading to his indictment. 3. Zans "You get me zans," Combs once asked Paul in a punctuation-free Valentine's Day 2024 text shown to the eight-man, four-woman jury Friday. "Still working on it," Paul responded. "Xanax," Paul explained when lead prosecutor Maurene Comey asked him to define "zans." Prosecutors will likely argue that the text is significant because it shows Combs personally asking Paul, an employee of what the indictment calls the "Combs criminal enterprise," to purchase illegal drugs. Paul said he bought drugs for Combs on between five and 10 occasions during his 18-month stint as personal assistant. He also told jurors his job ended in March of 2024, when federal agents executed a search warrant on Combs' plane at a Miami airport. Paul said he was arrested for possessing seven tenths of a gram of his boss's cocaine. The charge was eventually dismissed. 4. Flower, tree, and Sunset Sherbet On cross-examination, defense lawyer Brian Steel asked if the amount of drugs Paul purchased for Combs appeared to suggest mere "personal use." Paul agreed, answering that it represented "what I would consider personal use." Still, the cost could pile up. Paul was asked about a February 9, 2024, text in which he complained that the company owed him nearly $5,000 for drug outlays he'd made on Combs' behalf. In the text, Paul told Khorram and a Combs Global finance exec that he'd been waiting months to be paid back for $4,200 he'd spent on "flower" — meaning marijuana, the ex-PA explained. "King Louie and Sunset Sherbet," Paul told the jury when asked what Combs' favorite strains of weed were. (One of his first jobs as PA, he testified, was "packing joints.") According to the same 2024 text, Combs also owed Paul $780 for "Gucci items." Asked what that term meant, Paul answered, "hard drugs." 5. Tusi Paul told the jury he had worked for Combs for only a few weeks when he found a vial of bright pink powder and a bag of blue pills left out on Combs' desk in his Los Angeles mansion. Paul said he texted a photo of the two items to his fellow personal assistants, asking what he should do. On Friday, he was asked about the photo. "I took it," he confirmed. He said he tucked the items out of sight and later learned the pink powder was called "tusi" or "2C." Tusi is a mix of the powdered horse tranquilizer ketamine and ecstasy, "dyed pink for the aesthetic," Paul told the jury. Combs once asked him to sample some pink powder, "to see if it was any good," Paul testified. "Euphoric," he said when the prosecutor asked how he felt afterward. He didn't want to try the drug, but did so anyway. "I wanted to prove my loyalty," he told the jury. He was 23 years old at the time. 6. K-pop Asked what drugs he purchased for Combs over his 18 months working for him, Paul rattled off a lengthy list. It included marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine, and tusi. It also included something he called "K-pop." Here again, prosecutors assumed the jury needed a vocabulary lesson. When Comey asked the former PA to tell jurors what K-pop is, Paul answered, "It's Ketamine in lollipop form." 7. Guido, One Stop, Baby Girl, and Ovi Paul rattled off another lengthy list when asked who he knew to be selling drugs to Combs. The list included "Baby Girl," "Ovi," and a double-chinned man (based on his photo in evidence) named "Guido," whom Paul described as "the drug dealer in Los Angeles." Also included was an aptly named fellow called "One Stop," a name that reflected the broad variety of drugs he sold, Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard explained in testimony last month. "Cocaine, Plan B, birth control, weed, E, molly, like, everything," Richard told the jury of One Stop's wares. 8. SEAL Team Six In Combs' lexicon, SEAL Team Six, the covert and loyal Navy unit that killed Osama bin Laden, is the model for an ideal workforce. "What was Mr. Combs' expectation of his assistants?" Comey asked Paul. "He used to say that he wants us to move like SEAL Team Six," Paul answered. "What was your understanding of what he meant by moving like SEAL Team Six?" Paul was asked next. "Just being militant," he answered. "Get things done without him asking. Nothing taken by surprise." Paul summed up his personal assistant "mission" this way: "Just make sure he's always happy." Combs would fire assistants on the spot for minor transgressions. Paul testified he was axed in November 2023 because "I forgot his Lululemon fanny pack when he wanted to go on a walk." Combs was a forgiving SEAL team commander, though — or at least a forgetful one. Paul said that after the Lululemon mishap, he just kept returning to work. "I saw him again," some days later, Paul told the jury, "and he was like, 'Oh hey.'" Testimony continues Monday, when the government is expected to rest its case. Lead Combs attorney Marc Agnifilo told the judge Friday that the current plan is to rest the defense case after only one or two days of testimony, in which case closing arguments could begin on Thursday. "If there's any shifting in that, I'll let everyone know immediately," the lawyer told US District Judge Arun Subramanian and prosecutors.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sean Combs' Ex-Assistant Testifies on Drug Buys, ‘Wild King Nights'
Follow all of our Sean Combs trial coverage Sean Combs' former personal assistant, Brendan Paul, took the witness stand Friday as prosecutors' penultimate witness at the music mogul's sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial in New York. More from Rolling Stone Wife of Weezer Bassist Appears in Court, Wins Delay in LAPD Shooting Case Kneecap's Mo Chara Granted Unconditional Bail at First Hearing on Terror Charge Tyler Perry Sued for Alleged Sexual Assault, Battery by 'The Oval' Actor The ex-staffer, described in multiple civil lawsuits as Combs' drug 'mule,' worked for the Bad Boy Records founder from 2022 until he was separated from Combs on the tarmac of Miami-Opa Locka Airport and arrested on drug former Syracuse University basketball player, 26, had came to court Tuesday morning to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said he would sign an immunity order, compelling Paul's testimony. Combs was not in the courtroom for the exchange. Upon taking the stand, Paul said was he tipped to the job by one of Combs' former assistant, Elie Maroun, who gave him a blunt assessment of the job. 'He told me to get in, to get out; if you have a girlfriend, break up with her; and you're never going to see your family.' Paul added, that he took this to mean that working for Combs would 'require all of my attention.' Some of Paul's key duties, he testified later, involved buying thousands of dollars worth of drugs for Combs, as well as setting up for 'Wild King Nights,' the highly choreographed sexual encounters also known as 'freak-offs.' When it came to buying drugs for Combs, Paul said he purchased marijuana, cocaine, Tusi, ecstasy, and ketamine from dealers named Guido, One Stop, Baby Girl, and Ovi. He said he bought marijuana for Combs every two months, paying $4,200 for 16 ounces. He added that he bought hard drugs for Combs less than 10 times. He said he would pay between $300 and $500 for one to two grams of substances, while other times he would pick up packages without having to pay himself. Occasionally, one dealer delivered the drugs to Combs' home. Paul said that after procuring the drugs, he would give them directly to Combs, or put them in a Gucci pouch where the drugs were stored. Once, Paul testified, Combs had had him try some of his tusi. Paul said he did it 'to prove my loyalty,' adding, 'I felt euphoric but did not feel the full effect. He asked if it was good … I said yes and then I kept working.' During his cross-examination, Combs' attorney Brian Steel asked Paul outright if he was some kind of drug mule, to which Paul replied, 'Absolutely not.' He acknowledged handling small amounts of drugs for Combs, but said he believed they were for the mogul's personal use. As for the 'wild king nights,' Paul said he helped with set up and clean up on a few occasions, though testified that Combs' former chief of staff Kristina Khorram 'didn't really want [him] involved.' He said he only knew of Combs' ex-girlfriend Jane (the pseudonym used by one accuser, identified as Victim-2 in the indictment) participating in the freak-offs. Paul said that he understood wild king nights involved 'partying, alcohol, sex, drugs.' While these encounters first took place at hotels, Paul testified, that Combs started doing them elsewhere after Casandra 'Cassie' Venture sued Combs in 2023. (That suit was quickly settled, though Ventura was one of the prosecution's key witnesses during the trial.) On the occasions he helped set up for these encounters, Paul said the necessary supplies were listed in a shared Notes app document. He said the items he packed for Combs included everything from candles and incense to condoms and soup, as well as Astroglide, liquor, and the Gucci pouch with drugs. He also testified to once packing $5,000 in cash for Combs. (The male escorts hired to participate in the freak-offs were often paid in cash.) After the freak-offs, Paul said the rooms were in 'disarray.' He said he would pile up towels and sheets, throw out empty bottles of liquor and baby oil, all while wearing rubber gloves 'for sanitary reasons.' The jury was also shown a photo Paul had taken of one of these rooms. It showed towels and sheets laid out over the furniture and the floor, with one towel sporting a clear brown-ish stain. Paul said he took the photo to give Combs' travel manager a heads up that there might be charges for damages. When asked about the wild king nights by Combs' attorneys, Paul said he considered them to be an 'like an escape' for Combs during his personal time. Paul said that he typically worked 80 to 100 hours a week for Combs on a starting salary of just $75,000 a year (which was later bumped up to $100,000). During one stretch, he recalled, he stayed up for the better part of three straight days while Combs worked on his 2023 album, The Love Album: Off the Grid. Paul said he took prescription Adderall, and sometimes cocaine, to stay up during the long days. 'I was young, so I was able to handle it,' he said. At one point during his testimony, the jury saw a screenshot of an iPhone note detailing Combs' schedule in February 2023. Paul said Khorram created the schedule, which largely revolved around the women in Combs' life — who was flying in, who was flying out, who had a hotel room, who was going on vacation with Combs — with other work sprinkled in between. Paul said that his primary job was to 'make sure' Combs was happy. He recalled Combs saying he did not 'take no for an answer,' and told his staff to 'move like Seal Team Six.' Combs once fired him, Paul said, after he forgot to bring his Lululemon fanny pack when they went on a walk. 'I don't want to see your face anymore,' Combs allegedly told him. (Paul said Khorram told him to lay low until the incident blew over.) Paul was traveling with Combs and the mogul's twin daughters when federal officials surrounded the group as they were about to jet off to the Caribbean for spring break on March 25, 2024. Unbeknownst to Combs, federal agents had swarmed his homes in Los Angeles and Miami to carry out search warrants in connection to the Southern District of New York's sex trafficking and racketeering investigation into Combs. While seizing Combs' electronics, investigators also searched Paul's baggage, finding cocaine and marijuana candy, according to an arrest report obtained by Rolling Stone. Led away in handcuffs, Paul was the only person arrested as part of the raids. While on the stand, Paul recalled his initial encounter with law enforcement about the drugs, saying he declined to say who the drugs belonged to out of 'loyalty.' Later, during his cross, Paul said that his 'heart dropped' when the agent pulled the drugs from his bag, because he hadn't meant to travel with it. 'I was sweeping [Combs'] room and put it in my bag and forgot it while I was packing,' Paul said confirming that it was a mistake to pack it. Last May, Paul struck a deal with Miami prosecutors that sent him to pre-trial drug diversion as an alternative to prosecution. His charges were dropped in December after he completed the program. 'Mr. Paul is pleased to close this chapter of his life,' his defense lawyer, Brian H. Bieber, told Rolling Stone at the time. (The deal was offered because the substance amount allegedly found was not of a 'trafficking' level, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office told Rolling Stone at the time.) Bieber issued another statement to coincide with Paul's testimony today, saying, 'He was subpoenaed to come to court and tell the truth, which he did — word for word. Now that Brendan has finally had the opportunity to tell the full story about his employment, we are hopeful that the last 15 months of defamatory statements about him will cease.' After Paul's testimony ended, and before the next witness took the stand, the prosecution returned to Combs' relationship with Ventura. They entered several text message conversations into the record, which showed how Combs responded to Ventura when she pushed back against him, the freak-offs, and his alleged abuse. One exchange was from May 2, 2017 after Combs and Ventura allegedly got into a fight after appearing together at the Met Gala. Ventura texted Combs, 'You hurt me so bad. You took all your anger out on me per usual. You dragged me down the hallway by my hair.' She added, 'I felt like I was dead last night,' and, 'I was scared of your rage.' She then reminded Combs that one of his staff members 'had to tackle' during the altercation, before stating, 'That's not love that's possession… Your love me shouldn't equate to what you 'do for me.'' In response, Combs said, 'You were negative all night. You don't treat me like the king.' In another exchange a few months prior, in March, Combs texted Ventura about hiring someone for a freak-off. The next day, Ventura sent Combs several messages that appeared to allude to another altercation: 'WTF really?… You threw out all of my shit … You beat my head in. Combs responded, 'I need to figure out how to nut out this dick,' and alleged that Ventura had 'started all of this.' She replied, 'I guess I'm not down with abuse. You hit me in my head a good few times.' As Ventura described what allegedly happened to her during the freak-off, Combs accused her in turn of not giving him the chance to finish. 'You had me rub my dick for 10 hours and not let me finish,' he 55, was arrested in September and has pleaded not guilty to five felony charges of sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors alleged that under the racketeering count, Combs possessed and distributed narcotics, including ecstasy, cocaine, oxycodone, and ketamine. If convicted as charged, Combs could spend the rest of his life in arrest came just weeks after music producer Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones, who worked closely with Combs on 2023's The Love Album: Off the Grid, sued Combs for sexual harassment and abuse in February 2024. In the lengthy filing, Jones accused Paul of being Combs' drug 'mule,' allegedly 'acquir[ing] and distribut[ing]' drugs to Combs and his associates. (Combs has denied the accusations in Jones' lawsuit, and the case is ongoing.) Paul's name has popped up a few times in the criminal trial. On Monday, a compilation of text messages between Paul and Combs' longtime chief of staff Kristina Khorram, as well as other personal assistants for Combs, showed how the lower-ranking employees were expected to set up 'King Nights' at a moment's notice and deliver drugs and cash to Combs whenever he beckoned. Another former assistant, Jonathan Perez, told jurors last Friday that his tenure with Combs overlapped with Paul. One of the assistants' main jobs, Perez said, was to make sure a black 'Gucci pouch' that was packed with 'cocaine, ketamine, molly, Adderall, [and] Xanax' traveled everywhere with Combs. One of the mogul's recent ex-girlfriends, a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane, also mentioned Paul in her testimony. She told jurors that shortly before she endured her first so-called 'hotel night' without the aid of any drugs in mid-October 2023, Paul allegedly whispered words of comfort to her. Jane said Combs had been growing impatient while she and Perez were out picking up lingerie costumes for the looming freak-off. 'He said, 'I'm just here waiting for you. What the fuck is taking so long,'' Jane said. Combs barked at her over the phone. '[He] called me a bitch from there.' When Jane arrived at the L'Ermitage hotel suite, Paul 'looked really upset,' she said. 'I remember that assistant was shaking his head and just saying to me, 'You don't deserve to be called a bitch,'' she recalled. Earlier in the week, SDNY special agent DeLeassa Penland testified Tuesday about the accuracy of evidence compiled in a chart presented by prosecutors. The chart contained 71 alleged instances of Combs booking hotel rooms for freak-offs with Ventura between August 2009 and June 2017. The chart contained the names of the male escorts and corresponding travel information if they were flown in from out of state. Penland said the data was compiled through bank statements, hotel and flight records, text messages, and videotapes. During cross-examination, Combs' defense attorney Teny Geragos asked Penland why certain alleged freak-offs weren't included in the chart — like the December 2011 freak-off that Ventura said ended with Combs allegedly lunging at her with a wine bottle opener because he discovered her romance with musician Kid Cudi. Geragos also questioned why Combs' name wasn't always listed on certain dates when alleged freak-offs occurred. Although prosecutors showed a few brief clips of freak-off videos to jurors for the first time Monday, Geragos went more in depth, playing 10 different clips taken from multiple freak-offs between 2012 and 2014 for nearly 20 minutes straight Tuesday morning. Jurors awkwardly fiddled with their headphones, tapped their pens, and held their chins as they watched the videos. Combs largely seemed unfazed, taking glances at the jury. At one point, Combs seemed to bob his head as if he were listening to music. Paul is one of the government's last witnesses, and prosecutors are expected to rest after their last summary witness as soon as Monday. The jury has already heard from several former assistants, who, like Paul, testified that they were expected to act as drug and cash couriers for Combs. They detailed his jet-setting, 'can't stop, won't stop' work ethic, which they were also expected to adopt. Two former assistants, Capricorn Clark and a woman using the pseudonym 'Mia,' stated that they would often go days without sleeping and were on call nearly 24/7. George Kaplan, who also testified under immunity, seemed proud to have learned from Combs during his two years as Combs' assistant but admitted his breaking point came after seeing two alleged violent episodes involving Combs and two different women. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
