EXCLUSIVE Chilling photos of shallow graves outside House of Horrors ·

01 Oct 2024, 00:00

Chilling photos reveal the shallow graves outside the House of Horrors where three missing women were found.

America Lyden, Ernestine Ryans and Kayla Escalante were discovered last Wednesday at the home of suspected serial killer Stewart Weldon, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Photos taken by a neighbor of Welden, shows police and crime scene investigators digging up the backyard of the property, unearthing three shallow graves.

Chilling photos reveal the shallow graves outside the House of Horrors where three missing women were found

Three bodies found at Springfield house of horrors are local women reported missing months ago. Pictured are their graves

A neighbor snapped photos of crime scene experts and police digging up the women's bodies last week

Stewart Weldon appeared in court in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Monday June 4 to face charges

Police discovered the grisly grave site after Weldon, 40, was pulled over for a broken taillight on May 27, according to court records.

His female passenger, 25, who had been in a relationship with Weldon and shares two children with him, then told police he had been torturing her and had held her captive for a month. She was taken to the hospital and treated for 'grotesque' injuries including an infected stab wound to her abdomen.

Cops, who took a toddler from the home into state custody, later found bodies at Weldon's home, which was bought by his mother, Constance White, 72, in 2016, records show.

Police named the three women found at the home this week.

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Kayla Escalante, 27, had been missing since December. She is one of three women found dead on the property on Sunday

America Lyden, 33, went missing last June but was not reported missing until December 2017

Ernestine Ryans, 47, was also found dead at Weldon's home on Sunday

The victims, L-R: Kayla Escalante, 27, had been missing since December. America Lyden, 33, vanished last June and Ernestine Ryans, 47, was also missing. A fourth woman was found in the car Weldon tried to flee police in. She has not been named and is in hospital with grotesque' injuries including stab wounds and rape injuries

Crews worked in the back yard of Weldon's home where three bodies have been discovered - and police believe more could be hidden

A tent blocks the yard from view of the road, although the neighbor captured the action on camera

Lyden, 33, was reported missing in December last year but had not been heard from by her family since last June. It is not clear how long Ryans, 47, had been missing. Escalante was the youngest victim at 26. She had been missing since December.

'They are needless to say distraught and heartbroken,' Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said of the women's family members during an afternoon press conference Monday.

Officials have not publicly said how or when the women died but confirmed they were investigating the deaths as 'suspicious.' Gulluni said it is 'unlike anything they have ever seen before.

Their bodies were found after Weldon's mother called police to report a foul odor at the home on Wednesday, May 30.

After being pulled over for the taillight, Weldon was initially charged with one count of kidnapping, one count of sexual assault and other traffic related offense.

On Monday, he was charged with a second count of kidnapping. It remains unclear if those charges apply to the woman and the child previously found or if a fifth adult victim may be involved.

One of the small, shallow graves where the body of a missing woman had been dumped

Police worked through the night at the Springfield, Massachusetts home, looking for other bodies

Crews in hazmat suits searched the garage, where Weldon's mom said a terrible stench was coming from

Police are pictured using a ground penetrating radar at Weldon's home in Massachusetts to look for more victims after three bodies were found

Investigators work at Weldon's home in Springfield, Massachusetts, on May 31 after being sent there by his mother

As part of their search, forensics teams were seen pouring through a shed on the property on May 31

Social media post reveals how the desperate families of the missing women searched after they went missing.

In December 2017, Lyden's sister wrote her sister was 'MISSING and could be in DANGER.'

She wrote that Lyden was last seen in the 'Springfield area' in August 2017.

Friends, family and locals suggested places they'd seen her last, 'around Worthington Street' and 'by the Peter Pan bus station' and suggested checking the local jail. But nothing came back.

Escalante, who had been a frequent poster on social media, went quiet in December. One of her last photos shows her smiling holding her little girl in her arms.

Court records show Escalante's mother, Laurie Higgins, was granted a restraining order against her in December 2018. Her father Michael Escalante, who is divorced from Higgins, said she had asked him not to speak, but said his daughter had lived with him for a short time but was always out of town.

'We didn't have much contact,' he said.

Diamond Matos Canales, right, and her bother, Marco Martinez, left, move quickly to pick up a candle which fell over as they hold vigil outside the home in which their aunt's body was found

Flowers and candles are left with a message, 'I love you Yakla' on Page Boulevard in Springfield, Massachusetts where State Police continue to investigate a crime scene

Marco Martinez, nephew of America Lyden Canales, one of Weldon's victims, adjusts a candle next to a photo of his two deceased aunts, America and Felicia. Felicia died before this event

Marco Martinez, nephew of America Lyden Canales, one of Weldon's victims, stands close to his sister, Diamond Matos Canales, right, and mother, Mardeli Canales, center outside the home where their family member's body was found

Ryans' sister raised the alarm in March after she went missing on March 8. She urged anyone with information to contact the local police.

Weldon has a long history of violent crimes stretching back more than a decade.

In September 2006, he was jailed in Maywood County for a year for attempted theft and burglary.

He was out of jail for just over a month before he was jailed again in October for a burglary and probation violation in 2008.

He had a few more run ins with the police over the years and was recently arrested again on October 14, 2017, near Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts.

HOUSE OF HORRORS TIMELINE

Sunday May 27: Weldon is arrested after leading police on a chase after they tried to pull him over for a routine traffic stop because of a broken taillight.

At the end of the chase, a 25-year-old woman in the passenger seat claims he had been keeping her as a sex slave.

She is taken to hospital with 'grotesque' injuries and he is charged with sexual assault and kidnap.

Tuesday May 29: Weldon appears in court and denies the charges

Wednesday May 30: Police search his home after being alerted to it by his mother who told them there was a foul smell.

They find the first two bodies.

Thursday May 31: Police find third body at the home. They also find a child who is alive.

Monday June 4: Weldon is charged with second count of kidnap

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Police had stopped him for reckless driving but the police report reveals he was also arrested for assault with a dangerous weapon, resisting arrest and assault and battery of a police officer during the violent confrontation.

After his arrest last Sunday, Weldon's aunt said she believed something 'snapped' in him.

She said she felt sorry for the 'girl' he'd been keeping as his apparent sex slave but was glad that she was alive.

'When I saw what had happened to that girl, I said that boy is sick he really is.

'At least he gave her some water to stay hydrated.

'Something had to snap for him to turn like that,' his aunt Hannah Weldon, 63, told DailyMail.com.

The woman's injuries were horrifying.

They include a possible fractured jaw and scabbed over wounds which, police said, indicated prolonged abuse.

When police caught up arrested him on May 27, she told them they had saved her life and that she did not think she would have survived him.

She remained in hospital on Friday as authorities continued to search the property where the bodies were found.

They used ground penetrating radars as part of the search in a grim hunt for more bodies. According to Weldon's aunt, he and the woman have two children together; a six-month-old baby and a girl.

The baby is believed to be the child who was found but police are yet to confirm details of their identity.

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EXCLUSIVE Chilling photos of shallow graves outside House of Horrors

Chilling photos reveal the shallow graves outside the House of Horrors where three missing women were found. America Lyden,Ernestine Ryans andKayla Escalante were discoveredlast Wednesday at the home of suspected serial killer Stewart Weldon, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

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HOUSE OF HORRORS TIMELINE

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