For nearly six years, the family of Paul Ferguson existed in a state of agonizing uncertainty. The 26-year-old man, a former Adult Correctional Institutions guard, had vanished from his home in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on October 30, 1995. The day came and went with no word, and as the seasons turned into years, hope for his safe return dwindled, leaving only the cold ache of unanswered questions.
The answer, when it finally came, was grim. On August 1, 2001, a construction crew was working on a property on Sweeney Road in the quiet, rural town of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, just across the state line from Pawtucket. While digging on the land, they unearthed human remains. The Bristol County District Attorney's Office was called to the scene, and investigators soon confirmed the body was that of Paul Ferguson. He had been buried in a shallow grave, his life cut short years earlier.
The property where Ferguson was found had a notorious history.
It was previously owned by James St. Jacques, a convicted drug dealer, before being confiscated by law enforcement and sold just two weeks before the discovery of the body. Ferguson was believed to have been a close associate of St. Jacques. This connection immediately made St. Jacques a person of interest in the homicide investigation.
At the time Ferguson’s body was identified, St. Jacques was already incarcerated, serving a nine-year federal sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was also awaiting trial in Rhode Island on a separate murder charge from 1992, accused of killing another one of his associates. Investigators had suspected St. Jacques's involvement in Ferguson's disappearance since 1995, but with the discovery of the body on his former property, the focus intensified. Despite the strong circumstantial evidence and the clear links between the victim and the property owner, St. Jacques was never formally charged with Paul Ferguson's murder.
The investigation into Ferguson's death has been led by the Bristol County District Attorney's Office in Massachusetts. Over the years, the case has grown cold, but it has never been closed. Detectives are left with a timeline that ends in Pawtucket in 1995 and a body discovered in Rehoboth in 2001, with the crucial years in between holding the secrets to who killed Paul Ferguson and why. The motive remains unknown, though the connection to a convicted drug trafficker suggests a number of possibilities.
As of December 2022, the Bristol County District Attorney's Office continues to list the homicide of Paul Ferguson as an active and unsolved case. Decades have passed since he was last seen alive, and more than twenty years have gone by since his family was finally able to lay him to rest. The questions that have haunted them since 1995 remain. Investigators hope that with the passage of time, someone with knowledge of what happened to the young prison guard will finally come forward, providing the evidence needed to deliver justice and close a painful chapter for his loved ones.
