Surviving the Connecticut River Valley Killer: Jane Boroski tells her story
Market where Jane Boroski was attacked in West Swanzey, NH
Jane Boroski isn’t a victim, she’s a survivor
On a hot summer night in 1988, 22-year-old Jane Boroski, who was 7-months pregnant, stopped at a closed convenience store on her way home from a fair, when she was attacked by an unknown assailant who stabbed her 27 times and left her for dead.
In the 1980’s, a serial killer was preying on women in the area surrounding the Connecticut River Valley in New Hampshire and Vermont. To this day, the identity of the killer is still unconfirmed, and remains one of New England’s most prolific unsolved cases.
There are 7 known victims connected to the Connecticut River Valley Killer, and one survivor—who believes that without a doubt, she almost became his 8th.
This is Jane's story... in her own words.
August 6th, 1988 – The Attack
“I pulled in, went to the vending machine got my soda, and I noticed this vehicle pull in and parked right next to me on my passenger side of my car. I didn't think anything of it. I had no reason to think anything of it. As I was sitting in my car, drinking my soda getting ready to pull out, he walked around the backside of my car, asked me if the payphone worked, and opened my car door and tried to get me out of my car.
As soon as he opened the door and tried to grab me out of the car, I screamed. I screamed so loud I broke blood vessels in my eyes. I was just shocked it was I didn't have time to respond. As he was trying to pull me out of the car, I somehow got my feet up and I was kicking him, and I ended up kicking and smashing in my windshield. The next thing I know, he takes a knife out and said calmly, “maybe this will persuade you to get out of the car”, which it did. I got out of the car.
I was like, “What do you want?” And he told me I beat up his girlfriend. Then I was really confused. I'm thinking Oh my God, this guy's a nutcase. He doesn't even know what he's talking about. So, I was like, “No, I don’t know your girlfriend.” And he said, “Isn't this a Massachusetts car?” I have a New Hampshire car. So, he kind of walked to the back of my car, like he was looking at the license plate.
At that time, I didn't feel threatened because I thought maybe he just got confused and thought I was somebody else. The next thing I know, he starts walking to his vehicle... and I said these words that I will regret for the rest of my life. I said, “hey, asshole, what about my windshield?” because he was walking away and I have a smashed windshield. At the same time, I didn't feel threatened. I thought he’d just made a mistake... and that's when he came back around to my side of the car where I was standing.
He then put the knife up against my neck. And then that's when I knew... I was scared again. I didn't know what he was capable of doing.
I saw a vehicle drive by on the main road, and I knew I needed to run and scream for help. That was the only way I was gonna get out of this situation. So, I did. I dashed a dash for the road; screamed, yelled, tried to get their attention... They just drove right by. The next thing I know, he tackled me down like a football player. I was on my back on the on the pavement, and he was on top of me, and before I could even realize what was happening, he was stabbing me. It was almost like an out of body experience. I could not believe this was happening to me.
I was pregnant, and I knew I had to protect my baby. So, as he's stabbing, I'm trying to protect my baby, and he just continued to stab for what felt like forever... and all of a sudden, it just stopped... and I'm lying there. I just couldn't believe that he just stabbed me like that. Then he just calmly got up and walked away. I could hear him calmly walking. Then I heard the vehicle start, and I said to myself, Oh, my God, I gotta get up. I gotta try and get out.
I rolled over on my hands and knees and started getting up. He just so slowly drove right by my head and looked right down at me, and I looked right up at him... and he drove away. He didn't speed off. He just drove away.”
Both Jane and her baby managed to survive the attack. Jane was stabbed 27 times, and miraculously, her baby was unharmed.
“I had two collapsed lungs. He cut the tendon in my hand and in my knee. He sliced my juggler, and he lacerated my liver, so I had a piece of my liver removed. But my baby was unarmed. There were no stabs or anything to my baby whatsoever. She was perfectly fine.”
The Connecticut River Valley Serial Killer
“I didn’t know about the serial killer until after my attack. I ended up reading it in the newspaper that I was possibly a victim of the Connecticut River Valley serial killer, which was crazy to me. After I was better and able to really speak with the detectives, they interviewed me quite a few times. I gave them a description of the vehicle, which was an early 80s Jeep Wagoneer with a grain side and did a composite of him. They took fingerprints and everything off my car, they scraped underneath my fingernails while I was in the hospital because they thought maybe I’d scratched him... So, they had all this evidence, but 34 years later, there's been no arrest. Unfortunately, as of today, all the Connecticut River Valley killings are unsolved. Nobody's ever been arrested or charged.”
Based on Jane’s description, Police described her attacker as a clean shaven white man between 30 and 40, about 5’7”, 150 to 160 lbs, with blonde hair. shaven. His vehicle was a brown Jeep Wagoneer model year between 1975 and 1984 with wood grain trim.
The Connecticut River Valley killer is an unidentified serial killer who preyed on women mostly in the NH and VT areas surrounding the Connecticut River Valley and Claremont, NH in the 1980’s.
There are 7 confirmed victims of the CT River Valley Killer, and more possibly connected. Jane is his only known possible survivor.
Confirmed victims:
Catherine "Cathy" Millican, 26: New London, NH - October 24th, 1978
Mary Elizabeth Critchley, 37: Unity, NH August 9th, 1981
Bernice Courtemanche, 17: Newport, NH - May, 30th, 1984
Ellen Ruth Fried, 26: Newport, NH July 22nd, 1984
Eva Marie Morse, 27: West Unity, NH July 10th, 1985
Lynda M. Moore, 36: Westminster, VT - April 15th, 1986
Barbara Agnew, 38: Hartland, VT - January 10th, 1987
The proximity and manner of death in the homicides (that were able to be determined by the medical examiner) showed a pattern that indicated a serial killer was responsible, so authorities connected the cases and began to search for the man known as the CT River Valley Killer.
Police first connected Jane’s case with the valley killer based on the similarities of Barbara Agnew’s case.
To this day, the killer’s identity remains a mystery and the cases are still unsolved.
Was Michael Nicholaou the CT River Valley Killer?
On December 31st, 2005 near Tampa, FL, a 56-year-old Vietnam War veteran named Michael Nicholaou killed his wife, Aileen Nicholaou, and her 22-year-old daughter, Taryn Bowman, before turning the gun on himself.
But this wasn’t the first incident in Michael’s life hinting at a violent past. In the late 1980’s, Michael was common-law married to a woman named Michelle Marie Ashley and they lived in Holyoke, Massachusetts with their two children, Nick and Joy.
Michael was described as possessive and angry, and had severe PTSD symptoms from serving in Vietnam. In August of 1988, Michelle left Michael, taking the kids with her and hiding at a location unknown to Michael. Michelle’s family said she was afraid of him. Michelle and both children disappeared in November 1988 after Michael discovered their location and haven’t been seen or heard from since.
Around 2000, Michelle’s family hired a private investigator to try and find out what happened to Michelle, who later believed that Michael Nicholaou was the Connecticut River Valley Serial Killer. The PI reached out to Jane to talk.
Around 2006, Jane came forward in the press saying she also believed Michael Nicholaou was the man who tried to kill her in August of 1988, and thus was possibly the valley killer. The connection got national press coverage, and if you do a basic search of Jane’s name, articles of her talking about Michael as the suspect pop up. If you search for the CT River Valley Killer, Michael’s name also pops up... but that was over 15 years ago, and Jane’s opinions on Michael Nicholaou have since changed.
Today, she no longer believes he is the man responsible.
“I had a private investigator contact me about Michael Nicholaou, and we did a lot of conversation back and forth for a few years. I never felt positive it was him, but I also took it with an open mind. She spent two years completely convincing me that it was him, but deep down I never felt truly that way.
But she had a lot of credible information and she really tried to make it fit with Michael Nicholaou. Then I started hearing other people say, “well, this doesn't fit or this doesn't fit”, so I started questioning her about some of the hearsay and circumstantial things. She never wanted to really address the things that didn't fit, only the things that did, or the things that she made fit.
I ended up severing all ties with her, because she got really defensive when I was thinking maybe it wasn't him.
I was in contact with another investigative journalist, and I had him look at everything on Michael Nicolaou—new eyes, fresh eyes, you know—and even he said there's no real evidence that it was him. We can't exclude him, but we can't include him. And the detectives up in Concord, they supposedly investigated all the Michael Nicholaou information, and they even said it's not conclusive that it was him.
It took her a long time to convince me, and I never really wanted to say to the media that I felt like it was him. But she told me if I didn't say that, nobody would take us seriously, and I did want people to take this seriously. I wanted the authorities to investigate him. She felt like they were doing nothing (though they actually were investigating him). I really want them to take me seriously, so I told her “Okay, I'll say it was him”.
I wish I didn't. But I was in that situation where I really wanted this to be solved, and I really wanted the authorities to take this seriously and to investigate it. So, I ultimately said it was him. I wish I didn't.
I very quickly realized that she was all about media, and I kind of suspected that she was doing all this for her own her own agenda.
So, as of today, in September of 2022, I don’t believe my attacker was Michael Nicholaou. A lot of things don't fit. For one, a serial killer doesn't usually change a weapon. He killed himself, his wife, and his stepdaughter with a gun. There was never any proof that he has ever attacked anybody in any manner with a knife. So, it's little things like that, that didn't fit with him.
“Now was Michael Nicholaou a bad man? He was a very bad man, that guy had a lot of issues. But do I think he's the Connecticut River Valley serial killer? No, I don't.”
Jane’s story didn’t end the night of her attack
“My story goes on for another 34 years. This changed me so much. It changed my life.
There's just so much that happened after my attack, that was a direct result of it. I didn't know what to do, what to think, or how I was supposed to feel. I didn’t even know who to talk to about it. A lot of the trauma that I was feeling inside, a lot of the depression and the anger were symptoms from PTSD, which I didn't even know I had.
It took 20 years after my attack to be clinically diagnosed with PTSD.”
There is so much more to Jane Boroski than the night she was attacked, and 34-years later, she's ready to open up about it.
Jane gets candid about her difficult journey to recovery, what it’s like as a survivor of a violent crime, and how she’s helping other survivors learn to move forward and heal.
Hear the rest of Jane’s story in her own words in a powerful interview on Murder, She Told, wherever you get podcasts. Click here to find your platform.
Learn more about Jane’s new podcast, Invisible Tears.
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Jane Boroski with reenactment actors for an Unsolved Mysteries segment, 1991
Jane with daughter, Jessica - 2007
Jane Boroski in an interview with WMUR, 2000’s
Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou
Michael Nicholaou
Remembering the victims of the Connecticut River Valley Serial Killer
Catherine “Cathy” Millican
New London, NH - October 24th, 1978
26-year-old Cathy Millican was an avid bird enthusiast. A friend told her that rare ducks had been spotted in the Chandler Brook Wetland Preserve in New London, NH, so Cathy headed out in her Volkswagen Rabbit to photograph them on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 24th, 1978. The following day she was reported missing.
Police remembered seeing her car (and another) parked near the preserve from a routine patrol the day prior, and a short time later, Cathy’s body was found just off a trail, along with her binoculars and car keys.
She had been stabbed over 20 times and left to die.
Mary Elizabeth Critchley
Unity, NH - August 9th, 1981
37-year-old Mary Elizabeth Critchley was last seen in Framingham, MA on July 25, 1981 near exit 13 of the Massachusetts Turnpike after being dropped off by a friend. At the time, Elizabeth was taking classes at the University of Vermont, and after being dropped off, she planned to hitchhike back to Waterbury VT where she lived with a friend.
Her body was found on August 9, 1981 in the woods off of Unity Stage Road, in Unity, NH. The medical examiner was unable to determine a cause of death, but the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and death are suspicious and being investigated as a homicide.
Bernice Courtemanche
Newport, NH - May, 30th, 1984
Bernice Courtemanche was only 17-years old when she went missing on May 30th, 1984 in Claremont, NH. Bernice was a high school student and nurse’s aide.
She was last seen around 3:30 pm, and it’s believed she was hitchhiking to visit her boyfriend before her disappearance. She was reported missing the following day.
Her skeletal remains were found nearly two years later, on April 19, 1986 just off Cat Hole Hill Road in Newport, NH. She had been stabbed to death.
Ellen Ruth Fried
Newport, NH - July 22nd, 1984
26-year-old Ellen Fried was last seen talking to her sister on a payphone outside of Leo’s Market in Claremont, NH around 2am on July 22, 1984. Ellen was a registered nurse who worked at Valley Regional Hospital.
She told her sister there was a car circling the parking lot, and after making sure her car would start, said goodbye to her sister. She was never heard from again.
On September 19th, 1985, Ellen’s skeletal remains were found in a wooded area next to the Sugar River in the Kelleyville area of Newport, NH. Her cause of death couldn’t be determined, but the circumstances and evidence at the scene was consistent with sexual assault. Her death is considered a homicide.
Eva Marie Morse
West Unity, NH - July 10th, 1985
Eva Morse was a 27-year-old single mother when she disappeared while hitchhiking home from work on Route 12 between Charlestown, NH and Claremont on July 10th, 1985.
Eva’s remains were discovered in West Unity, NH, on April 25, 1986, several miles from Route 12 just 500 feet from where Mary Elizabeth Critchley’s remains were found.
She had been stabbed to death.
Lynda M. Moore
Westminster, VT - April 15th, 1986
36-year-old Lynda Moore was attacked and murdered while she was home alone. She was last seen outside around 2pm in her yard. When her husband came home from work an hour later, he discovered her dead in the living room. There were no signs of forced entry or ransacking.
It was clear from evidence that a violent struggle had happened, and Lynda fought her killer hard before he ultimately took her life. She was stabbed 25 times.
Lynda was a mother of 2 children.
Barbara Agnew
Hartland, VT - January 10th, 1987
On January 10, 1987, 38-year-old Barbara Agnew went skiing with friends on Stratton Mountain.
Despite the fact there was a blizzard happening, Barbara left around 10pm to head back to her home in Norwich. She never made it home.
A few days later, her green BMW was found at a rest stop off I-91 Northbound in Hartford, Vermont a few miles from her home. It’s unclear to police why she pulled off here. The door was ajar, and there was blood on the steering wheel and in the back seat. Some of Barbara’s belongings, which were covered with blood, were found in a nearby dumpster.
Her body was found on March 28th, 12 miles from the rest stop in a wooded area in Hartland, Vermont near Advent Hill Road. She had been stabbed multiple times in the neck and chest, and it was clear she put up a fight.
Composite sketch of Jane Boroski’s attacker, possibly the CT River Valley Killer
Sketch of the man seen entering Lynda Moore’s home just before her murder
Sources For This Episode
SUBMIT A TIP
Cathy Millican, NH Dept. of Justice
Mary Elizabeth Critchley, NH Dept. of Justice
Bernice Courtemanche, NH Dept. of Justice
Ellen Fried, NH Dept. of Justice
Eva Morse, NH Dept. of Justice
Lynda Moore, Vermont State Police
Barbara Agnew, Vermont State Police
Michelle Marie Ashley, Holyoke Police Dept
Interview
Jane Boroski
Additional Sources
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Unsolved Mysteries, Season 4, episode 4
Shadow of Death: The Hunt For a Killer book by Philip E. Ginsburg
Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou, Charley Project
Michael Nicholaou, Murderpedia
Photos
Unsolved Mysteries, Season 4, episode 4
The NH and VT Dept. of Justice
Shadow of Death book
Brattleboro Reformer
Concord Monitor
WMUR
Credits
This episode was researched, written, and edited by Kristen Seavey
Murder, She Told was created by Kristen Seavey