Notorious Child Rapist Wayne Chapman Dies

CONNECTICUT — Convicted child rapist Wayne Chapman, who was also suspected in the disappearance of a 10-year-old boy in Lawrence 45 years ago, is dead. Chapman died at a nursing facility in Connecticut Wednesday night, Boston 25's Bob Ward reported.

Chapman was convicted in 1977 of luring two Lawrence boys into the woods and sexually assaulting them. He was also suspected in the 1976 disappearance of 10-year-old Andy Puglisi and admitted to molesting up to 100 boys in multiple states, the Boston Herald reported.

Chapman was released from MCI-Shirley in 2019 after 40 years in prison. He lived in Medford before being "run out" of town to a nursing home in Connecticut, his attorney told Boston 25.

Chapman was initially sentenced to 30 years in prison and held longer after prosecutors argued for his continued incarceration as a "sexually dangerous person" in 2007. He petitioned for a review in 2018 and was determined by two psychologists to no longer be a danger.

That same year, he was accused of exposing himself to prison staff just days before his release. A Middlesex Superior Court later cleared him of those lewdness charges.