BY DARRELL HALEN
An exotic baby bird stolen from a Salem pet store has been found, and one of two men accused of stealing it – a driver involved in a fatal crash the same day – has been arrested.
Joseph Connolly, 34, of Andover, Mass., was arraigned on Tuesday, Sept. 25, in Derry District Court, where bail was set at $5,000. He is charged with being an accomplice to shoplifting.
Salem Deputy Police Chief Bill Ganley said Connolly drove away after his passenger, Joseph Murabito, 35, of Lawrence, Mass., allegedly stole the bird from the Seaworld Pet Center in Salem on Tuesday, Sept. 18. An arrest warrant has been issued for Murabito for felony shoplifting.
A few days before Connolly’s arrest, police said they were investigating whether the theft of the 7-week-old baby macaw, valued at $1,900, is connected to the fatal crash.
Police said Connolly was traveling south on Route 38 when his vehicle crossed into the northbound lane, colliding with John Sweren, 54, the motorcyclist.
The motorcycle then collided with a vehicle being driven by Taryn Riley, 47, of Lowell, Mass., who was waiting to pull out of a car dealership parking lot.
Sweren was suffering from serious injuries when rescue workers reached him. He was transported to Lowell General Hospital and then airlifted to Boston Medical Center, where he died.
Connolly was treated at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua and released. Riley was not injured.
Pelham Police Lt. Gary Fisher said Joseph Murabito fled from Connolly’s car, ran into the woods and was caught. He was treated for minor injuries.
Ganley said several factors led investigators to suspect there is a connection between the fatal crash and the bird theft.
The incidents happened about a half hour apart and the color and make of Connolly’s car – a silver Ford Taurus – is the same as the vehicle the bird thieves used when they fled from the pet store.
Ganley said police received a tip that Connolly offered to sell a bird prior to the accident, and that an individual witnessed someone fleeing from a car after the crash.
Joanne Leone, the store’s manager, along with other employees and her dogs, found the bird in the woods off Route 38 on Friday, Sept. 21, three days after it was stolen.
The bird was in a tree and a soiled cardboard box that it was kept in was about 2 feet away.
Leone and others had previously made about five unsuccessful searches. After the bird was found, Leone came out of the woods sobbing.
A Pelham police officer, Lt. Brian McCarthy, escorted her and the bird to the pet store.
The bird was dehydrated and had a sore wing probably due to being stuffed in a box, Leone said.
“He’s going to make it,” she said the day after it was found. “I think that’s the thing everyone wanted to know – will this bird survive.”
She looked at the bird while it stood in a shopping carriage, and a Salem customer, Mike Mulloy, hugged Leone, offering his congratulations.
“I’m so happy,” she told him. “I’m telling you, it was truly, truly a miracle.”
A woman who wants to remain anonymous and whom Leone described as a devoted bird owner recently purchased the bird.
“She thought this baby should be coddled for the rest of its life after everything it went through,” Leone said. “We wanted the best for this bird.”
Leone said veterinarians have called the store, telling her that it’s amazing the bird survived.
Since its return to the store, people have brought in cupcakes and pizza. The bird is drawing the attention of customers who have followed its ordeal on the news.
“This was a story everyone was following,” Leone said. “It makes you have a little faith in human beings again. Last Tuesday, it was gone.”
Connelly was arrested on the accomplice to shoplifting charge when he was discovered trying to sell power tools in a store parking lot in Salem on Monday, Sept. 24. An arrest warrant had been issued for his arrest.
Connolly has not been charged in connection with the fatal crash. Fisher said he wants to obtain a warrant to have a vehicular autopsy done on his car.