Arthur Massei Held Without Bail For 1971 Murder Of Natalie Scheublin In Bedford

WOBURN (CBS) – A 76-year-old man was ordered held without bail Wednesday morning for the brutal murder of a woman more than 50 years ago in Bedford. Arthur Massei was arrested at his home in Salem Tuesday in the death of Natalie Scheublin.

Scheublin, 54, was found tied up, beaten and stabbed to death in her home on June 10, 1971.

"We couldn't believe it, we had our own opinions on different things, why it was her. I don't think she had any enemies," Scheublin's friend, Bobbie Ennis remembered. "She was quiet but real, a real person and very easy to talk to."

The case was unsolved for years when, in 1999, computer advances matched a left thumb print from her stolen car to Massei, a career criminal, who was brought in for questioning.

Massei denied being in the home and killing Scheublin. He allegedly later told investigators that he had been solicited by an organized crime associate to kill the wife of Raymond Scheublin, the President of the Lexington Trust Bank, and make it look like a break-in, but that he had turned down the job.

Investigators said there has been no evidence showing that Natalie Scheublin's husband had anything to do with a plot to kill his wife.

After the Middlesex District Attorney's Office created a new cold case unit in 2019, the case was given a more in-depth look.

Investigators said at one point, Massei blamed his cousin for the murder.

"He claimed in this interview in 2005 that he had subsequently learned from his cousin that his cousin had in fact carried out the murder and gave police close detail of how this had allegedly come to pass, far from exculpating him, this confirmed in fact that the print was his," prosecutor David Solet told the court at Massei's arraignment in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn Wednesday.

Detectives later found a woman who they said admitted she had been involved with Massei in schemes to defraud banks in the 1990s. She said Massei "habitually" carried a knife and bragged that he had killed someone with a knife.

A grand jury indicted Massei Tuesday and he was arrested a short time later.

Massei pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge. He was ordered held without bail and will return to court April 28 for the next hearing in the case.

"I hope it would bring any family peace," Ennis said.