Funeral Held For Victim Of Boston Killing

Hundreds of people in her western Massachusetts hometown attended funeral services Tuesday for 24-year-old Amy Lord, who was fatally stabbed after being abducted in South Boston last week.

St. Cecilia's Church in Wilbraham was packed with people wearing white ribbons at a funeral Mass for Lord. White ribbons also decorated the town.

The Rev. Joseph Sorrano said in a eulogy that she made friends wherever she went. He said Lord, the eldest of three sisters, was a "big sister" and role model to others. Music included one of her favorites, "Lord of the Dance." She was buried in a private service.

Boston police said Lord, a Bentley University graduate who was living in South Boston, was kidnapped July 23 and forced to withdraw cash from five banks before she was killed. A bicyclist discovered her body later that day at the Stony Brook Reservation.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis has characterized Edwin Alemany, 28, who was arrested in connection with two non-fatal attacks on women in the same South Boston neighborhood last week, as a "person of interest" in Lord's killing.

Davis announced Monday that a detective who was assigned to a case that may have involved Alemany last September has been demoted to patrolman. Alemany's ID was found at the scene of an attack on a woman in the Roxbury neighborhood, but he was never arrested or charged. Davis said a review found that the detective failed to adequately pursue the case.

Davis and other officials met Monday night with hundreds of community residents, some of whom say they feel unsafe after Lord's killing and other recent violent crimes.

Alemany is undergoing psychiatric evaluation after a judge ruled him unfit for arraignment. He has been charged with stabbing one woman and punching another.