Murder in Rockport, Massachusetts: Terror in a Small Town

On May 21, 1932, Arthur Oker, a mild-mannered Finnish tailor, was brutally murdered in his shop in the small seaside town of Rockport, Massachusetts. While this unsolved crime terrified local residents, their fears increased after another horrifying murder, that of Swedish immigrant and fellow churchgoer Augusta Johnson in her home on Halloween night in 1933. Following the crimes, authorities searched every house and building in Rockport, and some 2,500 households were interviewed. A reward was posted, a mystic volunteered her services and local children wearing badges provided by a breakfast cereal company joined in the search. However, the crimes went unsolved. Local authors Robert Fitzgibbon and Wayne Soini, based on their book "Murder in Rockport, Massachusetts: Terror in a Small Town," reveal long-lost details about the crime, the investigation and a surprise suspect from the state police archives.

Wayne Soini, a Cape Ann native, always wondered about the unsolved murder…