WORCESTER—A Worcester County Grand Jury has indicted 23-year-old Jose Pacheco of Worcester on a charge of murder in connection with the 2021 shooting death of Franklin Mane, a 19-year-old from Worcester, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.
The indictment was handed up on June 16 and moves the case to Worcester Superior Court, where Pacheco is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, June 27.
Pacheco was first arraigned on the murder charge in Leominster District Court in April and has been held without bail since April 11, 2025.
The charges stem from an investigation that began on May 12, 2021, when Leominster Police responded to a report of a body near 46 Industrial Road. Officers located the victim’s body in an overgrown area at the edge of a parking lot.
The Office of the State Medical Examiner later identified the body as Mane and determined the cause of death to be multiple gunshot wounds. His death was ruled a homicide.
A second man, Wilbert I. Nieves, 25, of Fitchburg, was previously charged with murder in connection with the case in May 2023. That case remains ongoing.
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