Former Mayor Susan Menard Is 1 of 2 Bodies Found Inside Her Woonsocket, R.I., Home

Mar. 15, 2025

Former Rhode Island mayor Susan Menard has been identified as one of two people found dead inside a Woonsocket home earlier this week.

Menard’s cause of death is still pending, the medical examiner said in Wednesday’s release. She was 74.

Officials located the bodies Monday after neighbors told them that they hadn’t seen the residents of the home for “a couple of weeks,“The Providence Journalpreviously reported.

Herrera said he noticed a “really strong smell” on Sunday, but wasn’t sure where exactly it was coming from, per the report.

The next day, he checked around outside his neighbor’s home and saw “a lot of flies around the windows,” leading him to call authorities.

Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas Oates said an “elderly male and female” were found dead inside the residence on Marian Lane, per WPRI and WJAR. It remains unclear how the two individuals died, but foul play is not suspected.

“There’s no outward signs of any foul play or any type of a struggle,” Oates said, according toNBC News. “We’re aware that both of these individuals, if they’re who we think they are, had medical issues that were pretty significant.”

Menard was Woonsocket’s longest-serving mayor, serving from 1995 to 2009, according to the city’swebsite.

The office of Woonsocket’s current mayor, Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

source: people.com