In 2015, many of the top stories in Connecticut involved grisly crimes or criminals in unlikely places.

A suspected serial killer was identified, two Wesleyan students were arrested on federal drug charges and an ex-convict pulled off a comeback as mayor of Bridgeport.

Other top stories included General Electric's dalliance with a move out-of-state, the ballooning state deficit and a teenager taken into state custody to receive treatment for cancer against for will.

Here is a look at some of the year's biggest stories:

GANIM'S BACK IN BRIDGEPORT

In the most unlikely of comebacks, ex-convict Joe Ganim won back his job as mayor of Connecticut's biggest city. Bridgeport voters looked past his federal corruption conviction and his seven years in prison for a scheme to steer city contracts in exchange for wine, clothes and cash during his previous administration. Now he faces the challenge of building a relationship with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a fellow Democrat, and others who shunned him during the campaign.

SERIAL KILLER INVESTIGATION

In April, the remains of four people were found in a wooded area behind a New Britain shopping center. A hunter found the partial skeletons of three women nearby in 2007. William Devin Howell, a drifter, has since been charged in the slayings of all seven victims, six women and one man. Howell had been in prison since a 2005 manslaughter conviction in one of the slayings.

GENERAL ELECTRIC MULLS A MOVE

Will they unplug from Connecticut? General Electric, unhappy with state tax increases, took the unusual step of announcing publicly in June that it was thinking about moving its headquarters from Fairfield. What's followed has been months of reports, rumors and speculation about which way GE is leaning as it weighed incentives offered by various governors. The company employs about 5,700 people in Connecticut, including 800 at its headquarters.

SON CHARGED IN PARENTS' SLAYING

When an Easton couple went missing in August, friends held out hope they had merely taken an unannounced trip. News reports focused on Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin's money problems. But in early November, their bodies were found outside a vacant house in another Fairfield County town. Their son, Kyle, is charged with murder in their deaths. The month before his parents disappeared, Navin texted his girlfriend saying he had the "perfect plan" to get "$ for life," according to the warrant.

GROWING DEFICIT

At the conclusion of the springtime legislative session, Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives pulled an all-nighter to rally the votes for an unpopular state budget. Five months later, they were back for a one-day session to address a $350 million deficit in the year's $20 billion tax and spending plan. The plan passed earlier this month addressed the budget gap by cutting spending and shifting money from accounts.

WESLEYAN OVERDOSES

One by one, the Wesleyan students were rushed to hospitals one weekend in February, including one who nearly died. A dozen people were hospitalized in a rash of overdoses on a synthetic party drug that brought attention to the university's liberal traditions and warnings from authorities about drugs that are often seen as relatively harmless. Five students were arrested on state charges and expelled from the university. Two of them have since pleaded guilty to federal drug charges and are awaiting sentencing.

FORCED CANCER TREATMENTS

After refusing to undergo chemotherapy, a 17-year-old girl identified only as Cassandra C was removed from her home and ordered to receive the treatment. The state Supreme Court ruled in January that the state's actions did not violate the rights of the girl, who had Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer went into remission and the girl was released from the hospital following in April following months of confinement when she finished the treatment.

RACE AT YALE

Yale University figured prominently in racially charged protests that swept colleges around the United States as students at the Ivy League school held rallies and pressed the administration on demands to make the campus more inclusive. After several weeks of heated discussions, the university pledged several changes to promote diversity. Still to come in the spring semester is a decision on whether to change the name of Calhoun College, a residential college named for John Calhoun, a former U.S. vice president and strong defender of slavery.