New London Superior Court Judge Arthur C. Hadden has granted the state's motion to consolidate for trial two murder cases of a local man accused of killing Renee Pellegrino and Michelle Comeau in the late 1990s.

Dickie E. Anderson, 41, is accused of killing Renee Pellegrino on June 25, 1997, in Waterford and Michelle Comeau on May 1, 1998, in Norwich. One of his two defense attorneys, Christopher Duby, recently filed a speedy trial motion in the Comeau case, meaning jury selection must begin in New London Superior Court within 30 days. In response, the state filed a motion to consolidate the two cases so that they would be tried simultaneously.

During oral arguments this morning in New London Superior Court, prosecutor Stephen M. Carney argued the cases should be joined because evidence in both is cross-admissible. He said the facts of the cases are similar and evidence a common scheme and modus operandi.

"Here we allege that the common scheme would be to murder prostitutes and lay their bodies out for others, particularly passing motorists, to discover," Carney said. "The methods used were significantly unique. The person who performed one misdeed did the other."

Pellegrino's body was discovered on June 25, 1997, at the dead-end of Parkway South in Waterford, not far from New London city limits. She had been strangled, and her killer had posed her naked body, according to Carney.

In May 1998, police found Comeau's body dumped along an access road to the Norwich Industrial Park near the Norwich-Franklin town line. She too had been strangled. The state claims her killer was in the process of posing her naked body but was interrupted and left the scene. Anderson's DNA was found on Pellegrino's body, but there is no DNA evidence to link him to the Comeau case. He knew both women and admitted to having sex with them on the day they were killed, Carney said.

John T. Walkley, Anderson's other attorney, argued against joining the cases.

"It's possible some evidence to be presented would be admissible in both (cases), but to say all (would be admissible) is bold," Walkley said. He cited the conflicting DNA evidence and said, also, that an expert retained by the state in the Pellegrino case found that Anderson did not fit the profile for her killer. He said there was a similar murder of a prostitute during the same time period, that of Hope Becker in 2002, of which another man, Clifford Gilliland, was convicted.

The judge cited case law in which other murders were tried jointly and said that none of the factors presented by the defense would prohibit the cases from being joined. He granted the state's motion and asked when the attorneys would be ready for trial. Walkley said he has not received all of the information in the Pellegrino case from the state and needs to hire an expert to examine the DNA evidence. Hadden scheduled a status conference in the case for Jan. 18.