Convicted sex offender charged with raping, murdering Dorchester woman

Authorities today charged Fitzhugh Newton, 50, with twice raping a woman before killing her early on Feb. 26 on Columbia Road.

Newton, convicted of assault with intent to commit rape in 1979 and of open and gross lewdness in 2007, was already in the South Bay jail on unrelated charges, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office and Boston Police. DA Dan Conley said a DNA sample from the scene was linked to Newton via a DNA database:

We hope that the charges that were issued today - while only the beginning of a process to hold this alleged suspect accountable for these heinous crimes - will allow the victim's family and the public to breathe easier knowing that he is not on the street.

The body of the 48-year-old woman, not identified today by authorities pending notification of her family, was found in the back of a delivery truck in a parking lot at 390 Columbia Rd.