Before moving to Boston and the apartment the four dead babies were discovered Debbie Joyce Harrelson changed her name to Alexis Aldamir, which appears to be a reference to a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lords of the Rings."
The Massachusetts woman whose four children were discovered dead in her freezer kept her pregnancies a secret not only from co-workers but also from her own family, according to individuals interviewed by investigators in the case.
John Harrelson told investigators with the Boston Police Department that his sister Alexis Aldamir never spoke about being pregnant or giving birth, according to court records filed in South Boston Municipal Court. He shared that information during an interview shortly after he and his wife discovered the frozen babies in Aldamir's freezer while cleaning out her Boston apartment.
What is unclear is if Aldamir's mother, Ginette Harrelson, knew about the pregnancies. She moved into the same apartment building as her daughter in 1985 and lived there for over 30 years. Ginette, now 99, currently resides at a local nursing home, according to public records.
Aldamir and her mother were the only two members of the family who lived in Boston, with Aldamir's brother and sister Ashley both living in Maryland near their father.
Col. Joseph Harrelson Sr. saw active combat in both World War II and Korea before taking positions with the Army Chief of Staff and Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to his obituary in The Washington Post. He retired from active duty in 1967 and in 1970 accepted a position at the University of Baltimore, where he worked until 1985 as a professor and later the Political Science Department chairman.
Her father's military job meant that Aldamir moved around quite frequently as a child, but when her parents divorced she chose to make Massachusetts her home. Her mother accepted a job at the University of Massachusetts around the same time she divorced her husband, and Aldamir graduated from high school in the area. She then further distanced herself from her father by changing her name from Debbie Joyce Harrelson to Aldamir, which appears to be a reference to a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings." Her name change was first reported by The Boston Globe.
Aldamir moved to Boston from Amherst in 1978 according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office and two years later took a job at the accounting firm Darmody, Merlino & Co. The district attorney's office spoke with her co-workers at that firm after the discovery of the four children, and those interviewed said they never knew Aldamir to be pregnant during their time working with her at an accounting firm from 1980 until 2021.
Those co-workers also noted that Aldamir "was a heavy-set woman who had a penchant for wearing loose-fitting clothing regardless of the season," according to the district attorney's office.
Then, in 1985, Aldamir purchased the apartment where the four babies would be discovered 27 years later. Property records show her father Joseph co-signed that lease.
It was her brother who made the shocking discovery in November 2022 while cleaning out Aldamir's home with his wife. What started with a report of one newborn being found in a freezer soon became multiple babies and ultimately led to the discovery of four full-term babies in the freezer.
"All were frozen solid. All were found in shoe boxes wrapped in tin foil. Two were male and two were female," the district attorney's office said.
All four still had their umbilical cords attached. The two baby girls had their placentas attached, according to the district attorney's office. Testing determined that all four babies were the children of Aldamir and a man not named by the district attorney's office.
Investigators also learned that the couple had a fifth child, whom they gave up for adoption.
The district attorney's office said they will not file any charges in the case for several reasons. They said in a statement last month that due to the "many unanswered questions about the cause of death of the four babies," it would not be ethical to take the case to trial.
Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said that because investigators were unable to prove the babies were ever alive or determine a cause of death for the four children, his office could not file homicide charges or definitively determine that a crime had been committed.
Investigators also said that after speaking with Aldamir, 69, they found that she would "unlikely be able to stand trial."
Police officers brought Alexis Aldamir, 69, to Tufts Medical Center Emergency Department on Aug. 15, 2022, after being alerted to the smell of gas in her apartment, according to a guardianship petition filed in Suffolk County Family and Probate Court.
Doctors evaluated Aldamir and soon found "she was unable to provide any meaningful information about herself," could not "explain any reason for the stove being left on" in her apartment and "also appeared to have no safety awareness and little concern for the potential explosion risk in her home due to accumulation of gas," said the petition.
The social worker appointed to Aldamir's case said in the petition that she would need a guardian once she left the hospital.
"Aldamir lacks the capacity for medical decision-making. She Is unable to care for herself and cannot safely return to her prior living situation where she was residing alone in the community, In the hospital, Ms. Aldamir Is disoriented, inattentive and agitated, requiring medication to manage her agitation and exit-seeking behavior, and she requires a one-to-one sitter," read the petition.
A month later, another court filing said that Aldamir had started to receive antipsychotic medication.
"She has intermittently been aggressive towards staff, pushing staff and throwing water and food," wrote her social worker in the findings she filed in court to ask the judge to allow doctors to put Aladmir on a treatment plan drawn up by doctors which included antipsychotic medications.
The role of guardian would eventually go to her brother John, but he was removed after suffering medical issues of his own last year, according to court records. Aldamir's sister Ashley, who is a lawyer, is currently working to set up a new plan for her sister's guardianship with the court.
