Police respond to residents’ concerns over weekend search for Hopkinton murder suspect

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Rhode Island State Police are continuing to investigate a chilling murder in Hopkinton, the first in the town in 13 years.

Many residents expressed concern over why there was no information released to the public until more than 30 hours later.

On Tuesday, Colonel Darnell Weaver addressed why residents in the area were not notified that a murderer was on the loose.

“It was 12 hours from the time of the incident until the time that the suspect was apprehended, so to speak,” Weaver said.

That’s 12 hours that nearby residents did not know whether or not there was a serious threat to the public and 12 hours that 45-year-old Joseph Francis was on the run from police.

“We had actionable intelligence on where that suspect was and had that differed from the facts, the notification would’ve been made,” Weaver explained.

Most locals said they were not told anything at all.

It wasn’t until early Sunday afternoon when state police released information to the press and notified the public that Joseph Francis shot and killed his estranged wife, 44-year-old Stephanie Francis at their home on Subtown Road in Hopkinton Friday night.

Joseph Francis then led police on a chase and crashed his SUV in the woods off Route 3 in Richmond on Saturday.

“Rhode Island State Police is always helping out smaller departments, and thank God for that,” Hopkinton Police Chief Mark Carrier said. “We were able to rely on them to process that crime scene and they went out and obtained an arrest warrant very quickly, they were able to get a judge in the middle of the night to get an arrest warrant for this individual and put out a BOLO to law enforcement agencies for people looking for his vehicle, his plate, the charges.”

Joseph Francis was found dead in his SUV after the crash.

Police are still waiting on the autopsy result to determine how he died.