NORTH ADAMS — Speaking to the public for the first time in seven weeks, law enforcement officials on Friday tied an Easthampton woman to an investigation involving her deceased ex-boyfriend and his missing wife.

Laura J. Reilly, 42, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of misleading a police officer in connection with an investigation into the disappearance of Joanne “Jo” Ringer of Easthampton.

During her arraignment at Northern Berkshire District Court, First Assistant Berkshire district attorney Paul Caccaviello said that Reilly made “serial misstatements” to investigators to mislead them, at the behest of her ex-boyfriend Chad Reidy, who was married to Ringer and is considered the sole suspect in the case.

Reilly was released on $1,500 bail. On April 7, Reidy was found dead inside his garage of apparent suicide.

Reilly returned to her home at 13 Berkeley St. in Easthampton Friday, but declined to answer questions from Gazette reporters who visited her there.

Reilly’s attorney, Jesse Adams, said in a statement that he couldn’t comment on details of the case, but that “Ms. Reilly is a hardworking mother of two sons, and is deeply rooted and involved in her community. We are investigating the allegations and are preparing a vigorous defense.”

After Ringer’s March 2 disappearance, Reidy said in an interview with the Gazette that the last time he had seen her was on the morning of her disappearance, when she got a phone call and left their home in Clarksburg to visit someone. He said he was visiting friends that morning in Worthington and when he returned to the house that afternoon, she was gone.

But investigators have exposed serious flaws in Reidy’s account, and believe that Reidy ditched Ringer’s car in Easthampton to misdirect authorities, according to court documents.

Reilly, who was previously in a relationship with Reidy, was arrested Thursday after investigators said she misled them “in an attempt to hide actions by herself and or Reidy as they directly relate to the disappearance of Joanne Ringer,” according to those documents.

An application for arrest filed by state police trooper Ryan Mauer says that investigators determined that Reidy and Reilly were together at the Northampton Cumberland Farms and Florence Bank on King Street at around 3:30 pm on March 2, the day Ringer went missing. Then, investigators say they determined that the two were in the North Adams area between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. that same day. Investigators determined that Reilly stayed there until at least 8 p.m.

Reidy also allegedly used “a cell phone that belonged to a female party not related to the investigation” to contact Reilly “at a critical point when investigators believe Ringer’s Volkswagen Jetta was brought to Easthampton,” the court documents say.

Law enforcement authorities also determined that Reidy and Reilly were together on March 3, when they took a trip together to Chicopee, according to the documents.

Police arrested Reilly, according to the application for arrest, after she provided investigators with inconsistent statements during four interviews between March 6 and April 13.

“Investigators noted that Reilly routinely reported that she could not remember many of the answers to questions brought by investigators,” Mauer’s application said. “Reilly stated on multiple occasions that her lack of memory was due to her prior drug usage.”

Reilly’s next court date is scheduled for May 22.

Neighbor Heather Martinez, 41, at 7 Berkeley St., was on her porch watching Reilly’s return. While Reidy was living with Reilly several years ago, Martinez would frequently hear them arguing.

“You can hear her yelling through the windows, you can hear her in the yard yelling,” Martinez said.

Martinez said she and Ringer have been friends since high school.

When they were around 15 years old, Martinez remembers Ringer staying at her house for about a month because she ran away from home.

Martinez does not believe Ringer, who has been missing for seven weeks, would have left her daughter

“If she did just leave and go to get away from Chad, she would have told her daughter,” Martinez said. “Joanne wouldn’t leave her daughter.”

Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.

]]>