WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) – Documents obtained by Eyewitness News show Warwick police interacted with murder suspect Michael Soares multiples times before and after he allegedly killed John “Jack” Fay, though he was never criminally charged. 

A log of calls provided by the Warwick Police Department shows officers were called about Soares seven times from 2009 to 2013, not including two other incidents police are withholding as part of their investigation into Fay’s murder. Police tell Eyewitness News those reports happened around the time of Fay’s death. 

Fay’s body was discovered inside a trash barrel in Warwick City Park on May 17, 2013. Nearly six years later, Soares was charged with Fay’s murder after investigators linked him to the crime through DNA evidence found at the scene. 

Soares had no criminal history, but Warwick police said they received multiple calls about him while he was homeless.  

In a call from 2009, police were told Soares was wandering into people’s driveways. The record says he told police he parked his truck near a family member’s home and decided to take a walk. 

It was close to three years before police interacted with Soares again, this time for reported “suspicious activity” at the Oakland Beach Ave. Boys and Girls Club. Police said Soares was dispersed. 

In April 2013, the month before Fay’s body was found, Soares was reported to be sleeping in his car at the Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard.

The next report provided to Eyewitness News is dated Oct. 21, 2013, five months after Fay was found dead. Police say a woman called after noticing Soares standing near the carriages of the Big Lots on Warwick Avenue; 20 minutes later he was pacing near the woods. Police said the “male party was just cooling off.”

Just days later, police were advised of a man sleeping on a mattress at a field behind the Warwick Public Library.

“Male was wearing a dirty grey hooded sweatshirt and jeans,” the responding officer wrote. “He had with him a bag of books and a [sic] orange rolling suitcase. Male has long, dark, soiled, brown hair and facial hair. He was also wearing sunglasses. Male doesn’t have a current address and is homeless. We have had previous contacts with this male in the area of Big Lots and the library.”

Soares was advised of the consequences of sleeping overnight, the log shows. 

About a month later, Warwick Police received a call for a stolen bicycle. Police say Soares was caught on surveillance video taking the bike from the library. Police later questioned Soares, who had been seen by a witness throwing the bike over a fence into the woods. 

“Soares stated that he thought that the bicycle belonged to him,” the report says. “He stated that he put the seat on it so that he was able to ride it.”

The bicycle’s owner chose not to press charges, and Soares was issued a “no trespass” order at the library. 

Warwick police said the last interaction they had with Soares was the following day when Soares was found looking into cars on Mellon Road. Police advised him to go back to the Harrington Hall shelter in Cranston.

Cranston Police said they had three interactions with him in 2014 that resulted from him being banned from the Cranston Public Library.

Police in West Warwick said they too had interactions with Soares in previous years.

On Tuesday, a judge declared Soares competent to stand trial. He is due back in court on April 2.