Searching

Police yesterday began a preliminary search of the 26-foot cabin cruiser they said may hold a clue to the disappearance of Graduate School of Design student Joan Webster, missing for 22 months.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Albert Tuttle issued the State Police a search warrant for the vessel around 12 noon and officers began their examination soon after.

The craft was raised from Boston Harbor Tuesday Authorities identified it as the Malalemmina, a boat co-owned by suspected murderer Leonard Paradiso of East Boston.

In January, a prisoner in Boston's Charles St. Jail told the State Police that Paradiso and his cabin cruiser were involved in the Webster case.

Webster vanished from the Eastern Air-lines baggage claim area at Legan Airport on November 28, 1981. She was returning from a Thanksgiving holiday with her family in Glen Ridge, N.J.

Authorities would not disclose what, if any, physical evidence was uncovered on the boat yesterday. One official said a more through search would be undertaken after the vessel had dried out.

"You collect Samples while it's wet with sludge and slime, but State Police Sgt. Jim Sartori yesterday.

Paradiso's attorney James J. Cipoletta said yesterday that he was allowed to make an exterior search of the cabin cruiser, adding the its state registry number matches that of the craft his client reported missing in July 1981.

Paradiso is currently awaiting trial for the 1979 strangulation murder of Maria Ianuzzi in Walpole State Prison. He has written letters to the Boston Herald and WNEV-TV stating he was not involved in Webster's disappearance.

Authorities have said that Paradiso is a prime suspect in the Webster investigation. In addition to the January tip, police considered him because Ianuzzi's body was discovered in a salt marsh near Saugus, Mass., where fishermen later found Webster's pocket book and wallet.