Top Stories of 2011

As 2011 winds down, Reading Patch will be counting the down the most viewed stories on the site this year. Today we're bringing you the 20th through the 11th most popular articles of 2011.

Each day this week, we'll be bringing you 10 more stories, culminating on Friday, with the top 10 stories of the year. 

20) : Another Reading High alumnus has been arrested on drug charges after police raided a University of New Hampshire fraternity house in Durham, N.H. on Sunday. David E. Fitzpatrick was one of 11 brothers arrested as a result of the raid, and one of eight faced with drug charges, according to Seacoast Online.

19) : Authorities have officially labeled Monday's of a homicide. In a joint release, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone and Reading Police Chief James Cormier said that the autopsy performed on Ronan Tuesday confirmed his cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds. 

18) : Three of Reading’s most recent high-profile crimes may have involved drugs, according to recent reports.

The Lawrence Eagle Tribune reported Friday that police reports said Erick Rivera, 20, of Lawrence allegedly shot Christopher Fischer, 33, of Reading after Fischer pulled a knife on Rivera. pulled the knife, police said, during a drug deal on Lawrence’s South Union Street.

17) : A letter from resident Donna Dudley presented to the Board of Selectmen in August. Dudley told the Selectmen that drug use is not limited to the kids one would suspect, but also affects the “good” kids. She called the recent spate of drug-related tragedies a “monumentally important teachable moment.”

16) : A domestic dispute on Bancroft Avenue resulted in shots being fired, shattering an otherwise tranquil afternoon. No one was injured and Police quickly apprehend the shooter and removed all weapons from the home.

15) : Those grieving for the loss of , , formed a community on Facebook where they have posted their memories of Ronan and offered support to his family. The site formed following news of the murder, and has since gathered more than 1,600 followers, some of whom say they didn’t even know Ronan.

14) : The Reading Memorial High School alumnus charged with was allegedly motivated by revenge, according to prosecutors. Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Dunigan told Woburn Superior Court Monday that John Burke had been robbed in his Revere apartment in April and came to believe that had committed, arranged or been involved the crime.

13) : The first person to see dead was his grandfather, according to police records. Reading’s police logs say the department received a call at 1:08 p.m., on August 15, from an elderly man who reported hearing three inside the 3 Lawrence Road residence he was inside before he found his grandson “down on the couch.”

12) : Angela Fischer, mother of Christopher Fischer, a Reading man slain in August by a gunshot to the chest in broad daylight in Lawrence, described her son as a “beautiful boy.” Lawrence police have confirmed it was Fischer who died on Union Street, Monday, after a Honda Accord with tinted windows screeched to a halt. According to police, a man jumped out of the passenger-side door, ran around the car and pulled Fischer out of the driver seat before taking over the wheel and speeding off.

11) : Reading Patch asked readers to share their memories of Quinlan Junta, a troubled but beloved young Reading man, in the wake of his death in October. Some of the most touching responses were collected and cobbled into this article.