Townshend Vt Murder Scene.

Dec 21

The Commons:

Sad, horrific death in Townshend

Originally published in The Commons issue #285 (Wednesday, December 17, 2014). This story appeared on page C2.

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RE: “Two dead in Townshend shooting” [News, Nov. 26]:
The truth can be ugly, and I was saddened to hear of this horrific deed, murder most foul.
In the short 13 months since I have lived in Townshend, there has been a drug overdose death of a mother who leaves behind two small children.
There also was a senseless murder/suicide of a young couple.
Olga Peters: Keep up the good reporting, and welcome to Townshend.

Jim Mitchell

Nov 26:

Can you hear this woman defense; I thought my boyfriend was going to kill me like the murder-suicide just four miles up the road a few months ago. So I killed them both before they killed me. Bet you she had nowhere else to go? Remember this is only a short relationship of only a year.   

This is my discussion surrounding a murder-suicide and a more recent double murder in Townshend within the last few months. They is but a very tiny town.  

Ok, is the state police service free for Townshend..they get the job because they have to do it, because nobody else wants to pay for it?

Would you really want the state police or Sheriff as a police department?

Townshend Vermont population: 2206
Vernon 1200
Poultney 3600
Hinsdale NH 4000

So small town police departments are in big troubles nationwide. My suggestion:

1) Something like the state police...but a small town state police force. They would have one set of state standards, codes and training...the overhead and wasteful spending would be a lot less in a large hierarchical and centralized small town police force. The "state" town police force would have direct connections to the state police and could even shares training resources. The big advantage of a large centralized and hierarchical organization is you could pay the tip of the spear high salaries. You could get at the top very experienced and highly educated police executives...they will reflect well in all of the towns. You get it, all the towns would share the cost of a bureaucracy and training resources. 

2) You get consolidated school districts...why not a consolidated police force. Four or five towns ganging together to share resources and cut cost...increase effectiveness and efficiency of the police force. You really got that going on anyways in a non structured way between all of the towns..why not make it structured. The example would be one police chief for say five towns.

3)Think about where I am heading, what if all the state small town laws and ordinances were identical or nearly so. Wouldn't that create a business advantage from another state?

4) If you were a large state wide small town police force and you were a focused learning organization..a event at a police department across the state could be learned and taught in your town. You could search the statewide small town databased and figure out the best way to handle a certain police problem. All standardized police documents statewide...one police server in one location or in the cloud, no more silowing information. I think this would create amazing efficiencies. Call up a police buddy officer across the state with the same or recent problem to get advice. Do a document search on a troublesome person statewide in the police database...  

This is what a town looks like with a state police force instead of a town operated one -a 87% cut in budget. The Vermont Yankee employees generially were always rich government hating townspeople and deeply libertarians.

The select person in this chairman Patty O'Donnell, she just got into a possible obstruction of justice jackpot with the new $40,000 sheriff-police Department. One of her buddies was driving drunk in town, a new sheriff officer pull her over. The drunk driver immediately called O'Donnell...whereby O'Donnell in a birative manner immediately called the sheriff's duty officer telling her to let my buddy go. If you charge her with DUI I will pull the police contract. The Vermont Yankee Vernon townsfolks believe they rather have bullies running a town than government.

The sheriff department is basically a prisoner taxi service for the courts and jails and rentacops.  

The Windham County Sheriff's Department (WCSD) is a full-service rural county law enforcement agency that serves Windham County, Vermont. It provides contract service law enforcement to towns within Windham County, acting as an equivalent of a town police department. The Sheriff's department is also responsible for prisoner transports within Windham County and serving civil process (court paperwork such as subpoenas, eviction notices and other court paperwork). 

On February 2, 2007, Keith Clark was sworn in as Sheriff at the Windham Superior Court in Newfane, VT. Clark was elected following a scandal with the previous elected sheriff, Sheila Prue, who resigned in disgrace following a guilty plea of a felony count of embezzlement as well as misdemeanor counts of neglect of duty and petit larceny.

The Vernon police department for years had been in turmoil with this kind of government...I suspect this kind selectman-police corruption was going on for years. The selectmen had been micromanaging the police department for years to death. Trying to destabilize and destroy the police department for years.      

After voters make cuts, Vernon chief speaks out

By MIKE FAHER / Reformer Staff

Posted: 03/08/2014 03:00:00 AM ES

Vernon Police Chief Mary Beth Hebert (Reformer file photo)

VERNON -- In searching for a way to sum up the value of Vernon Police Department, Chief Mary Beth Hebert recalls overhearing a conversation about whether to order another round of drinks.

"The answer was, ‘No. I have to drive through Vernon,'" Hebert said. "I was beaming. That says it best."

But now, in light of Tuesday's vote to defund the town police department as of July 1, Hebert says she is worried for the town's safety. That is measured not only in police-response times, she says, but also in a harder-to-measure factor -- deterrence.

"You're going to take that away," Hebert said. "And maybe people have that second or third drink."

Emotions have run high in Vernon since the August announcement that Entergy would shut the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant by the end of this year. Yankee accounts for about half of the town's municipal tax base.

Selectboard members immediately began to plan for budget cuts, eventually agreeing on a fiscal 2015 proposal that sliced about 16 percent -- or more than $400,000 -- from the current year's spending.

Even before Town Meeting, there had been tension between the police department and the Selectboard over the board's proposed budget. Selectboard members said they produced a plan that, while reducing some police expenses, provided for 140 hours of weekly coverage from three full-time officers and several part-timers.

Hebert protested, though. On Friday, she recalled initially proposing departmental cuts including the elimination of a full-time position.

"We went into a second budget meeting and made some more cuts," Hebert said. Later, she says, "I was made aware that more cuts were made."

That included cutting the department's administrative assistant from 40 to 30 hours weekly. Selectboard members defended the reduction, but Hebert argued that the change would have negative impacts on police operations and record-keeping.

There also was a recurring dispute about overtime. Hebert said she was told there should be no more overtime for any Vernon office other than the highway department, and she can produce an e-mail to that effect.

Hebert worried about constructing a police schedule that did not provide for overtime in light of reduced manpower. Also, in her mind, the mandate meant no call-outs for early morning emergencies and no extended shifts for incidents that were in progress.

"You can't predict crime," Hebert said.

But Selectboard Chairwoman Patty O'Donnell has told the Reformer that the Selectboard had no issue with officers staying late when emergencies demanded it. She also has repeatedly rejected the idea that the Selectboard called for any cuts in police service.

"That is completely false," O'Donnell said Tuesday night at the second installment of Town Meeting. "And it's not the first time we've heard that."

Ironically, though, her comments came just before approval of a voter-proposed amendment to slash the fiscal 2015 Vernon police budget by 87 percent. On a 118-112 paper-ballot vote, voters left just $40,000 in the police budget -- money with which the Selectboard was directed to sign a law-enforcement contract with Windham County Sheriff's Department or Vermont State Police.

The police changes take effect July 1 unless there is a special Town Meeting to further amend the budget.

The Tuesday vote was followed by light applause from some corners of the Vernon Elementary School cafeteria where Town Meeting was held. Moderator Tim Arsenault immediately requested, given the nature of the budget cuts, that the applause cease.

But the clapping stung some police supporters, including Hebert herself, who reacted in a social-media post.

"What I find unconscionable is the humiliation and cruelty my staff that were present had to endure when people actually applauded -- yes, clapped their hands -- that good, hard-working professionals who have protected you and your families just lost their jobs," she wrote. "It is so easy to be critical of a job not many people want to do, nor have the guts to do."

During an interview on Friday, Hebert said such a drastic police decision should have been the subject of a warned meeting article. That way, there would have been more awareness that the topic was up for serious debate.

"Public safety is very important," she said. "To just have someone say, ‘Let's just get rid of the police department,' is extremely irresponsible. And it needs a townwide vote."

While the State Police are obligated to respond to incidents when there is no local law-enforcement presence, many towns contract for additional patrols. And there already have been warnings from both the sheriff's department and from the State Police that Vernon's $40,000 won't buy much supplemental coverage: The State Police estimate was 12 hours of patrols per week, while Sheriff Keith Clark estimated 19 hours.

Hebert believes Vernon residents have become accustomed to a much higher level of police service.

"You get everything. We respond to criminal complaints, but we also respond to medical emergencies. The State Police do not," she said.

Town officers also respond to animal and nuisance complaints, and they assist the Vernon Fire Department, Hebert said.

"You cannot compare a town that has never had a police department with Vernon," she said. "Vernon has had a police department since the ‘70s. They are used to a certain level of service."

Vernon police logged 1,105 incidents in 2012, Hebert said. There were 931 incidents last year.

"It can be anything from an assault to a VIN verification -- all of the things that the dispatcher is being called for or that the department is getting a call for," Hebert said.

Some of those calls still come from Vermont Yankee, situated just down the road from the police station.

"We're still getting protesters. The plant is still going to be there for some time -- for many years to come through the decommissioning process," Hebert said. "That's going to present a unique challenge for any other agency that steps in there."

Whether police are responding to a Yankee protest, a domestic dispute, an armed standoff, an accident or a barking-dog complaint, Hebert believes there is an inherent benefit in local officers providing those services.

"We know our citizens. And that's a nice thing as well," Hebert said.

Hebert has heard some of those citizens say that they can protect themselves. The 20-year law-enforcement veteran says such sentiment does not take into account those who cannot defend themselves including children, the elderly and the disabled.

My recent quote and from Aug 20: 

"Loser party town with booze and dope...escapism so you can drink and dope as much as you can afford." 

"Transient relationships and I'll bet you plenty of drugs and alcohol...the life of escapism and anti governmentalism."

Too chicken to ask questions about herion, cocaine and oxycontin?

I think the survey is aimed to tell the students pot and alcohol harms you...not spend money on finding what bothers students and fixing it. You know, just throw a DUI survey at the town and we can walk away?  

I wonder what the DUI rates are for Townshend versus the rest of the state.
  

Community tackles student drug use

Student survey causes concerns

By Michael Faher

TOWNSHEND >> A survey of Windham Central Supervisory Union students has spurred concerns about marijuana, tobacco and alcohol use.

Officials also are taking note of students' perceptions of the availability and effects of those drugs: For instance, 70 percent say marijuana is "easy to get," and just 25 percent think "people their age risk harming themselves if they smoke marijuana regularly."

But concerned citizens also are trying to address those numbers, an effort that was the focus of a community meeting held Thursday night in West Townshend.

"This is part of the whole process. We're using the data to create strategies," said Julia Hampton, director of West River Valley Thrives, which organized the session.

"It's more and more people coming together around these issues that's going to make the long-term and significant impact," Hampton added. "We need more people to get involved."

At issue are the results of a 2013 survey of all middle and high school students in the Windham Central union. The survey is administered statewide biennially and seeks to measure a wide variety of characteristics and behaviors.

Newfane-based West River Valley Thrives, which aims to prevent drug use among young people, has zeroed in on survey results regarding substance abuse. Among the findings:

• Thirty-five percent of 11th and 12th graders said they had used marijuana in the last 30 days. The same percentage said they had ridden with a driver who had been smoking marijuana over the past month. Both numbers are significantly higher than the statewide figure.

• Twenty-nine percent of juniors and seniors said they had driven a vehicle after smoking marijuana in the past 30 days — nearly double the state number.

Hampton noted that, as legal restrictions on marijuana begin to loosen, students' perceptions of the drug may be changing as well. But she said marijuana use still should be a major concern.

"From the prevention partners' perspective, young people feeling like its OK to smoke marijuana is still not a good thing," Hampton said. "There is very clear research ... on how marijuana really affects the brain development of young people. It's still really risky for them to be doing that."

• Among all students, 25 percent said they had consumed alcohol – "other than a few sips" – before age 13. That's higher than the statewide figure of 15 percent.

• Overall, 32 percent of all students said they had consumed alcohol in the last 30 days. That's about the same as the state average. But a much higher number – 47 percent – of juniors and seniors said they had drank in the same time period.

• There was a large variance between younger and older students who were asked about their parents' views on youth drinking: Eighty-two percent of ninth- and 10th-graders said "their parents think it is wrong for them to drink alcohol," while only 57 percent of juniors and seniors shared that sentiment.

Rather than obtaining alcohol illegally from stores, Hampton wonders whether adults often are supplying students with alcohol.

"One of the main problems the group (at Thursday's meeting) was seeing was the easy access — 77 percent (of students) said they thought it would be easy to get alcohol," she said.

• Just 52 percent of 11th- and 12th-graders "think they risk harming themselves if they smoke a pack of cigarettes a day." And only 60 percent of all students agreed with that statement.

• The survey says 22 percent of juniors and seniors have smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days, much higher than 13 percent statewide.

"Too many kids still smoke and don't think it's a risk to their health," Hampton said. "There are 40 percent who are still not seeing that as an issue, so there's a need for more education."

The full results of the statewide student survey, with local breakdowns, are available at

http://healthvermont.gov/research/yrbs/2013.

There are some big differences between results of that survey, in which all students participated, and the results of some voluntary surveys conducted by West River Valley Thrives. For instance, in a voluntary "core measures" survey, 55 percent of responding high schoolers said they "think people risk harming themselves moderately or greatly when they smoke marijuana once or twice a week." That indicates a higher level of concern about regular marijuana use than was shown in the involuntary survey of all students.

Hampton acknowledged that the results of voluntary surveys completed by students and adults may be somewhat skewed. But she said the numbers are valuable, in part because they bring different perspectives to conversations like Thursday's.

"From here, we'll look at what the contributing factors are and then create interventions directly related to that," Hampton said.

Town purchasing State police services instead of their own police force. 

Nov 21: Poultney is 42 miles away from Townshend??? Generally the small town Vermont, NH and New England police force is underfunded, poorly trained and generally don't have a full police force. I think there is a high contingent of escapism libertarians, generally poverty ridden and no jobs in these towns. This generally puts pressure on the elected official onto the police force to limit police force expenses caused the the voters. Do normal people run for selectman, or is it outliers who run for such a pitiful and thankless job. Everything police work is more expensive for the small town police. The distance to the courts and jails just totally consumes police manpower. That goes for town prosecutor who probably is serving many towns.

Another thing, is a lack of a proper 4th estate and a well financed newspaper. It is the newspaper's job to explain problems in the police force and inadequate funding. Small town New England lives in a isolated bubble and many bad town services go unexplained because most small town newspapers have folded up and the remaining newspapers are broke and on basically government welfare.             

Did the staties also fail all the dead of Townshend? In an emergency in a state police town you call 911. Then they figure out you are a state police town…they connect you over to the overwhelmed state police barracks or even the state police Vermont wide phone center. The 911 operator screens the calls to the staties…then the 911 operator repeats your concerns to the state police operator. The statie accepts the phone call, then you have to repeat the problem all over again. It feels like to me most the state police operators are burnt out or new on the job.

You get it, the state police serve many towns,they have a huge political organization over them, while the town police serve one town and the selectmen or mayor.

And I make the case in both Vermont and New Hampshire with their state police departments, they are both severely underfunded, inadequately trained and have too few police officers for all the problems these guys see.  And as organizational transparency...most the police officers are severely punished for raising concerns about police force problems. 

But if small-town police departments are less glamorous than urban forces — think Mayberry, not “The Shield” — they are by some measures performing the majority of police work in America. According to the 2008 Department of Justice report, more than half of the country’s local police agencies consist of fewer than 10 officers. So what happens when one of them disappears?

Police Chiefs have almost godly uncontested powers over the police officers...have the power to detach a police officer from his career without process. Most big cities just suck up the best police officers with better working conditions, pay and benefits...much better training and in a very busy police learning environment. One year of big city police work is better experienced than ten years of small town experience...this poor experience rolls down to poorly experience police chiefs. The selectman generally have little police experience and no training in police matters.   

What is little recognized...the New England small town police force is under severe pressure and it is only getting worst at a faster rate.

I give you an example, heroin and oxycontin is beating the hell out of the police, social services and the courts. These problems hit the small towns worst than the big cities. And there is this escapism effect of the criminals and druggies fleeing their drug and legal problems from the big city professional police force into the naive small town police departments. Poverty ridden areas and limited educational areas are notorious for excessive drug problems and violence. To make it much worst, many time the price of heroin in small town NE is 3 times the cost of the big cities.         

By the way, I am a alcoholic. Haven't had a drink in 35 years by the grace of god. I think booze is 100 times more worse than pot. Remember more than 80% of the population can handle pot and booze in a responsible manner. I hate to say it, but that percentage holds true for heroin and even oxycontin. But the addiction of herion and oxycontin is much more horrific to the druggy and the population at large than pot or booze. I think there is much more criminality with cocaine, herion and oxycontin. And I make the case alcoholism is the most costly in terms of premature deaths and money in the USA. 

Poultry is another state police force town like townshend.       

Report: Overtaxed social workers, cops failed kids  

Two-year-old Dezirae Sheldon of Poultney died of a skull fracture in February, according to an autopsy. In Dezirae's case, the panel pointed to "clearly insufficient" police work investigating leg fractures that preceded her return to her family and subsequent death. 

The report said "there was no crime scene investigation, insufficient suspect interviews or interrogations, and no charges specific to the cause of the broken legs were pursued." 

Poultney, where Dezirae lived, contracts with the Vermont State Police for law enforcement coverage. Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn, who oversees state police, didn't immediately return a message left Friday seeking comment.

Loser party town with booze and dope...escapism so you can drink and dope as much as you can afford.  

Later that night, after drinking "a lot" of wine, she allegedly shot both men in the kitchen of the home she shared with Steven Lott.

Police found three handguns in the kitchen area — a 9 mm semiautomatic, a .25-caliber semiautomatic and a .22-caliber revolver.

You know what I am talking about, the mental attitude of insecurity survivalism...sitting on the edge of personal destruction without any connection to government. A isolated town and Townshend Vermont raggamuffin family town? More gangs and cults than neighbors...  

Jamis Lott

Puppet show a lesson in diversity 

Friday, March 11, 2011 

BROOKLINE – For 45 minutes on March 5, Town Hall was like a street festival, alive with the native music, dress and accents of characters from many countries peddling vibrant hats ranging from sombreros to bamboo sun hats. The vendors were actually hand puppets, shadow puppets and marionettes that represented diverse ethnic backgrounds as Esphyr Slobodkina’s “Caps for Sale” came to town, presented by The PuppeTree of Vermont.  

 

From behind a backlit cloth screen, puppeteers Sarah Pobuk and Jamis Lott operate shadow puppets to give life to a scene where a peddler pleads with monkeys that stole his caps while he was sleeping. 

To deliver performances requiring such intense coordination and energy, Legunn called for auditions through channels, including the bulletin board on the Puppeteers of America website (www.puppeteers.org). Legunn wasn’t surprised that the majority of responders were people holding art degrees. 

For “Caps for Sale,” Legunn handpicked four members for the cast, including Vaughn Saball, of Nashua. He provides support as an understudy in the case of illness or emergency, but also describes himself as “the backstage geeky tech guy” who sets up lighting, serves as videographer and assists with building props and puppets between shows. The other cast members who filled all of the roles onstage, either as people or by handling puppets, included Sarah Pobuk of Massachusetts, who joined in October, Jamis Lott, of Townsend, Vt., who had been with the company for one week,; and Melody Anderson, of Chester, Vt., who had worked with Legunn in high school. 

Through their Puppe-Tree experience, the cast has the opportunity to express their creativity as actors, as puppeteers and as craftspeople designing and fabricating stage props and puppets. When asked what he felt was the best part of working at The PuppeTree, Lott hesitated and explained that he really couldn’t put his finger on it. Then he smiled widely and said, “It’s pretty great to get paid to play with puppets!”

Honestly, the murdered 28 year old son going home to do laundry at his murdered Dad’s home.  What does that say about the independence and income of this 28 year old man?  You catch how newspaper and media isolated we are? 

Townsend is about 20 miles from my house. Three months with four dead, actually five dead including the current shooter O'Neil who life is as good dead. 

Twice as many people died by guns in Townshend Vermont in three months than died by Ebola in the USA.

Transient relationships and I'll bet you plenty of drugs and alcohol...the life of escapism and anti governmentalism. 

I bet you there is a lot hopelessness...where you going to go if you break up with your partner? 

I think this is all poverty driven and a lack of control over ones life....defaulting to booze and drugs. 

Two dead in Townshend shooting

Filed Wednesday, Nov. 19, 5:40 p.m.

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TOWNSHEND—A father and son were fatally shot in town on Tuesday night. 

Steven Lott, 60, and his son, Jamis Lott, 28, were found dead by Vermont State Police in their home on Abby Road, which is off Deer Valley Road near the Athens town line. 

Robin O’Neill, 62, will be arraigned in Windham Superior Court in Brattleboro on Thursday afternoon on two counts of second-degree murder, Vermont State Police Criminal Division Commander Maj. Glenn Hall said in a news release. 

O’Neill is being held without bail at the Southeast Vermont Correctional Facility in Springfield.
Hall said that at approximately 8:58 p.m. Tuesday, troopers responded to a reported shooting at a residence on Abby Road. Rescue personnel were also dispatched to this location. 

Upon arrival, Hall said a woman, later identified as O’Neill, told troopers that there were two people shot inside the residence. Troopers entered the residence and discovered the bodies of the two men. 

A member of Rescue Inc. entered the residence with the troopers and determined both men were dead, Hall said. The bodies of both men were later removed from the residence and transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for autopsy. 

Steven Lott lived at the Abby Road residence, Hall said, while Jamis Lott, who lived elsewhere, was visiting his father at the time of the shooting 

Though O’Neill has been living with the elder Lott at the time of the incident, the couple recently ended a year-long relationship.\ 

Hall said O’Neill was detained and transported to the Brattleboro barracks for questioning. The residence was then secured and Hall said detectives from the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation responded to the scene. 

Detectives worked in coordination with the Windham County State’s Attorney, Hall said, and their investigation “supports the charge of second-degree murder (two counts), for Robin O’Neill’s involvement in this incident.”

***Déjà vu all over again...My picture below on the Aug 20 Townshend suicide/murder below is four miles from today's Townshend double murder.

"Does the lawlessness of Townshend emanate from the overburdened Vermont state police who are the only police in town?"

You know, a community with a lot of guns and poor access to a police force. Does the staties even know anything about community policing...are they trained on community policing? 

What constitutes the minimum levels of a "police force" and who enforces it?  

The staties in my picture are pumping on the chest of the murderer.  

Police: Two men killed in Townshend, Vt., shooting

Nov 19, 2014 10:31 am 

SentinelSource.com

Townshend, Vt. — Vermont State Police are investigating the deaths of two men killed in an apparent shooting Tuesday night on Abby Lane in Townshend, Vt. 

State Police responded to a reported shooting at a residence there shortly before 9 p.m. Troopers spoke with an adult female, who told them two people were shot inside the home, according to a news release. The troopers located two men, who were pronounced dead by emergency personnel, the release reads. 

Police are withholding the names of the men, pending identification and notification of their deaths to family members, State Police said. 

The woman, whose identity is also being withheld, was detained and later questioned by troopers at the Brattleboro barracks, according to the release. 

State Police said the deaths appear to be an isolated incident, and there is no concern for public safety at this time. 

The Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Windham County State's Attorney are investigating the case. No further information was available this morning.

This is a quote from my commentary on Aug 20? How close am I? I would call Townshend Vermont as a escapism community. Imagine that, out of a population of 1149 souls since late Aug this year, 4 people are dead by gunfire...three by murder.     

"One neighbor said, we hear gunshots all the time from this end of the town. Is this a result from a community with a heavy concentration of guns and anti-governmentalism?" 

I am wondering now if it was really a murder suicide on Aug 20? Is violence catchy like a virus?

Originally published on Aug 21, 2013

(My Picture)

Keeping the spotlight on domestic violence 

By BOB AUDETTE / Reformer Staff

Posted: 09/15/2014 03:00:00 AM EDT

Vermont State Police investigate the scene of a shooting at a home on Grafton Road in Townshend, Wednesday night, last month. (Mike Faher/Reformer)

BRATTLEBORO -- Why Shane Brodeur pulled the trigger of a gun on the night of Aug. 20 may never be known, but one thing is certain, two people are now dead, leaving their families, friends and investigators struggling to understand why.Det. Sgt. Richard Holden, a member of the Vermont State Police's Bureau of Criminal Investigations said Brodeur, 26, had dialed 911 and was on the phone for about 14 minutes before he handed the receiver to his girlfriend, Katelynn McFadden, 20."We really don't know what happened prior to the phone call," he said. "It appears there might have been a verbal dispute and he just wanted her to stop and calm down."At the request of the dispatcher, said Holden, Brodeur handed the phone to McFadden."At that point, the argument escalated quickly," he said.The next thing the dispatcher heard was two shots from a firearm. Just moments later, troopers arrived on scene, but not before Brodeur committed suicide. Inside the home, they found McFadden, who was airlifted to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., where she died."He was quite calm on the phone," said Capt. Ray Keefe, the commander of Troop D of the Vermont State Police. "We'll never know why at the last moment he decided to pull the trigger.""It's tragic," said Holden. "And I have no answers for the families and friends who are left suffering."Keefe told the Reformer his troopers had responded to the residence at 1059 Grafton Road twice in the past month"Brodeur called twice before," said Keefe.
"One response led to McFadden being charged with an alcohol offense." Brodeur was also cited for furnishing alcohol to a minor, he said.This was not McFadden's first run-in with the law. Two years ago, she was arrested in Brattleboro and cited with possession of crack cocaine.Whether either of them was under the influence of any substances at the time of their deaths won't be known until the toxicology reports are returned to investigators, which could take several weeks.Holden said neither party had a history of violence or domestic abuse."They had domestic issues, but I wouldn't say violence."Shari, a community outreach coordinator with the Women's Freedom Center in Brattleboro, said that while there may have been no history of domestic violence between the two, Brodeur committed the ultimate act of domestic violence by killing McFadden. (Editor's Note: Due to safety concerns, the Women's Freedom Center only uses first names when being quoted in the media.)"We can all speculate and not be entirely sure what preceded that, but in and of itself, it's the most extreme act of domestic violence there is," she said.Half of all the homicides in Vermont are the result of domestic violence, said Shari."Thousands of women live with this danger every day," she said. "Every day, three or four of them don't make it out alive."Domestic violence needs to be confronted on a daily basis, said Shari, and not just when a tragedy draws out attention to it."We need to keep the spotlight on how we can work together to change the environment of our culture that promotes, ignores or excuses men's violence against women."Keefe encourages people who are on the edge of committing violence to step away or take a walk, and then make a phone call for help."Once you start down that path and your relationship gets more tumultuous, get out and get help," he said. Bill Pelz-Walsh facilitates a 30-week intervention program for men with a history of domestic violence. He also hosts an eight-week anger management program, with the next session scheduled to begin on Sept. 22. Many of the men in the programs are referred by the courts, but they are also open to self-referrals, said Pelz-Walsh.For the past 23 years, he has been running the intervention program."I like to believe that culturally we are making a shift," he said. "In the past 15 years, more men are getting help, but there are still a lot of guys who grew up in homes surrounded by the attitude and belief that they don't need help from anyone, that they can work it out on their own."Telz-Walsh said men who feel a need to control a situation or another person often resort to violence, but that's only a short-term action that doesn't address the root of the problem. Those who resort to violence to assert their control need to be confronted about their behavior and need help to understand that violence only leads to heartache, legal problems and worse. They also need to learn that their needs and desires don't justify violence."Guys that are in unhealthy relationships are self-consumed and absorbed by their own needs and their story of suffering. They are terrible with empathy."Shari said programs such as the ones that Telz-Walsh facilitates are crucial in breaking a cycle of violence, but they are not easy."To make the choice to get help is enormous and it is a promising step, but it is a long process. It takes a long time to unlearn a taught behavior."Pelz-Walsh can be reached at 802-258-3914. Along with the intervention group and the anger-management classes, there are also substance abuse programs available; a list of resources can be found at healthvermont.gov. The Women's Freedom Center's hotline is 802-254-6954. Health Care & Rehabilitation Services offers a mental health crisis line at 800-622-4235, and Early Education Services offers its Dedicated Dad's Group, which meets every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m., and offers men a forum to discuss how best to be fathers and partners.On Friday, Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the New England Youth Theatre, the Women's Freedom Center is hosting a viewing of "Private Violence," followed by a community dialogue. The documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year, attempts to dispel many of the dangerous misperceptions about partner violence.The families of McFadden and Brodeur declined to speak with the Reformer.Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com, or at 802-254-2311, ext. 160. Follow Bob on Twitter @audette.reformer

Sept 15: Can you even imagine the normal wait time for the state police response?

Vernont State Police Brattleboro Barracks

The southeast corner of Vermont is served by the Brattleboro Barracks. From our office in Brattleboro, we provide primary law enforcement service to fourteen towns within Windham County.

We serve the towns of Brookline, Dummerston, Guilford, Halifax, Jamaica, Marlboro, Newfane, Putney, Sommerset, Stratton, Townshend, Wardsboro, Whitingham, and Vernon. We also provide back-up and asstance as requested to three municipal police departments in our area, Brattleboro PD, Dover PD, and Wilmington PD. Additionally, we are responsible for twenty-three miles of Interstate 91, from the Massachuettes line north through Exit 4.

One neighbor said, we hear gunshots all the time from this end of the town. Is this a result from a community with a heavy concentration of guns and antigovernmentalism?

Them poor staties!!!

You notice, do you think the court system did enough to rescue McFadden from her addictions and childhood problems? What gets a young 18 year old women to get caught in a motel room with cocaine? I would sure like to know what she went through as a young teenager?

You see what was in front of her, a life of economic dependency and minimum wage jobs for as far as she could see.

TOWNSHEND — A 26-year-old Townshend man shot his off-again, on-again girlfriend late Wednesday afternoon at their home on the Grafton Road, police said, and then turned the gun on himself.

Vermont State Police identified Shane J. Brodeur as the man who fired the weapon, and died outside his mobile home. His girlfriend, Katelyn McFadden, 20, was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., where she died later in the evening.

According to a police statement late Thursday afternoon, McFadden was shot first in the head and then the neck by Brodeur. An autopsy by the New Hampshire chief medical examiner's office determined the gunshot wound to the head was the fatal injury.

Brodeur then turned the gun on himself, police said, and shot himself in the head.

Capt. Raymond Keefe said Thursday that Brodeur and McFadden were both on the phone for several minutes with a state police dispatcher, after Brodeur had initially called police about a disagreement between the pair.

Keefe said at one point during the discussion with the dispatcher, the unloaded gun was laid on a counter. But suddenly the dispatcher heard the gun went off and the line went silent, Keefe said. Troopers were “moments away” at the time, he said.

He said he had listened to the tape of the call and it was surprising for its calmness. Often domestic violence calls are very volatile, he said.

He said that the couple had an off-and-on relationship, and that McFadden had broken up with Brodeur about a month ago, but had moved back in with him last week after living in Bellows Falls with another man.

State's Attorney Tracy Shriver said Brodeur had called state police about two months ago to report that McFadden, who was under the legal drinking age, was drunk and walking down the Grafton Road in Townshend.

Police responded and said they found McFadden very drunk. Both she and Brodeur were charged — Brodeur for furnishing the alcohol to McFadden and McFadden for being a minor consuming alcohol.

Keefe said domestic violence continues to be a tragedy in Vermont society.

“We see these things in Vermont and across the country,” he said. “You are most in danger from your spouse, your acquaintance, your boyfriend. It's a sad commentary on relationships.”

Keefe said the state police dispatcher, who he wouldn't idenfify, had been referred to a employee assistance program, and also had the support of fellow VSP employees.

“She's an experienced dispatcher. I spoke with her last night and again today,” said Keefe, the Troop D captain.

“The situation was frankly very calm,” he said. “She did an excellent job. She had them both defused, and then all of a sudden she heard several volleys of shots.”

He said the call was initiated over “fairly minor relationship stuff,” but quickly turned fatal.

He said the dispatcher immediately called for an ambulance to the Grafton Road home, and state police arrived shortly afterward. They got McFadden into an ambulance, but she died several hours later.

Both had attended Leland and Gray Union High School in Townshend, with Brodeur graduating in 2006. McFadden attended from 2007 to 2009.

According to his Facebook page, Brodeur worked as a carpenter for a Chester construction firm, and also had his own painting and construction company.

McFadden, a native of Brattleboro, had worked as a line cook at Bromley Mountain and had recently applied for work in the kitchen at Valley Cares, an assisted-living facility in Townshend, less than a half mile from Brodeur's home.

On her Facebook page, she had written that she was in a “complicated relationship.”

McFadden had a criminal record: She was arrested when she was 18 years old for smoking crack cocaine in a Brattleboro motel. She was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Shriver said McFadden had been put on probation for the cocaine charge.

“She went on probation but didn't do well on probation,” the prosecutor said. “She was put on furlough, and she struggled through that.”

But she said McFadden had kept out of trouble for the past 12 months until the alcohol charge.

“It's a very sad case,” Shriver said.

susan.smallheer

Aug 21@8pm: Well, the staties know a lot more than me. I wonder why the neighbor reported 5 gunshots and bullets spraying into his trees? I believe the staties now!

"According to a release from Detective Lt. Kraig LaPorte of the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, an autopsy at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Concord, N.H., and subsequent police investigation determined McFadden died from a gunshot wound to the head and a second gunshot injury to the neck. Her death has been ruled a homicide.

The autopsy revealed Brodeur died as a result of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. 

According to the release, police concluded Brodeur was responsible for shooting McFadden before turning the gun on himself. A call was made to 911 shortly before the shooting, apparently by Brodeur, who requested assistance over disagreements he was having with McFadden. While the dispatcher was on the phone with Brodeur, a sound believed to be gunshots could be heard, according to police. The call then ended abruptly."

How this began for me: I came upon the scene shortly after the first two staties arrived. I was on a long bike ride from Bellows Falls. Did you ever see staties running around and back and forth?

They started pumping his chest over a half hour after the shooting once the EMT arrived. Grace Cottage was about a half mile away. The neighbor said she heard five shots and he heard the bullets zipped through his trees. The young couple are relatively new to this trailer.

So she killed him out on the back porch and went inside to commit suicide? But it sounds she called the emergency to 911, the boyfriend then shot the girlfriend while on the phone. But then, how did he run out the back door to get gunned down and by whom...who sprayed the woods across the street with bullets, if the girlfriend laid dying near the phone?






The below is a picture of a statie giving CPR and heart compressions to the male victim.

Two dead in Townshend shooting

TOWNSHEND -- A man and woman are dead following a shooting incident Wednesday night at a Grafton Road home in Townshend, Vermont State Police confirmed. The woman who was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., for treatment of gunshot wounds, died after arrival.

She was wounded in an incident on Wednesday night at a Grafton Road residence, in which a man also died of gunshot wounds, according to the Vermont State Police.

State Police Lt. Mike Manley said there was no ongoing public safety risk following the incident.

Troopers were dispatched at 5:33 p.m. to the home for a report of a disturbance and found a man dead in the backyard, Manley said. A woman on the property was transported first to nearby Grace Cottage Hospital for treatment of her injuries, then was transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.

"(T)he Vermont State Police received a 911 call requesting help from a resident on Grafton Road," according to a report from State Police. "Members from the Brattleboro Barracks responded immediately. While the dispatcher was on the phone with the caller, they heard what they believed to be gunshots. The call then ended abruptly by the caller. Upon arrival, troopers found a male subject deceased outside the residence of an apparent gunshot wound. And a female was located unresponsive inside the residence of an apparent gunshot wound."

It was not clear what the relationship between the man and woman was or whether they both resided at the home. Their identities are being withheld, at this time, pending notification of next-of-kin.

At least eight State Police vehicles were on scene as darkness fell, and Manley said more resources were on the way for the investigation. Troopers blocked one lane of Grafton Road in front of the property, which was ringed by yellow crime-scene tape.
Troopers set up a tent behind the one-story white home, as the body had not yet been removed.

"Detectives with the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation were dispatched to investigate the incident," according to a report from Vermont State Police. "The Crime Scene Search Team was also dispatched to process the scene. The male subject will be transported to the Vermont Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's for autopsy to determine the official cause and manner of death."

Mike Faher can be reached at mfaher@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 275. Follow him on Twitter @MikeReformer.