Castleton Police Chief Peter Mantello, right, provides an update on the homicide investigation in Castleton on Oct. 9, 2023. File photo by Alan J. Keays/VTDigger
In the year since Vermont recorded eight homicides in one month — a number termed “unprecedented” in the state for that time frame — half of those cases have resulted in criminal charges, while three others remain unsolved as investigators still look for clues.
In one case, the lead suspect died of an apparent suicide just two weeks after the killing, according to investigators.
The number of homicides during the month of October 2023 — accounting for nearly 30 percent of the 28 homicides recorded over the entire year — stretched Vermont State Police resources as investigators had to respond to the cases across the state in rapid succession.
“Last October was one, hopefully, for the books, and we don’t see again,” Maj. Dan Trudeau, head of the state police criminal division, said in a recent interview. “It was unprecedented in Vermont.”
Where the cases stand now
— Oct. 5, 2023: 77-year-old Honoree Fleming, a former college dean, was found shot to death on the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail, just a short distance from the Vermont State University at Castleton campus.
Soon after, police released a sketch of a “person of interest” in the case. The man, described as white, red-haired and about 5-foot-10-inches tall, was seen leaving the area of the shooting shortly after bystanders heard gunshots, according to investigators.
Trudeau said last week that investigators have received hundreds of tips related to the homicide case and still receive tips “every other week or so” to pursue.
“The case has not progressed as quickly as we would have liked,” Trudeau said, adding that the investigators are continuing to work on the case.
He said investigators continue to review phone data from area cell towers at the time of the killing, but termed that a slow process, involving matching data with potential users.
“We’re still progressing with the case and there’s still work to be done,” Trudeau said.
A $25,000 reward was established late last year with funds raised in part through a GoFundMe page and some from “private funding sources” for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Fleming’s death.
Castleton Police Chief Peter Mantello issued a press release Friday stating the reward was being terminated, and funds raised through the GoFundMe effort would be “re-designated” to set up a scholarship in Fleming’s memory. The other funds will be released to the private donors, the statement added.
— Oct. 14, 2023: Wilmer Rodriguez, 27, of Hartford, Connecticut, was found shot to death inside at a home on Farrar Road in Newport Town, and his death was later ruled a homicide, according to police.
Police have said little about the case other than investigators believed the shooting may have been drug related and Rodriquez was targeted.
“It has not really moved far at all, and we know why, it’s just because anybody involved in the drug trafficking network is just electing to not give us any information,” Trudeau said. “It’s kind of a little bit at a standstill.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s cold, and I won’t say it’s cold,” he said, “because there are other ties that we’re looking at. Whether they lead us to anywhere, we’re not sure yet.”
Trudeau said investigators are working with both federal and state prosecutors on the case as well.
— Oct. 16, 2023: Police were called to a Wheelock home for the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Gunnar Watson. A later autopsy revealed he died of a gunshot wound to the torso and his death was ruled a homicide.
State police reported in July that following an “extensive” investigation, they determined that Gary Larocque, 40, of Brownington, fired the rifle round that killed Watson as Watson stood in the doorway of his home.
Larocque and Watson were co-workers who had known each other for years.
Detectives had “obtained digital location data that places Larocque at the location from which investigators determined the fatal shot was fired,” state police said.
Larocque, however, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound outside his home on Oct. 31, 2023, according to police. Trudeau, speaking last week, said that case was now considered closed.
—- Oct. 25, 2023: Hunters in the woods along Poor Farm Road in Washington found a body, later identified as Tanairy “Tanya” Velazquez Estrada, 23, of Barre.
A later autopsy determined Estrada’s cause of death was asphyxia due to strangling, and the manner of death was a homicide.
Estrada’s mother reported her missing to police in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on the same day her body was discovered in Vermont.
“We’re actively working on this case and I can’t really discuss any evidence or any suspected evidence or anybody that we’ve been talking to,” he said.
“The case is progressing,” he said. “We’re hopeful we’ll have some resolution to the case sometime before the end of the year. I can’t make any promises, I can just say we’re progressing.”
— Oct. 25, 2023: The bodies of two Massachusetts men, Jahim Solomon, 21, of Pittsfield, and Eric White, 21, of Chicopee, were found in a wooded area of Eden, about a mile apart from each other. Police said both had been shot and killed.
Ten days earlier, the families of the two men had reported them missing. The families had told authorities the two men had been traveling together in Vermont and had not been in touch for several days, state police said in a press release.
Federal prosecutors earlier this year have described Theodore Bland, 29, formerly of Stowe, as a “person of interest” in the case. Last month, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Bland charging him with discharging a firearm in Vermont during a drug trafficking crime “on or about” Oct. 12, 2023.
Federal prosecutors have also stated that Bland’s “October 12 firearm discharges caused the deaths of Jahim Solomon and Eric White,” according to court filings.
“In addition,” according to federal prosecutors, “Bland used social media messaging to communicate with his co-conspirators regarding, among other topics, the procurement of controlled substances for distribution, the pricing of controlled substances for sale to drug customers, and the distribution of controlled substances to drug customers.”
Bland is currently in custody awaiting sentencing on an unrelated federal firearms charge and is expected to be arraigned later this month on the latest indictment brought against him.
“This specific case we thought a federal angle was the best way to go,” Trudeau said, adding that the investigation had a “drug nexus” as well as victims from outside of Vermont and a number of people involved.
– Oct. 27, 2023: State police reported that hunters in the woods along Gore Road in Plainfield found a body that was later identified as Jeffrey Caron, 42, of Barre. An autopsy determined he had been shot to death and his body had been partially burned.
Days later, police arrested Kyle Bressette, of Barre, on a charge of second-degree murder, and Chris Relation, of Berlin, who faces a charge of being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder.
The fatal shooting, according to charging documents, stemmed from a dispute over drugs. The criminal cases against the two men remain pending.
Trudeau described that case as one that came together “pretty quickly.” Game camera footage as well as Facebook messages played a role in helping track the two men down within days, according to charging documents.
— Oct. 30, 2023: Police were called to a shooting in Bristol. According to police, an investigation revealed a 14-year-old boy said he was waving a gun around in a car when the firearm discharged, killing 14-year-old Madden Gouveia, who was among the teenage passengers in the vehicle.
The decision by Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos to charge the 14-year-old, who is Black, as an adult drew opposition from civil rights and social justice advocates, including the Rutland-area branch of the NAACP.
VTDigger generally does not identify juvenile defendants and did not do so in this case.
The case was eventually moved to family court where it was to be treated as a juvenile matter with further proceedings closed to the public.
Read the story on VTDigger here: One year after ‘unprecedented’ month of 8 homicides in Vermont, some remain unsolved.