Dream Lake

In 1840, Martin Van Buren was President of the United States of America.  u-s-history.com states, "Martin Van Buren was re-nominated unenthusiastically by the Democrats in 1840; no candidate was nominated for the vice presidency. To many of those countrymen who had suffered through years of depression, he was "Martin Van Ruin."

During post war time, Vermont's economy experienced a very slow growth, but important legislative events were on the rise regarding Women's Rights, thanks to Clarina Howard Nichols.  She was a significant part of women's history in Vermont, who fought for the right of women to vote.

Also, after the Revolutionary War, Vermont had been stripped of it's forests and farmland was poor but people began to rebuild this state by claiming abandoned property such as vacant farms and lands, and slowly our state began to rebuild.

Around this same time, a lowly deserter of the British Army by the name of Eugene Clifford settled into the Fairfield, Vermont in the northern area near Fairfield Pond.  He plotted and married a widow by the name of Elizabeth Gilmore, who just happened to have owned a large farm which contained some 50 acres of land.

Being a British deserter among the tight-lipped, honest Vermonters, he was strongly disliked, but generally accepted among the population.  

But after the marriage, and birth of their first child, Clifford's eye wandered and fell upon another widow, with whom he fell in love.  She also owned land, but it was across the lake....Ah, but here in lies the rub...for he had married Elizabeth and now the scoundrel must figure out a way to have his cake and eat it, too.

Early in the Fall of 1842, he sat among the town's people and discussion arose that if Elizabeth were to perish, then he would inherit the farm and the land.  It was then that this miscreant deserter formed a plan to dispose of his wife and their infant. 

Clifford arrived home one cold October (16th) afternoon to greet Elizabeth and their child where he announced that it was a lovely day for a trip around the lake in the log canoe.  

This is not E. Gilmore 

Mrs. Gilmore was of Irish descent and owned a prized silk shawl, which she generally wore for special occasions.  On this day, she covered herself in her elegant wrap, and swaddled the babe in a shawl made of wool.   

Some of the townsfolk watched them board the canoe and witnessed the beautiful shawl over the shoulders of Elizabeth [Clifford] Gilmore.  They set off across the shimmering blue of the lake against a backdrop of native trees, ablaze with autumn glory.

A few hours passed, and Clifford returned alone.  He feigned tears, and wept.  

Where was Elizabeth and the babe?  The townspeople asked?

His shoulders humped forward to show the agony of his loss, as he shuddered and cried, telling that them that while Elizabeth moved to situate her shawl more comfortably, she rocked and upset the boat.  She and the babe fell into the cold, dark water.  He searched, but could not find them! 

But yet, it was not dark!  The town immediately began to search for the two and they continued into the darkness; yet, their search was in vain.  The next morning, they set out again to attempt to recover their loss and were increasingly suspicious of Clifford.  They found the drowned body of Elizabeth  almost 2 fathoms beneath the cold lake, and the poor dead infant was discovered some distance away on the shore.

What of her beautiful shawl?  And what of the babe's woolen blanket in which it was wrapped?  It should have been found with her!  

The townspeople inquired. 

Again, they searched and foraged but the shawls could not be found.  In fact, people came from miles away to look for the shawls.....they scoured and fished, but alas! nothing was found....and, suspicion grew.  

Elizabeth [Clifford] Gilmore left behind her dearest friend, by the name of Mrs. Abigail Marvin, wife of Steven Marvin.  Abigail profoundly suffered the loss of her friend, and one night commenced to dreaming.  In her dream, she looked for the missing shawls. 

When she awoke, she told her husband of the dream and he promptly dismissed it.  She went to a friend named Bailey, who believed her dream and followed Abigail Marvin to the shore where she had actually never been!  And from only her mind's eye, she followed the paths that were precisely from her dream with Bailey in tow.   

"...she crossed the road in front of her dwelling, got over a fence athwart which a large hemlock tree had fallen; that she got over this fence, walked a short distance on the prostrate tree, and into a patch of woods where trees had been overturned by the wind; thence passed to ground, near the shore of the pond, covered by thick growth of brush; and that there, in a shallow hole of sand, and partially covered, she found the shawls."  -From The History of St. Albans - googlebooks

Reportedly, the shawls were still wet and Eugene Clifford was arrested, tried and put into solitary confinement.   He had been sentenced to death. Eugene went stark raving mad, and died before the sentence could be carried out.  

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Wyuen Pine

Wyuen Pine  is a 13th or 14 century term, most likely Scottish, meaning "women's punishment".  This term was used primarily in association with the use of a "dunking" stool or chair, as a form of public humiliation.

Chairs or stools were built upon a plank from which a person was tied and then publicly dunked into a body of water as a form of law enforcement. 

"The ducking-stool was a strongly made wooden armchair (the surviving specimens are of oak) in which the victim was seated, an iron band being placed around her so that she should not fall out during her immersion.

Usually the chair was fastened to a long wooden beam fixed as a seesaw on the edge of a pond or river. Sometimes, however, the ducking-stool was not a fixture but was mounted on a pair of wooden wheels so that it could be wheeled through the streets, and at the river-edge was hung by a chain from the end of a beam. In sentencing a woman the magistrates ordered the number of duckings she should have....Sometimes the punishment proved fatal and the victim died of shock."  - wiki

From the TV Series, "Salem"

Not only women were punished in this manner, men were also submerged.  

"Dunking is a form of punishment that was mainly reserved for supposed witches. The victim was tied to a chair which was elevated or lowered by the torturer. If he noticed that the victim was going to pass out, he elevated the chair. When he needed information and the victim was unwilling to cooperate, he lowered it. 

This method was widely used during the Spanish Inquisition and in England and France. The victim was usually intermittently submerged for many hours until he or she revealed information or death occurred.

While witches were commonly tortured using this method, thieves and murderers could be subject to it in order to extract a confession. This was more common when other more sophisticated torture devices were not present."  - medievality.com

Haunted Chicago

I am headed out to Chicago for 3 days of job training.  I understand that we will have some down time, so of course I checked these out:

http://www.chicagohauntings.com/

http://www.prairieghosts.com/midwest3.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/haunted-chicago-the-windy_n_1067222.html

http://www.catholiccemeterieschicago.org/locations.php?id=5

If I happen to get to any of these places, I shall post an update.

In the meantime, Happy Haunted Trails, Everyone!

~Denise

Update:  3/16/14:  I never made it to any of these alleged haunted places, however, I did see some of the downtown area mostly long before 6 a.m.  Here are a few photos from my wanderings:

Pocock Treasure

In the town of Pocock, Vermont - now chartered and known as Bristol, lies undiscovered treasure... a true and fascinating story!  I have done research on this topic - so, first and foremost - the treasure has never been found! 

The history of the very beginning of this adventure is uncertain, but apparently around 1752 a Spanish Galleon ship called the "San Jose" arrived at New London in Connecticut, carrying 40 chests of silver and one chest of gold, along with a passenger by the name of Philip DeGrau.  The story goes that the San Jose began to take on water and an American ship, the "Susannah"  came to the rescue by escorting the San Jose safely ashore.  The contents of the San Jose were immediately seized by American authorities and it is said that the cargo was stashed in a warehouse.  (Another version of this story, put DeGrau aboard a ship called the Nebuchadnezzar, where he committed mutiny against the Captain and crew).  

It is believed that DeGrau, with about 10 of his ship-mates jumped board before the San Jose was brought to port, they plotted and successfully burglarized the warehouse. 

They were able to steal most of the treasure, so days later when the captain of the ship could inventory the loot, it was then discovered that the majority had been stolen.  The remaining treasure when hence returned to the captain.

By this time, DeGrau and his cronies had made the proverbial beeline north and hoped to reach the safety net of Canada.  The gang was just about 60 miles south of their destination, when they were attacked by Indians, near South Mountain in the Bristol area.  During the violent confrontation, the treasure was said to have been buried between 2 great rocks (appearing to be somewhat cave-like) at the foot of the mountain, which is commonly referred to now as "Hell's Half Acre".  

DeGrau and a few of the men survived the vicious attack and actually made it into Canada.  Years later DeGrau returned to recover the stash, but was surprised to see that the entire landscape had changed!  Apparently, a significant earthquake had rumbled through New England and indeed, the landscape was altered.  Rock slides had covered the western slope of the mountain, which probably covered the entrance to the "cave". 

To give credence to this event, I researched this and found on the US Geological Survey site and wiki this information:  

"The Cape Ann Earthquake took place off the coast of the British Province of Massachusetts Bay (the present-day American commonwealth of Massachusetts) on November 18, 1755. At between 6.0 and 6.3 on the Richter scale, it remains the largest earthquake in the history of Massachusetts. It damaged hundreds of buildings in Boston and was felt as far north as Nova Scotia and as far south as South Carolina. Sailors on a ship more than 200 miles (320 km) offshore felt the quake, and mistook it at first for their ship running aground. Many residents of Boston and the surrounding areas attributed the quake to God, and it occasioned a brief increase in religious fervor in the city. Modern studies estimate that if a similar quake shook Boston today, it would result in as much as $5 billion in damage and hundreds of deaths."  

and.....

"...the major earthquake of November 18, 1755, east of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, affected a large area (about 777,000 square kilometers), including all of Vermont."

Some accounts state that DeGrau then settled in the Bristol area and continued to search for his lost treasure until his death.  He was never able to retrieve it, so perhaps it is somewhere deep in the ground in Hell's Half Acre?

On this same topic, Joe Citro explains that upon his return to Vermont, DeGrau actually told the towns people of Bristol a big fat fib about the alleged treasure at the location where he was discovered by some local young men, upon hearing banging and clanging, they went to investigate the sounds.  They discovered the now elderly DeGrau with a pick ax in hand, attempting to find what had been lost to Mother Nature.  

Locals, being suspicious of strangers, questioned him as to why he was trespassing on private property.  DeGrau went on to explain (all the while his nose growing in length) that "his name was DeGrau, that he was Spanish, and had visited the area many years ago as a child. His father and a group of associates were miners who had randomly prospected throughout New England. There on South Mountain in Bristol (then called Pocock) they discovered a rich vein of silver and had begun a mining operation."

"Eventually they accumulated a massive amount of high grade ore which they smelted into silver bars. In the fall, while preparing to leave, they discovered they had far too much wealth to carry away. They walled the surplus treasure up in an oven-shaped cave and disguised the entrance with earth and vegetation, planning to return for it later."

"Before departing for their faraway homes the miners agreed that in order to reclaim the loot they must all travel together, as a group. For various reasons they never coordinated the return trip. Presumably, they had already carted off enough wealth and never had to refill their coffers. Over the years the original miners died off until Señor DeGrau – now quite elderly -- was the only one left."

"After some deliberation, the villagers decided that the Spaniard's story had the ring of truth. Ultimately, they believed him."  - Joseph Citro

So, Degrau was able to elicit the help of many of the local townspeople.  He continued his search until his death, or as I have read, he just gave up and disappeared.   I am unable to locate any grave with his name, on findagrave.com.

It is interesting to note that one old doubloon (a Spanish coin) was found in the South Mountain region in 1961.  Also giving credence to this story, a crucible (a container for molted metal) was discovered however, it could not be dated, but it could be verified as being of Spanish origin.  

The fever for those seeking treasure, has continued many with metal detectors in hand have tried and failed, to date.  The cache could be worth multiple millions, if ever located.....

BUT...before you head out with your metal detector and/pickax, take heed!  

Again, from Joe Citro:

"In the years to come an array of Bristol locals picked up ax and continued where the Spaniard had left off. They discovered some ancient signs of a mining operation, a mysterious marked container, and a few nondescript odds and ends. These worthless finds inspired more treasure hunters, but years of intermittent excavations revealed no mine and no silver. 

For decades Bristol treasure hunters were joined by opportunists from far and wide, all determined to secure the Spaniard's silver.  In the mid-1800s a group of Canadians arrived and organized a stock company. An affable sixty-year-old, florid-faced giant known as "Uncle Sim" directed the operation. He spurred the diggers on with humor and charisma, taking his directions from trusted fortune-tellers. One was a woman from Pawlet whom Uncle Sim regularly consulted. Another was an "old Frenchman" who conjured from his cabin on the eastern side of the mountain. Without callusing their hands or wielding an ax, their paranormal vision allowed them to identify the spot where the treasure lay. The amount that would eventually be unearthed, they promised, was $3,100,000 [over $50,000,000 in today’s coin].

Uncle Sim raised funds by promising a hundred dollar return on every dollar invested.

From 1840 to 1852 they dug shaft after shaft, some through solid rock, some 40 and 50 feet deep. One sank to well over 100! Still the silver remained just out of reach.  Shafts caved in, filled with stifling gas, or flooded with water. As much effort went into reclaiming holes as digging them. But no treasure came to light. After more than twelve years and thousands of dollars, Uncle Sim gave up.

But unlike the rock face of South Mountain, Uncle Sim’s faith was never shattered. About a decade later he returned alone. He had met a new conjurer who assured him that by moving just a few stones he could open a passage leading directly to the treasure.  By then he must have been in his eighties, a frail and broken man. His effort was short lived. Defeated, he tottered off into oblivion.

In spite of repeated failures, organized efforts to find the Spaniard's silver continued intermittently. 

As recently as 1934 a man from New Haven took up the cause. His treasure finding techniques were more modern than Uncle Sim’s. Instead of consulting conjurers, he used his "divining rod," then began digging and dynamiting until little was left of the earlier excavations. It wasn’t long before he too left, tired, and discouraged.

The forlorn remnants of Addison’s Big Dig remain on South Mountain to this day. “The Money Diggings”, as they are locally called, are on private land. With permission, you can traverse the inhospitable terrain (as nasty as any in the state). You can still discover the rough rock caves where Uncle Sim’s crew lived during their twelve years on what has become known as “Hell’s Half Acre.” 

You can locate the filled shafts and — if you’re brave enough -- descend into the only pit that remains open. It drops at a precarious 45-degree angle into – so they say -- a hand-dug cavern large enough to hold a dance hall. From there, three additional shafts burrow into the bowels of the mountain.

It is a dangerous spot, perhaps more so because of the hell hound and demon boy Uncle Sim swore will eternally guard the true path to the treasure.


The bottom line is that in two hundred years Addison’s Big Dig has produced nothing but questions: Was there ever any silver or treasure of any kind? Did one of the diggers secretly find the stash and covertly carry it away? Or is it still there, securely hidden, ready to inspire another century of treasure hunting? 

Quite possibly someone is digging there now.  Strange, almost fleshy rock faces: slippery, alien, and almost always hazardous." - Jospeh Citro

Joe tells a great story, doesn't he?  Anyway, I was thinking.... I have a metal detector, and a pickax, and a shovel, and boots... maybe I will take a little journey north, come spring....

Vermont Unsolved Mysteries

Warning:  
Content may not be suitable for those under 18 years old.

Vermont has many sites which explain the known facts about the mysterious or otherwise disappearances of some of our residents.  

I think it is worth posting this information - because keeping us alert is what can not only solve crimes, but perhaps give closure to those families who have suffered through these mysterious circumstances:

All of the following information is from http://letsfindthem.wordpress.com/?s=vermont 
and http://www.ctcoldcases.com/vermont.html

WANTED:

CHARGED WITH HOLDING 12 YEAR OLD BOY AS SEX SLAVE:

Vermont State police have charged two men with Connecticut ties in an alleged child sexual assault case

The suspects are both middle-age men who were respected firemen for the West Haven Fire Department

The assaults occurred in The assaults allegedly occurred in Ludlow and Cavendish, Vermont

The victim, who is now a young man in his twenties, came forward with the allegations last month, saying the assaults began when he was 12 and the sexual relations continued to last year.

Meyer is alleged to have brought other underage victims from Connecticut to Vermont where he would sexual assault them and then ask the victim to perform sex acts on them.

Suspects: Frank Meyer, 39, of West Haven, Conn., and

 Brett Bartolotta, 42, of Cavendish, Vt., are charged with

 aggravated sexual assault and slave trafficking

Disappearance Of Brianna Maitland

Brianna Maitland, was eighteen years old when she was last seen leaving the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, VT. It was Friday night, March 19th, 2004 and she just finished working there. Her vehicle, a green 1985 Oldsmobile was discovered the next day backed into an abandoned house about a mile away from where she was last seen.

Police believe that she did not run off and may have been a victim of foul play. She is described as being as five foot four and between 105 and 110 pounds. She has hazel eyes, with medium dark brown hair.

There is a $20,000 reward for information on her disappearance. $10,000 for anyone who can identify the exact location of Brianna may be buried. Another $10,000 for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the individual(s) that may be responsible for her disappearance.

If you have any information about this case you are urged to contact Vermont State Police Captain Glenn Hall at the Vermont State Police Headquarters at 802-244-8781. All calls can be confidential.

- There is a Facebook group dedicated to the Disappearance of Brianna Maitland. Just type ‘Brianna Maitland’ in the Facebook searchbar. Her Family and loved ones are still looking for answers and wont stop until they found out what happened to there Daughter, Friend, and Neice.

Brianna Maitland

Maura Murray

Maura Murray (pictured above) disappeared on February 9, 2004, after a one-car accident on New Hampshire Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire. Murray, a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, left campus on the afternoon of her disappearance after telling her professors and her work supervisor by e-mail that she was taking a week off because of a family emergency. Official investigators suggested that she may have wanted to disappear and initially considered her disappearance to be a standard missing persons case, but her family and friends believe that she was abducted and her father has been critical of state investigators. As of 2012, eight years after her disappearance, there is no suspect and her whereabouts remain unknown. 

- Events before Disappearance -
On Thursday, February 5, 2004, Maura made a phone call in the evening to her older sister, Kathleen, while on break from her job at University of Massachusetts Student Security. Maura seemed normal to her sister.

The next day, February 6, 2004, Maura was at work at 1 am when she received a phone call that caused her to become upset. She was escorted back to her dorm room by her supervisor.

On Saturday, February 7, 2004, Maura went used-car shopping with her father, Fred Murray, and they later went for dinner with a friend of Maura’s. Maura dropped her father off at his hotel room, and then borrowed his Toyota Corolla, returning to the UMass campus to a dorm party with her friend. She left the party at 2:30 am, and drove to her father’s hotel room, hitting a guardrail on Route 9 in Hadley, causing $8,000 of damage, which would be covered by the insurance. Her father says she was shaken up and apologetic. Maura called her boyfriend, who was stationed in Oklahoma, from her father’s cell phone. Her father rented a car, dropped Maura off at UMass, and headed to Connecticut for work. In the evening, Maura agreed with her father that she would get the forms pertaining to the accident from the DMV on Monday, and they would discuss the forms over the phone that evening.

- Day of her disappearance -
Maura sent her boyfriend an e-mail at 1 pm on February 9, 2004, saying that she had not felt like talking to anyone, but that she would call him later in the day. Maura made several calls between 12 noon and 3 pm, including asking about information on a condominium in Bartlett, New Hampshire, that her family had annually vacationed at for years, leaving a voicemail with another student, and a number giving recorded information about Stowe, Vermont for approximately 5 minutes. Maura called her boyfriend for approximately 1 minute at 2:18 pm. According to a later police search of her computer, sometime that day, Maura searched MapQuest for directions to Burlington, Vermont.

Maura packed all her belongings into boxes and removed the art from her room walls.At about 4 pm, Maura e-mailed one of her work supervisors and some of her teachers to inform them that there had been a death in her family and that she would be out-of-town for several days, despite there being no such case of death. A dorm mate says they saw Maura leave the UMass Amherst campus between 3:30 and 4:30 pm. Maura withdrew $280 from an ATM, and was alone as seen by CCTV footage. Her bank account was left empty, with paychecks due from her job in the coming days. Maura then bought $35–$40 of alcohol, again while alone. Sometime after 4 pm, Maura left Amherst, probably heading up Interstate 91 north. She checked her cellphone messages at 4:37 pm.

- Disappearance -
At 7:29 pm, police dispatch received a call from a Woodsville, New Hampshire resident, who reported an accident near her house on Route 112. At 7:43 pm another Woodsville resident reported a black Saturn partially in the road. A bus driver says that he spoke to a girl he later identified as Maura, and asked if she wanted him to call the police. She told him not to bother, as she had called AAA. However, there was no cellphone reception in the area and AAA says no call was made to them.

At 7:46 pm, an officer from Haverhill Police arrived on the scene. The girl who was seen by the second caller and the bus driver was not present. The car was facing westbound in the eastbound lane, locked and with a cracked windshield and two deployed airbags. A damaged box of Franzia wine was found on the rear passenger seat. Other items found in the car include Maura’s AAA card, the insurance forms she retrieved for her earlier accident, her gloves, music CDs, her makeup, directions for Burlington and Stowe, a favorite stuffed monkey, and the Nicholas Howe book, Not Without Peril, a book about climbing in the White Mountains. A rag from Maura’s emergency roadside kit was discovered stuffed into the Saturn’s muffler pipe.

The EMS and a fire truck arrived just before 8 pm, and quickly cleared the scene. Maura’s car was towed to a local auto repair garage by 8:49 pm, and the police officer left to attend another call at about 9:30 pm. A New Hampshire State Police trooper stopped by the scene of the accident, but it is unknown at what time he arrived, if he was dispatched or if he stopped on his own accord. The family reports that they were told there was no radio communication between the officer and his station for approximately two hours upon arrival to the scene. There was no immediate search as it was assumed that Maura had left the scene by herself. Her bank card, credit cards, and cellphone have not been used since.

Murder of Rochester Man Still Unsolved

On November 17, 2001 twenty eight year old Dean Webster was found shot to death in the backyard of his home on Sky Hollow Road. He had been discovered deceased by a friend. Webster was last seen alive the previous afternoon by a neighbor. There is a two thousand dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of conviction of the person(s) responsible for his homicide. If you have any information about this case please call Det. Sgt. John Hagen at 802-234-9933 or call Crimestoppers at 1-800-427-8477. 

Grace Reapp

VANISHED

One of the most infamous murder/disappearance cases in Vermont is the vanishing of 32 year old Grace Reapp and her five year old daughter Gracie Reapp. 

They were last seen at their residence at their Jericho, Vermont residence on June 6, 1978. Michael Reapp, the husband and father of the two filed a missing person's report. 

Around a year later, he marries a second time and maintains custody of the couple's two older sons. In 1996, after he moved to Florida, he went missing after he was informed that Vermont Law Enforcement was digging around the property where his wife and daughter had last been seen. 

In June 7, 2010, it was learned that Michael Reapp has committed suicide back in 1997. He had been chased by police after he did an armed carjacking. Vermont State Police believe that Michael Reapp murdered both his wife and daughter. To date, they have not been found. 

Serial Killer Never Caught in Series of Brutal Murders

Michelle Nicholaou

Michael Nicholaou paired with a sketch of the suspect 

Barbara Agnew

On August 6, 1988 Jane Boroski escaped death when she barely survived an attack from an unknown man just outside a small market in Swansea, New Hampshire. She was brutally stabbed twenty-seven times. It is believed that she is the lone survivor of a serial killer that killed at least six women. All six of the women were stabbed to death in the Connecticut River Valley near Route 91 in both Vermont and New Hampshire.

The victims were Mary Elizabeth Critchley, was found deceased in on August 9, 1981 in some woods that are located off of Unity Stage Road, in the town of Unity, New Hampshire.

Bernice Courtemanche, a 17-year-old nurse's aide was last seen May 30, 1984 in West Claremont, New Hampshire. Her remains were found in Kellyville, New Hampshire on April 9, 1986.

Ellen Fried, a nurse was last seen in West Claremont, New Hampshire on July 20, 1984. Her remains were found in Kellyville, New Hampshire on September 19, 1985.

Eva Morse, a single mother was last seen hitchhiking after leaving her place of work on July 10, 1985 in Charlestown, New Hampshire. Her remains were located by a logger on April 25, 1986 in Unity, New Hampshire.

Lynda Moore, was murdered in her home outside of Saxtons River, Vermont, on May 15, 1986.

Barbara Agnew (pictured far right), a 36 year old nurse was missing for two months from a highway rest stop in Hartford, Vermont. She was found deceased near Advent Hill Road in Hartland, Vermont on March 28, 1987. All of these women were stabbed in similar areas and had their throats slit.

There are a few suspects in the murders and Boroski has indicated that one of these suspects physically matches the description of the person who attacked her.

Michael Nicholaou.

During the time of the murders, Nicholaou lived in the Holyoke, Massachusetts. His wife at the time had relatives that lived in Vermont. His residence was also very close to Interstate 91. A few years ago in Florida, Nicholaou committed suicide after he killed his stepdaughter and wife. He is also believed to be responsible for the disappearance/murder of his former wife, Michelle Ashley (pictured far left). So far, Nicholaou has only been proven to be responsible for two murders. However, as police continue to investigate his history, that may soon change.

Above are pictures of Michelle Nicholaou and picture of Michael Nicholaou paired with a sketch of the suspect that attacked Jane Boroski. Next to that is a picture of victim Barbara Agnew. 

Human Skull Found and Police Want Answers

 A resident in the town of Danby came across an unusual discovery on February 12, 2012. On the side of Danby Hill Road, he found a human skull. It was determined that the skull was female and thought to be that of a young caucasian (white) female. There were theories that pointed to the skull belonging to either Brianna Maitland, Maura Murray or Hedi Wilbur. All three were young white women who had gone missing in the last two decades within a reasonable distance of the discovery. The skull also showed signs of some trauma which indicated that it could have belonged to a victim of homicide. The investigation took an unusual turn when months later it was determined that the skull belonged to that of an Asian female between the ages of 15 to 40 years of age. Searches of the area where the skull was located provided no other clues or body parts. If you have information about who this female might be, please contact Vermont State Police at 802-442-5421.

UNSOLVED:  Gruesome Discovery and Questions Remain

A homeowner in Southeastern Vermont (near the New York & Massachusetts border) made a gruesome discovery in 1997. The homeowner's dog had brought back human bones which included a skull and a femur. Despite several searches by police, no other bones were ever found. 

The Medical Examiner theorized that the bones belonged to a mentally retarded/handicapped adult white male. But not enough bones were found to determine a cause and manner of death. Carol Cielecki, an online member of the Doe Network (a group of online sleuths that match missing persons with unidentified persons/remains) had a hunch that the bones could belong to a New Jersey man that was missing since the mid-nineties. She made her suggestion to the Doe Network which contacted the Police. Law enforcement soon were able to prove through DNA matching that it was indeed Sean Cutler. 

A Carbon Monoxide poisoning accident at the age of seven had left Cutler severely handicapped, blind and unable to walk. He had been in the care of his father and not seen by other members of his family for years. In July of 1996, in the town of Wayne, New Jersey, a house fire had claimed the life of Lewis Cutler (his father) and William Spitzer of Clifton. Sean Cutler's remains were not found in the fire and police believe that the fire was set, most likely by Lewis Cutler. Questions remain though, what really happened to Sean Cutler? Why was he buried in that part of Vermont? These answers may have died in the 1996 fire with Lewis Cutler.