Edward and Harris Harris Blanchard and Edward LeClair were Boy Scouts in Granville Troop #113. Harris was a Scoutmaster, and Edward was a senior patrol leader. Edward's two younger brothers were members of the same troop. Edward excelled in the Boy Scouts. He earned more than 30 merit badges in a relatively short time. Harris took a strong liking to him; some folks called it unnatural. Harris and Edward attended a Court of Honor ceremony on February 16, 1938, at which time they were each presented with the prestigious Eagle Scout Award. As newly minted Eagle Scouts, the Boy Scouts' highest rank, they wasted no time as they continued their scouting journey and were awarded Eagle Palms on September 13. For reasons unknown, Edward's brothers quit the troop. Harris found out that Edward planned on quitting, too. On March 19, 1939, Harris had Edward sign a blank sheet of paper. Edward figured it had to do with a scouting activity, so he did not give it much thought. Troop #113 m...

Charles Cushing Jr. A man found Charles B. Cushing Jr. unconscious on the side of a partially paved road in Monson, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1949. Upon closer look, he noticed that he had cuts on his face. He summoned help, who took Charles to a local hospital. Doctors treated his injuries and admitted him due to a brain concussion. Investigators believe that Charles was riding his motorcycle down the road when he hit a hole and lost control of the bike. They estimated that the motorcycle traveled about 125 feet before slamming into a wall and throwing Charles about another 20 feet. Charles served in the United States Army for about five years. Stationed in Japan, he returned home after being discharged in 1953-4. During his enlistment, Charles reportedly tried committing suicide several times and underwent a psychiatric evaluation in Italy. Charles's neighbors said he was never the same after returning from the Korean War. In February or March 1954, he asked Dorothy A. Warner to...

Fernando Gonzalez Rodriguez worked on the Hathaway and Steane Tobacco Plantation in Southwick, Massachusetts. He lived in the company's barracks with the other tobacco workers of Farm C; the sleeping quarters were on the second floor of the bunkhouse.   On the evening of September 20, 1958, Rodriguez went to the Estes Club, a popular gathering place for Puerto Ricans, on the third floor of 50 Ferry Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. There, he saw his crush, nineteen-year-old Otilio Vaxeo, who, repulsed by him, brushed aside his advances as she did in previous run-ins with him.  Rodriguez left the club.  Luz Maria Reyes Escribano Otilio left the club at about 12:15 a.m. with her brother-in-law, thirty-seven-year-old Nazario Gutierre Mendoza. Outside, they ran into Rodriguez, who pushed Otilio before producing a .32 caliber revolver. As Otilio turned, Rodriguez fired a shot point-blank into her back. He reportedly fired a second shot that entered the bicep of h...

Police in Pennsylvania arrested Frederick Davis in 1959 on an outstanding warrant for multiple burglaries in Vermont (including a post office in Pownal); they also arrested his girlfriend, Mary Backus. (Police set a trap for the couple after Mary's father tipped them off to their whereabouts after she wired him asking for $40.) During his interrogation by police, Frederick implicated his brother, Hilton. Police in Granby, Connecticut, contacted their counterparts in Westfield, Massachusetts, after finding a 400-pound arc welder, welding cables, a welding helmet, and other items stolen from the abandoned Fruehauf Trailer plant at James Cavanaugh's home in nearby Windsor. Police picked up Hilton shortly after Cavanaugh told them that Hilton was his partner in crime. Authorities in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut became aware of the Davis brothers after police from Rutland, Vermont, arrest warrants in hand, traveled to Southwick, Massachusetts, believing that was wh...

Warren Barden and William Olden went on a day-long drinking spree in Connecticut on August 26, 1967. The drunken duo crossed the state line into Southwick, Massachusetts, which they were familiar with, having lived there once. They went to various places around town as they continued drinking. Warren's estranged wife, Dorothy Ann (LeClaire), called the Southwick Police Department on September 10, telling them that her husband told her that he killed a man there back in August. Southwick notified Connecticut State Police, who, along with authorities in New Britain, questioned Warren and held him as a fugitive from justice as Southwick Police Chief James Curran obtained an arrest warrant. (Police also learned that William Olden's family, who described him as a "heavy drinker," had reported him missing to authorities in Connecticut on August 27.) Warren waived extradition, so Connecticut State Police immediately handed him over to authorities in Southwick, with two offic...

The Harger Farm The Umansky family lived at the old Nelson Harger place near the crossroads of the Otis and Tolland roads in West Granville, Massachusetts. When Minnie Umansky returned home from Tolland (Massachusetts) around three o'clock on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 27, 1911, she found it odd that all the doors were locked, one barricaded with a beer keg. She heard her baby crying inside the home and called out for her mother-in-law, Rosa "Rose" Umansky, but there was no response. After finally gaining entry, Minnie found the kitchen smoky; her mother-in-law's bedroom ransacked. She quickly grabbed her baby and ran to her nearest neighbor's house, Charlie Sheets, which was less than 3/4 miles away. Charles' son Albert accompanied Minnie home. While searching the house for Rose, they found a pillow smoking in the oven in the kitchen. When their search of the house turned up nothing, they checked the barn and walked around the property. Again, ther...