Murders of Priscilla, Abigail, and William Gustafson

Background

Daniel J. LaPlante was born May 15, 1970, in Townsend, Massachusetts. According to Wikipedia's account, he grew up amid a difficult family situation after his parents' divorce, and he later alleged that he had been sexually and psychologically abused by several adults in his life, including his father, stepfather, and a psychiatrist. He was diagnosed as a teenager with hyperactivity disorder and separately had dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Classmates and neighbors described him as "creepy," "weird," "strange," and "disturbed," and he was generally regarded as a loner.

Pepperell Home Invasion (1986)

In 1986, LaPlante asked 15-year-old Tina Bowen on a date; after the date, he began stalking her. Using skills gained as a burglar, he entered the Bowen family's Pepperell, Massachusetts home and hid inside narrow wall spaces for over a year, at times only a few inches wide. The family, hearing unexplained noises and missing items, eventually discovered him inside a closet, disheveled and armed with a hatchet and a wrench. Tina Bowen escaped through a second-story window to call police, and although officers searched the house, LaPlante had fled through tunnels he had built inside the walls. He was later apprehended for this incident and was out on bail by October 1987, during which time he committed burglaries, obtained firearms, and burglarized the Gustafson family, his neighbors, stealing valuables.

The Gustafson Murders (December 1987)

On December 1, 1987, LaPlante entered the Townsend home of Priscilla Gustafson, a nursery school teacher who was pregnant at the time. He raped her and shot her twice at point-blank range; she was found face-down on her bed. He also drowned her two children, 7-year-old Abigail and 5-year-old William, in separate bathrooms.

Police questioned LaPlante roughly two days after the murders but lacked sufficient evidence to arrest him at that time. When officers returned later the same day to interview him further, LaPlante fled on foot, prompting a manhunt involving police dogs and helicopters. He stole a van and briefly took its owner hostage, then abandoned the vehicle near Ayer, Massachusetts, after being spotted by police. He fled into a lumberyard, threatened the owner with a gun, and hid in a dumpster before being apprehended by police.

Conviction and Sentencing

Approximately a year after the murders, LaPlante was sentenced to three life sentences for the killings of Priscilla, Abigail, and William Gustafson. On March 22, 2017, a re-sentencing hearing was held at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts, where LaPlante sought a reduced sentence citing juvenile-offender parole eligibility laws. A forensic psychiatrist evaluation found LaPlante showed no remorse for his crimes, and the judge affirmed his original sentence of three consecutive life terms, with parole eligibility after 45 years. As of the Wikipedia account, LaPlante is held at MCI-Norfolk; between 1990 and 2000 he had been held in federal custody, including at ADX Florence.