EP 65 | Brace For Impact: Juvenile Lifers, Parole Hearings, & The Families' New Fight

EP 65 | Brace For Impact: Juvenile Lifers, Parole Hearings, & The Families' New Fight

Massachusetts families of murdered loved ones are now faced with the prospect of their killers being released. Explore how landmark rulings  Miller vs. Alabama and Diatchenko vs The Commonwealth have reshaped juvenile sentencing and removed every promise made to families that their juvenile killer would be behind bars for life. The families of Amy Carnevale, Shaun Ouillette, Janet Downing, and Beth Brodie find it unfathomable that they will now have to face these murderers who are entitled to regular parole hearings. They are fighting every step of the way.

Justice For Beth Brodie  -- sign and share petition for Beth

+sample letter for parole board

Justice for Janet Downing -- sign and share petition for Janet

Justice for Amy Carnevale

Justice for Shaun Ouillette

Write to the parole board:
Massachusetts Parole Board
12 Mercer Rd
Natick, Mass  01760

Unsolved Somerville cases I talked about:
Deanna Cremin
Charline Rosemond

Transcript

Anngelle Wood: 0:00

Well, hello, my name is Anngelle Wood and this is Crime of the Truest Kind. I thought I'd hold off till post-holiday weekend to share this show. I used some new audio software on today's show and I don't think I like it very much, but thanks for being here. This is episode 65. Here, this is episode 65. Taking a break from the Canton craziness that I covered for the last couple of episodes, we will do a check-in, though I think we will do a check-in to get caught up in the happenings in the John O'Keefe murder trial. Meanwhile, there are so very many other things going on. Follow the show at Crime of the Truest Kind. Drop a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. I will share them on the show. Support the show, however you are able, whether you support it as a Patreon patron or if you simply just share the show and tell other people about it. I would love all of that. Well, this is something maybe a little bit different. This is about juvenile lifers who are now eligible for parole and the massive toll that that takes on the families involved. Episode 65, bracing for Impact.

Anngelle Wood: 2:02

May 25th is National Missing Children's Day. I marked it by sharing the names of many children who are still missing in Massachusetts and New England Andy Puglisi, Melanie Melanson, Jennifer Fay, Deborah Quimby, Jesus de la Cruz, Kristopher Lewis, Brianna Maitland, Nelida Del Valle. Etan Patz, first missing child, featured on a milk carton after he disappeared from a New York City street in 1979. Four years after his disappearance, president Ronald Reagan declared May 25th National Missing Children's Day. As for Etan, his case went cold until a lead came in 2012. A man who was known to the Soho neighborhood where the Patz's lived was charged and ultimately convicted, but Eitan is still missing. His remains have never been recovered. Still missing. His remains have never been recovered. This is episode 65.

Anngelle Wood: 3:10

My eyes were opened to the parole process in the Commonwealth, where families are forced to face their loved one's killer in fear they will be set free. Now I have taken time to learn about Miller versus Alabama and Commonwealth versus Diatchenko. I attended the parole hearing of the man who murdered Beth Brodie in 1992. Now there are two episodes about Beth Episode 17 that I did in 2021, and episode 62 that I did a few weeks ago, when I spoke to Beth's brother, Sean, for a second time, but this time about the scheduled parole hearing of her killer. Now, doing this podcast, I've learned a lot and a lot about myself. I don't know everything, but I want to know everything. So I find myself peeling layer after layer of the onion to learn everything I can about these stories, these real-life happenings. And well, it takes a long time.

Anngelle Wood: 4:17

The parole hearing for Beth Brodie's killer was May 16th 2024. The man who murdered Beth Brodie in 1992, when she was 15, was just 16. Convicted of first-degree murder, he was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole A juvenile lifer they are called. My wish for all of you listening is that you never know how it feels to lose someone so violently and, in Beth's case, so young, and have to revisit those painful happenings years later with such vivid detail. It will derail your life. The worry, the anxiety, the fear. Too many families have been faced with this new reality their enemy, their juvenile killer, was sent to prison for life. Oh, but not so fast Were you trying to heal from your enormous loss, the one that derailed your entire life? There are a number of high-profile offenders going before the parole board, some for the first time, like the juvenile lifer who murdered 14-year-old Amy Carnevale in Beverly, massachusetts, in 1991. It is an incredibly cruel crime. He was up for his initial hearing this year. A 2019 hearing was postponed For what reason, I am not sure.

Anngelle Wood: 6:02

In May of 2014, a coalition of Massachusetts families composed of members of Beth Brodie's, Janet Downing, Amy Carnevale, Lewis Jennings and Bonnie Sue Mitchell's relatives came together to testify in response to S2008, the ruling that effectively invalidated life sentencing for juveniles. These are the words from Amy Carnevale's cousin, Jen, portions of the testimony she delivered that day in May 2014. I am not sure that anyone can understand what a family goes through when their loved one is murdered, unless their family has gone through it too. I'm going to do my best to let you know how my family feels when you go to the hearing for Bill S-2008,. Please consider my statement on behalf of my family.

Anngelle Wood: 7:05

Amy Carnevale was a sweet and kind 14-year-old girl. She was positive and thoughtful, the first to help her friends and the first to see the best in everyone. Her smile was infectious. Shortly before her death, amy finished 8th grade and was eager to begin her freshman year of high school. She was full of hopes and dreams, and exuberance. Amy had already chosen to become a cheerleader for Beverly High and had hopes to become a hairdresser upon graduation. We will never know what other goals she may have chosen for her future, because on August 23, 1991, she was brutally murdered by 16-year-old Jamie Fuller.

Anngelle Wood: 7:56

Amy's violent and premeditated death has caused and continues to cause her family and friends immeasurable pain, used to cause her family and friends immeasurable pain. When you hear the horrific details of how your loved one was brutally murdered, the information burns its way into your heart and your soul. There is nothing you can do to stop it, to make it go away, to heal it. It is forever a part of you, like it or not. Amy's mother, cindy Rowe, can't be here today. She never recovered from Amy's death. She faithfully attended the trial of her daughter's killer. She listened to every painful detail of the brutal circumstances of the death of her daughter. She was powerless to protect her little girl from this brutality. Cindy endured the near-constant media coverage of her daughter's death and the lengthy trial. She had constant psychiatric visits and took countless medications. As a result, A heartbroken woman, cindy passed away in 2009. Cynthia Rogill passed away on April 2, 2009, at her home in Salem Massachusetts. She was just 56.

Anngelle Wood: 9:21

You can read the full testimony of Amy's cousin and other family members. It's posted at justiceforbethbrodycom. I've linked all of this at crimeofthetruestkindcom. In Amy's cousin's testimony she also spoke of an escape plan by Amy's juvenile killer one year after his guilty verdict. That was orchestrated by his own mother and another man, a boyfriend. Evidently they were caught before they could go through with it thanks to monitoring of prison, phone calls, a jailhouse snitch and some undercover police work. His mother was sentenced to six to nine years in prison for her involvement in the conspiracy to break her son, a convicted murderer, out of prison. There was no doubt she also suffered. Celeste Fuller also died that year, december 15th 2009, at the age of 55. Both mothers' arrangements were handled by the same funeral home in Beverly and perhaps the same one that handled Amy's. Ten years almost to the day after that appeal to the legislative committee, the family of Amy Carnevale and their supporters were forced to face her killer in a room at the Mass State Parole Board in Natick for his requested hearing. Ten years almost to the day, the family of Janet Downing will be forced to face the person convicted of her murder, a 15-year-old boy in the summer of 1995, the grandson of a former Somerville police chief and a close friend of the Downing boys and who lived across the street in their Somerville neighborhood.

Anngelle Wood: 11:19

Some press accounts refer to Edward O'Brien Jr as the teddy bear killer. They can't help themselves. They don't let you forget he was an altar boy, hence the more popular name, the altar boy murder, as if having been an altar boy is a proud thing in Boston anymore. Please watch the film Spotlight for more context on that. Eddie, as everyone seemed to call him, was big. People who knew him said he was a teddy bear Six feet four, 260 pounds. He lived with his parents and sisters in that Somerville neighborhood. Warehouses are pretty close together and people who grew up in those neighborhoods were close-knit Many multi-generational living arrangements and multi-family homes and lots of triple-deckers. Most everyone had good things to say about Eddie O'Brien, making the events of that day and the days that followed even more shocking and bewildering.

Anngelle Wood: 12:34

Now it is important to mention that four months before Janet Downing was murdered, the city of Somerville was rocked by the rape and murder of 17-year-old Deanna Kremen. Deanna had stayed out past her curfew that night telling her mother she'd be home soon, but did not return. From her boyfriend's house a few blocks away, tommy LeBlanc was the last person to see her alive the next morning, on March 30th, two children who knew Deanna from her work as a babysitter found her. She loved kids and was part of the child development program at Somerville High. She wanted to be a preschool teacher. That was a horrible thing for the kids to see and something Gianna would never have wanted for them. Gianna was found behind the senior housing complex at 125 Jock Street, a shortcut for the kids on their way to school that morning and so very close to her own home. Catherine Kremen, deanna's mom, told Bostoncom that Deanna's boyfriend, tommy LeBlanc, told her and the police that he walked her halfway home, leaving her at the intersection of Heath and Bond Streets Odd, seeing, as he would always walk her to her door making sure she was safe. When Deanna was found so close to that spot, it measured approximately 475 feet from her home in the Winter Hill neighborhood.

Anngelle Wood: 14:04

While there are people of interest, deanna Crimmins' murder remains unsolved to this day, which is outrageous and unacceptable. A $70,000 reward is available for help in leading to the identity of her murderer. Now I know some of you will say did they look at O'Brien for this? I'm sure they probably did. There is DNA evidence and we need science on our side to solve Deanna's murder. I would like to research Deanna's case further for a future episode and I'm sure hearing about Deanna's murder affected Janet Downing, the mother of two of her own girls and Janet's kids likely knew Deanna. They must have the Downing murder split the neighborhood and the city in two, not unlike another case going on right now in Massachusetts.

Anngelle Wood: 15:11

Janet Downing was always smiling and kind, looking out for all the kids hers, her kids' friends, and all the neighborhoods. Janet and her husband had divorced years before. They seemed to have an amicable relationship for the sake of their four kids, teenagers by then. All five of them lived in a duplex that she owned at 71 Boston Street in Somerville, prospect Hill. A short walk to Union Square for those of you who are familiar, and a drive from the house on Boston Road to the Boston Garden where the Bruins play for those of you not familiar is about 10 minutes, but that's on paper, certainly more in regular Boston traffic.

Anngelle Wood: 15:58

On July 23, 1995, a Sunday night, Janet had gone to the grocery store, a common mom thing to do. She worked at a health care organization in Medford and she had to get ready for the week ahead. It's midsummer, lots of kids in and out of the house, twin teenage boys and they eat. That late afternoon other kids were over, like always. One of the boys who helped carry in the groceries that Sunday night was the boy who'd be charged with her murder, the big kid from across the street, her son's friend, grandson of the former Somerville police chief, the 6'4", 260-pound kid.

Anngelle Wood: 16:50

Sometime between 8.30 and 9.15, janet is attacked in her home At 5'2 and 114 pounds. It is a fierce battle. It's absolute brutality. Janet's son returns home sometime about 9.45 and notices the water running in the bathroom at the end of the hall, which is certainly odd. He finds his mom on the floor in the dining room and runs for help across the street to the O'Briens. Edward O'Brien Sr calls police who arrive within minutes. The officer meets Mr O'Brien and Janet's son outside their home. The officer enters the home to find a gruesome crime scene. He sees Janet on the floor, knowing by the condition of the home that it was very serious and not an accident, and there lying next to her was her golden retriever. The dog got up, walked over to the officer Officer Blair. According to this court record, the dog took the officer's hand in his mouth and led him over to Janet and sat down next to her again. Dogs are incredible beings.

Anngelle Wood: 18:21

At the same time this is going on on Boston Street, a call comes in to Somerville PD from Edward O'Brien Jr. He is at the Midnight Convenience Store in Union Square where he had been working part-time. The store is a nine-minute walk from his house and a two-minute walk from Somerville Police Station. From Somerville Police Station Still, eddie O'Brien made a call to the police to report that he had been attacked by two men on the street. Was this to set up his obvious injuries? Telling police he was attacked by two men with a knife, one black, one Hispanic. Also, jesus, fucking Christ, this again. That is a wound that never heals. After Carol DeMady Stewart was shot in the head by her husband and he blamed a non-existent black man in a tracksuit from Mission Hill.

Anngelle Wood: 19:17

I trust you watch the HBO Max series Murder in Boston, please do, because it's all true. Murder in Boston. Please do, because it's all true. O'brien calls police from the store instead of going to the police station where his grandfather was previously chief of police. Hmm, fishy. I have talked about Midnight Convenience in Union Square before. It is the exact location where Charlene Rosemond who went missing in 2009, was discovered shot to death in her father's car in the lot behind the store Another unsolved case. That is very upsetting. We talked about Charlene in a live show I did with Emily Sweeney from the Boston Globe. I have an episode in the works about Charlene's unsolved murder. I also have a live show with Emily Sweeney coming up at Faces Brewing in Malden on June 20th. That will be on sale this week.

Anngelle Wood: 20:24

A few days after Janet's murder the cops closed in on Edward O'Brien Jr. There was the strange behavior that made him stand out, witness testimony and then the evidence Janet's kids had shared that O'Brien admitted to watching her undress through the windows and had asked her sons odd questions about their mom. What was done to her was savage, sadistic. So many wounds. The attack was so violent it broke one of her ribs. I won't get into more of the details about what was done to her, so violent it broke one of her ribs. I won't get into more of the details about what was done to her, but it was horrible.

Anngelle Wood: 21:13

Once he was arrested there was much contention over how he would be charged as a juvenile or as an adult. There was a long process of heartache and transfer hearings. The families had to wait and the case grew more and more emotionally. Charged Supporters of the O'Brien family felt there was no possible way he could have done it and that the district attorney, thomas Riley, was hell-bent on railroading this kid.

Anngelle Wood: 21:46

The grandson of a Somerville police chief, riley, in an unprecedented step for a DA, tried the case himself, telling writer Michael Blanding for a piece for Boston Magazine in 2006,. I've seen all levels of violence and this was off the charts. The article goes on to say about the O'Brien case. The brutality of the crime convinced him that O'Brien was unnaturally violent and would kill again if he went through the juvenile system, only to be released a few years later. He took the unprecedented step of trying the case himself, leading angry residents to accuse him of using the boy's trial for his own political ends. When the court turned down his request to try O'Brien as an adult, riley appealed the decision all the way to the state Supreme Judicial Court. Then, an hour upon hour of televised testimony yep, it was covered on court TV. Da Riley laid out his case until a jury and a shocked public gradually conceded that the teenager was guilty of first-degree murder.

Anngelle Wood: 23:09

When O'Brien was sentenced to life, the case became a landmark in juvenile crime, inspiring legislation that required juveniles 14 and older charged with murder in Massachusetts to be tried as adults. It also made Riley's career. Detractors accused him of grandstanding before the TV cameras and turning the case into a political issue. He could ride into higher office. The most vocal was O'Brien's father, who lunged at Riley in the courtroom when the verdict was read, then raked him over the afterwards saying his political career was on the line and that's all he cares about. This Boston Magazine piece is linked at CrimeOfTheTruestKindcom. In 1998, tom Riley was elected Attorney General. In 2006, he made a run for governor but lost to Deval Patrick.

Anngelle Wood: 24:12

Now, given the 2013 ruling where juveniles convicted of murder with a mandatory life sentence can be eligible for parole, edward O'Brien Jr's parole hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, june 25, 2024 in Natick. Please sign and share the Justice for Janet Downing petition. Write to the parole board. Support her family. In an excerpt from that 2014 legislative testimony where the families testified asking that lifers not be considered for parole after only 15 years, erin Downing, janet's daughter, said this in part Even after all these years, my sorrow, anger and loss remain on the surface.

Anngelle Wood: 25:01

When you lose someone at the violent hands of another, you never heal from that. It's a wound that remains open forever, causing you pain for the rest of your life. I strongly believe that 15 years is not an adequate amount of time served before being eligible for parole Because, as I stated before, we're talking about premeditated, heinous crimes. Victims and their families should take priority over killers. Why is this happening? Well, in 2023, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that life without the chance of parole for juveniles would end retroactively. The name Gregory Diacchenko plays a major role here. I'll come back to that.

Anngelle Wood: 25:55

The SJC ruling came on the heels of the US Supreme Court's decision in Miller v Alabama. The court held that the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution there are more than two, thank you. Prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment forbids the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for juvenile killers. Children are constitutionally different from adults for sentencing purposes. Well, I guess they are now. It is a significant event and struck down mandatory life or death in prison sentences for children, as defined as those under 18 at the time of their crimes. I found the age matrix that provides information on each state's age of majority and the age at which a juvenile can be prosecuted as an adult the majority of states where a juvenile case can be transferred to adult court is 14. There are several asterisks on various states for degree of offense. What precipitated this? On June 25, 2012, the US Supreme Court issued the ruling in Miller v Alabama and its companion case, jackson v Hobbs, holding that mandatory life without parole sentencing for all children 17 or younger convicted of homicide are unconstitutional. Two juveniles named in the cases, evan Miller and Control Jackson Control with a K, were sentenced to life in prison without parole at 14. The SCOTUS decision would entitle them to new sentencing hearings, a ruling that would affect hundreds of inmates. The Miller and Miller v Alabama.

Anngelle Wood: 27:47

In July 2003, a 14-year-old boy named Evan Miller beat a man with a baseball bat and set his trailer on fire. This happened in the small town of about 100 people called Five Points, alabama. It's close to the Georgia state line and about one hour from Talladega Speedway. I told you I like to know everything from Talladega Speedway. I told you I like to know everything.

Anngelle Wood: 28:19

Evan Miller and Colby Smith, who was 16 at the time, went to the trailer of a neighbor in the country living trailer park. That neighbor, 52-year-old Cole Cannon, had only lived there for a few weeks. There was a problem with his phone line, so he came to the Millers to use theirs. That's when Miller and Smith snuck into his trailer and stole baseball cards from his collection he had amassed as a baseball card shop owner. Throughout the night the two would take several trips back and forth from Cole's mobile home to the Millers.

Anngelle Wood: 28:49

The versions of who did what differ. They did hit him with fists and they did beat Cannon with a bat and stole his wallet and $350. During the trial testimony we heard how Evan Miller placed a sheet over Cole's head and said Cole, I am God and I come to take your life. They set his trailer on fire, left him inside incapacitated and pleading for help. There were a few obvious points of origin for the fire. Large amounts of blood saturated the walls and the furniture. Colby Smith pleaded guilty and was convicted of felony murder and is serving a life with a possibility of parole at the state prison in Clio, alabama. Miller, who faced an all-female jury, was convicted of capital murder, arson and capital murder robbery.

Anngelle Wood: 29:56

In 2005, the US Supreme Court had ruled that juvenile killers cannot get a death sentence in a decision called Roper v Simmons. The execution of people under 18 at the time of their crimes violates the federal constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. That left many states who still had the death penalty that is, half who have it with new asterisked, with only one option for sentencing juveniles convicted of capital murder Life with no chance at parole, because that sentence was, in essence, automatic or mandatory for juveniles convicted of capital murder. There was no need for a sentencing hearing to reveal any mitigating factors such as age and maturity, his shitty family abuses he may have suffered, his drug use at a young age, his mental health and a litany of personality disorders that did not keep him from getting the harshest sentence the court could hand down. That 2012 ruling made Evan Miller entitled to a new sentencing hearing and to drag Cole Cannon's family through hell one more time In 2021, evan Miller was re -sentenced. According to the new ruling, his sentence of life in prison without parole stands. Cole Cannon's daughter said it is re-victimization every time my family has to relive or deal with the court matters relating to the murder of my father, cole Cannon. Not only have we had to deal with the horrific murder at the hands of Miller, but Equal Justice Initiative, the organization that fought the juvenile life for sentencing, has contributed to this as well.

Anngelle Wood: 31:46

Contrell Jackson from the companion case. Jackson v Hobbs was barely 14 on the evening of November 8, 1999, when he, his cousin Travis Booker, 14, and his friend 15-year-old Derek Xavier Shields, were walking in Blythville, arkansas, when the boys brought up robbing the Movie Magic video store. Shields had a sawed-off shotgun stuffed up the sleeve of his coat. When they got to the store, shields and Booker went inside. Jackson chose to stay outside. Shields approached the clerk. Lori Troop pulled out the shotgun and demanded that she give up the money. Troop told him she didn't have any money, but he continued to demand it, and each time she refused Jackson went inside to see what was going on, a decision that he would pay dearly for At trial. There was a dispute as to whether Jackson warned Lori Troop when he entered the store that we ain't playing, or if he said to the older boys I thought you all was playing. Laurie Troop threatened to call the police and Derek Shields shot her in the face, killing her With no money. The three boys ran to Jackson's house. Later on Jackson joked with classmates that he was involved in the movie magic murder. There were no witnesses to the attempted robbery and shooting, and it was Laurie Troop's nine-year-old son and her mother, who found her laying behind the counter, controlled Jackson was charged as an adult and convicted of capital murder. Was charged as an adult and convicted of capital murder with that automatic mandatory life without parole sentence. After the ruling, jackson was granted resentencing, in which his age and involvement was taken into account. He was resentenced to 20 years imprisonment and released on parole in 2017, where he is now an author, an activist, an advocate, a public speaker and a new father to twin boys.

Anngelle Wood: 34:01

The name synonymous with the mass SJC ruling is Gregory Diachenko, who, at 17, was convicted of first-degree murder. Diachenko's claim was a man picked him up in Copley Square in Boston and wanted to pay him for some sex stuff. But that man, thomas Worf, a 55-year-old divorced dad of four boys, was a truck driver who lived in Brockton and not afforded the luxury of defending himself. Is it possible? Sure?

Anngelle Wood: 34:34

On that evening, may 9th 1981, diachenko got into that car, where they made the short drive from Copley, near the Boston Public Library, down Boylston to Kenmore Square. Kenmore Square is where the big Sitco sign is and Fenway Park is a block away. Thomas Wharf pulled into an alley off Beacon Street, turned off the ignition of his red Cadillac, eldorado. Diachenko yelled for him to give him his money and stabbed him nine times with a buck knife. Diachenko got out and ran. He would later claim he had been hanging around drinking, smoking, spray painting a wall with a can of spray paint he had stolen and decided he was going to rob someone. He did and got caught within a week based on some testimony of the person who lived above the alley, heard the attack going down and called the police. Down and called the police. Another witness who had encountered Diachenko at the Brookline Village subway stop on the night of the murder called police to report. He had spoken to a teenage kid named Greg who had bloody hands and who had said he'd gone into a fight and stabbed someone. There was a fair amount of evidence in that Cadillac too. A jury convicted Diachenko of murder in the first degree on theories of deliberate premeditation, extreme atrocity or cruelty and felony murder, armed robbery. He was sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Anngelle Wood: 36:09

After the 2013 ruling, diachenko had a chance at release, which he got in 2015. He sat before the parole board and told them all the things he would do upon release he would stay sober, he would go to AA. He would continue his path into Buddhism, work as a plumber, as he had been while in prison. Keep on the straight and narrow. But in 2018, his parole was revoked. His parole officer paid a visit and caught a whiff of Diachenko who had been doing some heavy drinking. The night before he blew twice the legal limit on a breathalyzer. He admitted he had been drinking, but it also swished some mouthwash around and was wondering what part that played. Dude, I'm going to say that you were shitballs drunk Twice the legal limit. He wasn't working as a plumber and he had been seen at a protest about the quality of drinking water outside the prison. He had served more than 30 years inside. He was not supposed to be there. In 2020, he went before the parole board again to explain what happened that brought him back to prison Spoiler not doing anything he said he'd do if released, parole denied.

Anngelle Wood: 37:26

I poured through the parole board site looking for an update. As far as I can tell, gregory Diachenko is back in prison to stay. Not a ringing endorsement for the man who succeeded in upending the system as a juvenile lifer Not yet rehabilitated. That is exactly what juvenile lifer Rod Matthews got on his prison dance card Four times In 2001, 2007, 2016, and again in 2022. Rod Matthews was the first juvenile in the Commonwealth to be tried as an adult, though he was convicted of second-degree murder, which does come with the possibility of parole. I do not know under what circumstances the jury felt what he did was worthy of second degree and not first.

Anngelle Wood: 38:17

He murdered a 14-year-old boy who had only moved to town a few months earlier, sean Ouellette, a sweet, unassuming, non-discerning new arrival to the town of Canton. I mean at 14,. Were any of us discerning? I wasn't. I did a two-part episode on what happened to Sean, episode 15 and 16. And I said this 14-year-old high school freshman, sean Ouellette, was a jovial kid. He loved things like his mom's fresh baked cookies, thanksgiving dinner, shooting off fireworks, sports and fishing. He was a good-natured and adventurous kid. Back then we might call him pudgy, but he was also tall, 5'11". His mom says in the ID documentary episode Dead of Winter, the Empty Chair, his family, single mom Jean and sister Yvonne, had relocated to an apartment on Brayton Circle in Canton. That summer They'd moved from Hull.

Anngelle Wood: 39:15

It was a beach town on a peninsula off the southern edge of Boston Harbor, also small, with half the population of Canton of about 10,000 people. It's the home of Nantasket Beach and Paragon Park with its Bermuda Triangle water ride. That's funny. Paragon Park operated during the same time. Most of us kids at this age were worried about a couple of things Disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle, sinking in quicksand and probably Jaws coming up through the toilet bowl and biting us All unwarranted fears. We now know. But Paragon Park was pretty badass with an array of rides like the Tilt-A-Whirl, the Carousel, the Scrambler, the Crazy Teacups that is funny and also now my new band name. Paragon Park had a wooden roller coaster. They called it the Giant Coaster. I know not a very cool name but it was at the time the highest roller coaster in the world. That was until Revere Beach rolled in the Cyclone at 100 feet and a much cooler name. Paragon Park's Wooden Giants is still in business, known now as the Wild One at Six Flags America in Maryland.

Anngelle Wood: 40:33

Sean was having a little trouble as the new kid at school. Sometimes it's hard to break in. He missed his friends in Hull and if I lived in a town with Paragon Park I'd miss it too. He was hoping to make some pals with the locals. We know friends can be cruel and mean, especially to the new kid, and for any of us who was the new kid in a new town and a new school, it's particularly stressful. The bullies come out in force and when we were little kids in school in the 80s, there was no protection from bullying, unless another kid spoke up. It was fair game and thank the Lord we didn't have Facebook or Snapchat or Instagram or TikTok. Anyone over the age of 35 will tell you that and I clearly am that Yvonne, who was 13 at the time, had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair. Sean would often be seen behind her, willing her to school at the Massachusetts Hospital for Handicapped Children in Canton, now known as Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children. It was a major reason maybe not the only reason for the family's move from Hull to Canton, but it was for Yvonne to get greater support at the children's hospital. It's a decision his mom made for the care of her daughter and surely something she thought a lot about after Sean was killed. Sean's mom, jean, is a warrior and I am in no way passing judgment on her. She's not at fault at all.

Anngelle Wood: 42:11

Thursday November 20th 1986. A regular day, a late November, snowstorm moved into New England dropping several inches of snow, canceling school. The day before that Thursday, sean had gotten up and gone to school like most other days. His mom, jean, was an EMT with a local ambulance company and reacted like all mothers do, trying to get their teenager out of the house in the morning. Do what you need to do, get to the bus on time. She saw him at the door. They looked at each other, no words were exchanged. Little did she know at the time it would be the last time Rod Matthews admitted to killing Sean. There was no question. But his defense was that he was mentally ill. He is something and the parole board has not found him rehabilitated. Rod Matthews is now 52 years old and on his fifth parole hearing on June 4th 2024 at 10 am. Please think of Sean's family. You absolutely can write to the parole board, massachusetts Parole Board, 12 Mercer Road, natick, massachusetts, 01760.

Anngelle Wood: 43:32

I did two back-to-back episodes about Sean Ouellette's case episodes 15 and 16, and I have made contact with a family member of Sean Ouellette and, if they're comfortable, we'll talk about it. How much is enough? Have these families proven themselves enough? Have they cried enough? Have they missed their daughter, their brother, their sister or their friend enough. I was present for the parole hearing of Beth Brody's killer, because their sentence is life. There is no court in existence that would be able to re-hear their case, re-sentence them, provide any mercy. They don't get set free from the grief, that dull pain that does not go away. Perhaps it's a bit less sharp of an ache, as it was for the first 30 years after Beth was killed Probably not. The family did not know how to navigate, being the family of a murdered girl. There's no playbook in existence for such things. No rules are written about how a family gets to grieve for such a loss. Rules are written about how their killers were going to prison for their entire lives. But now those rules have changed.

Anngelle Wood: 44:59

Beth Brody I have talked about her many times. It's crime of a hometown kind. She lived on my school bus route from the monument across from the Congregational Church where the old country store was. Anybody from Groveland back in the day will remember what I'm talking about From King Street down Main Street all the way to Pentucket on the West Newbury line back down through town to School Street where I went to Bagnell School. I moved away from Groveland and I didn't get to go to Pentucket. I wish I had. But I never forgot about Beth's story from the moment that I heard about it. When I talk about her case people tell me all kinds of things, like Beth's mom was their bus driver.

Anngelle Wood: 45:50

Groveland is a town where everyone tends to know everyone, where everyone tends to know everyone. I've talked about it being pretty small. In November 1992, beth was barely 15 years old and two months into her sophomore year at Pawntucket she was getting used to her new braces cheering at Sagem games with her big sister, going to the mall which, when you live in Groveland, is a trip to Rockingham. In Salem, new Hampshire, I guess maybe there's Liberty Tree in Danvers or Danvis, as I thought the town was called. Well into my teens, methuen Mall was still a mall then. I think it's more of a swanky plaza. Now it's got a Yankee candle store.

Anngelle Wood: 46:32

Beth knew her killer. He was a boy from school. He was a year older and I don't know much about his life, but he had lived in Groveland for how long, I'm not sure and reportedly a good student. They had mutual friends, they were friendly and they had spent some time together time together, but they were not boyfriends and girlfriends, and when you're 15,. Romantic love isn't a thing. His feelings were something else entirely. I will share the words of Beth's older sister, dawn. The two were very close and Beth's loss was particularly difficult for her. She was the keynote speaker at a joint domestic violence roundtable hosted by former Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and held at the Peabody City Hall. Here is a portion of her speech. You can read it in full at justiceforbethbrodycom.

Anngelle Wood: 47:33

Beth's killer was a classmate of mine. He no longer attended the same school that Beth and I did. He had moved a few months before. They had gone on a few dates over the summer. He wanted to be Beth's boyfriend and she was not interested. Beth was a very trusting person, but she was also a good judge of character. Instead of accepting the fact that she wanted to remain just friends, he premeditated her murder. He brought an aluminum baseball bat to our neighbor's home, convinced the neighbor to bring Beth to him, threatened to kill her and asked are you scared yet? And just before striking her he said I always wanted to be a baseball player. He hit her with such force that he killed her in two strikes. There was no intention of just leaving her hurt and then he ran away. He was depressed that he had moved from Groveland, where all of his friends were, to Peabody, a much larger town 20 miles away.

Anngelle Wood: 48:39

It is possible that the day before Beth's murder, when the three of them Beth Baldwin and that neighbor Skye had gone to Rockingham Mall and that he was thinking about what he could do to get Beth or get back at Beth, get back at Beth. That small detail I only learned at the parole hearing. I was not aware that they had spent time together the day before Beth got killed. The next day he put an aluminum baseball bat in the trunk of his car with the plan of convincing that friend, who lived 100 yards away from Beth, to get her to leave the safety of her home. Having no control over the situation with Beth and his deluded view of a non-existent romantic relationship angered him, and his plan was always to inject fear and control over her in those minutes before he ultimately killed her. In the Boston Globe's reporting of the first day of the murder trial, the defense attorney, hugh Sampson, said two things that stuck with me. Baldwin looked at Beth as a savior for his hopeless life, he put her on a pedestal, his view of intimate relationships is distorted and that he incorporated his father's notion that all women are either all good or all bad, may I add, and should be controlled and do what I say when I say it Even at 16, we make broken boys. He was charged as an adult for the planning and the brutality of his crimes.

Anngelle Wood: 50:24

On April 4, 1994, an Essex County Superior Court jury found Richard C Baldwin guilty of first-degree murder in the beating death of his 15-year-old former schoolmate, beth Ann Brody. He had planned this, an attempt that he managed to succeed at, and what I mean by that? Not to celebrate his actions, oh no, quite the opposite. This kid, now a man, took over her ability to make any decision for her own future, for her own person. He removed her agency. The audacity of someone in this case a boy, doing this to a girl. It is infuriating.

Anngelle Wood: 51:08

On Thursday, may 16, 2024, beth's killer got an unlimited amount of time to blather in the presence of a six-person parole board his attorney, beth's parents, her two sisters, her brother's family, many relatives and supporters and advocates, including members of Amy Carnevale's family, colleen Ritzer's family and Janet Downing's family. They are part of a club no one signs up for. Please keep them in your thoughts, witnessing this man, disheveled, unprepared, as he talked about murdering a girl and blaming Xanax and alcohol at every turn. This boy, now a man, has had 10 years to prepare for his parole hearing and he did not do a thing. He initiated a parole hearing in 2019, but in the very final moments canceled. This is all a game for him. Thank you to Sabrina of the Justice for Beth Brody team for the notes taken at the hearing.

Anngelle Wood: 52:10

His testimony is rife with deluded thinking. We have the court records to disprove all of it that he and Beth dated. They were not a couple. Beth did not want to pursue anything past the couple of times that they had hung out together. She was okay with a friendship. He said he acted alone and there was no one else involved in the planning. We know this.

Anngelle Wood: 52:33

His claims that taking Xanax and drinking alcohol prior to the incident he never used the word murder one time, just the events, the incident, what happened? He did take Xanax and ibuprofen and drank alcohol after he ran away from what he'd done to Beth and drove to Pentucket their school that was right down the street to let the drugs take effect and die. But he changed his mind and went inside the school for help from a teacher and the principal, telling them he had done something bad. When asked, he said that he had killed Beth Brody. When questioned by members of the parole board, he often paused to think of what to say. One board member pointed out the concern over violent behavior and vengeance leading up to Beth's murder, drawing attention to the history of violent tendencies and impulse control issues prior to the day he carried out the plan to lure Beth. The inmate spoke of his character and how he's not like that, but the record speaks for itself.

Anngelle Wood: 53:43

A member of the parole board spoke of several incidences where he wasn't on Xanax and alcohol, as he blamed for his murderous behavior in 1992. Let's see the short list A 1999 attempted murder of another in 1992. Let's see the short list A 1999 attempted murder of another inmate. He tried to strangle with a towel and thought he'd killed them. When he saw that person was still breathing, he strangled them again, slamming their head into the ground. He received five additional years to his sentence as a result. There was a violent altercation in 2008 with a corrections officer stomping on the officer when he was on the ground. At least two fights with staff in 2020. In 2021, an incident of threatening staff members at the prison In 2022, an incident of violence where he claimed he was attacked and didn't fight back and that he pled guilty because if he didn't, they'd get him for something else worse.

Anngelle Wood: 54:40

A board member flips through a stack of disciplinary reports focusing on an incident where a nurse is dispensing medication and, as they walk by his cell, he asks her her name. She doesn't answer, to which he responds you're a fucking cunt. Go fuck yourself. You must be going through a midlife crisis. That is a strong indication of how he views women. When asked how he controls his angry impulses, the inmate told the board you have a bad understanding of me and that he did these things because he had no hope in getting out and others forcing him into bad situations. But if we go back and look at that timeline, most of those offenses were after the ruling To, where juvenile lifers had a shot at parole. Who's kidding who here? In all, 174 disciplinary reports, 52 attempts at suicide, consuming illegal drugs and abusing prescriptions like Welbutrin that he crushed and snorted that was a new one for me. I guess it's a thing I don't know.

Anngelle Wood: 55:46

When questioned about how he has prepared for parole, he has attended five programs in 32 years in prison, four since his eligibility for parole became a possibility. When asked what he took from those programs, he had no answer other than he showed up. He's taken no substance abuse programs, no domestic violence programs. He claims to have mental illness, borderline personality disorder, with no evaluations in his record for decades. When asked why he is seeking parole now, he spoke of a heart condition that reportedly killed his father and his grandfather at 52. He says he'll die soon but wants the time he has left to be with his family and he has no official diagnosis. By the way, if he could take back one action, it would be not to have left his house on that day of Beth's murder. It wasn't taking back killing Beth or causing her family and his so much pain. He went so far as blaming Beth for going back after he told her he wasn't done and ordered her back inside the house. Yes, we all wish she had run from you, but you and you alone are responsible and, like the attorney representing him said, I don't expect you to grant parole. He is what? 48 now If there is something to that heart condition, tiktok, motherfucker, read the full report at justiceforbethbrodycom. Thank you for listening.

Anngelle Wood: 57:40

Sean Ouellette's killer goes before the parole board for the fifth time on June 4th 2024. Janet Downing's killer goes before the parole board for the first time on June 25th 2024. Beth Brody's family awaits the decision of the parole board. It could come in weeks or many months. The family of Amy Carnevale await the decision of the parole board. It could come in weeks or many, many months. In weeks or many, many months. At any time. You can write the Massachusetts Parole Board about any one of these inmates and ask the parole board not to release them from prison. Send your letters Massachusetts Parole Board, 12 Mercer Road, natick, massachusetts, 01760. Thank you for listening.

Anngelle Wood: 58:43

My name is Angel Wood. This is Crime of the Truest Kind Online everywhere. Follow at Crime of the Truest Kind. Next live show will be Thursday, june 20th at Faces in Malden. Emily Sweeney of the Boston Globe in the Boston Globe's Cold Case Files will join me. Thank you very much to all the Patreon patrons. Four tiers starting at just $1. I have more minis. Special thanks to the superstar EPs Lisa McColgan and Rhiannon. I must be going now. Lock your goddamn doors, we'll be right back. We'll see you next time.