Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Hidden Walls - The Horrific True Crimes of Daniel LaPlante Part 1

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Hidden Walls - The Horrific True Crimes of Daniel LaPlante Part 1 · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: When unusual movements began to occur within the Bowen family's residence,
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  Frank Bowen was quick to dismiss his daughter's concerns that
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  an external force was behind the bizarre events. He speculated
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  that perhaps his daughters had been influenced by an excess
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  of horror films. However, on December eighth, nineteen eighty six,
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  when Frank Bowen and his daughters found themselves held captive
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  in their own home, he was compelled to acknowledge the
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  unsettling truth that an intruder had been secretly residing with
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  them all along. This intruder, later recognized as Daniel la Plant,
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  would ultimately commit the heinous act of murdering the pregnant
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  Priscilla Gustavson along with her children, seven year old Abigail
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  and five year old William. Who is Daniel la Plant.
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  La Plant born in nineteen seventy, spent his childhood on
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  Elm Street in Townsend, Massachusetts, a quaint town located near Boston.
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  Even in his early years, he was received as an
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  unusual child, long before he instigated fear in the Bowen
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  family and committed the murders of the Gustafson family. Classmates
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  and neighbours characterized him as antisocial and aggressive. In an
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  interview with The Boston Globe, he was never particularly sociable.
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  He avoided parties and rarely engaged in conversation, recalled classmate
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  Patrick McGuigan in December nineteen eighty seven. La Plant terrorized
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  the Bowen family. During his adolescence, la Plant faced multiple
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  arrests for unlawfully entering the residences of his neighbours. He
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  Pilford jewelry, cash, and various personal items, which led to
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  a tarnished reputation within the community. The nature of his
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  offenses escalated when he was apprehended for breaking and entering
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  into the Bowen family's home on December eighth. For several weeks,
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  Frank Bowen's daughters, Tina and Karen reported to him that
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  items were out of place and television channels had been
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  altered during their absence. Frank initially attributed these disturbances to
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  playful antics between the girls. However, Frank's suspicions were confirmed
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  when he, along with the girls and their friend Kathleen Knapp,
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  discovered evidence of Laplant's presence in their home. After noticing
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  that someone had used their bathroom, as detailed in a
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  report by Rhett Lieutenant Thomas Lane, who was involved in
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  the investigation. Upon searching the premises, Frank ultimately located Laplant,
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  concealed in a closet adorned in a furry jacket and
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  face paint. Armed with a hatchet and a steel wrench,
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  Laplant menacingly directed the group into a nearby bedroom. Tina,
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  who had previously been in a brief relationship with Laplant,
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  heroically escaped by climbing out of a window and seeking
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  assistance from a neighbour. According to The Celtic Sentinel, when
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  law enforcement arrived, they discovered that Laplant had vanished without
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  a trace, leaving the Bowen family in fear and prompting
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  them to find refuge in a nearby hotel. On December tenth,
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  when Frank returned to the residence to collect his belongings,
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  he noticed an individual in the window as he neared
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  the entrance. As reported by The Celtic Sentinel, Officer Stephen
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  Bezenson arrived at the location where a threatening message had
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  been left for the Bowens. When I opened the door,
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  I observed a knife embedded in the wall on the
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  right side. It was piercing a family photograph with the
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  words I'm still here, come find me scrawled in marker.
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  That sent chills down my spine. Bezenson recounted to Lane,
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  on another wall, I encountered a different picture with the
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  message I'm going to kill you all, also punctured by
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  a knife. Chief David Young and Sergeant Jim Scott arrived
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  at the residence shortly thereafter, at which point they discovered
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  that Laplant was concealed behind a wall in the bathroom.
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  Bezenson recounted, I drew my firearm and announced I have
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  the suspect right here. However, he remained motionless. I instructed
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  him show me your hands, or I will paint the
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  wall with your brains. Laplant was later apprehended and detained
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  in a juvenile facility until October nineteen eighty seven, when
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  his mother, Eleanor Moore re mortgaged their home to secure
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  the ten thousand dollar bail. As reported by The Boston Globe,
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  the brutal slaying of Priscilla Gustafson and her children On
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  November sixteenth, nineteen eighty seven, shortly after being released on bail,
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  seventeen year old Laplant unlawfully entered the residence of Andrew
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  and Priscilla Gustafson, a young couple who had relocated to
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  Townshend five years earlier. Court documents indicate that he took
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  several items from their home, including a cordless telephone and
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  a cable box. In the weeks that followed, la Plant
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  continued to commit thefts in the surrounding area. However, his
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  criminal activities escalated to violence on December first, when he
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  returned to the Gustafson residents and tragically took the lives
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  of Priscilla, aged thirty three, along with her two children, Abigail,
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  age seven, and William, aged five. Priscilla was last observed
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  alive at approximately one p m. When she picked up
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  William from a babysitter. Upon returning to her residence, it
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  was noted in court documents that Laplant had unlawfully entered
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  the home for the second time.