Rotten Mango - #239: The Whole High School Covered For A Killer For 20 Years- Case of Melanie Paquette

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

The 20 year high school reunion was a big deal for these friends. They had all grown up, started their own families, but one thing has always united them. Their oath of silence. Their oath of protection. Everyone sat down at their seats but their smiles quickly faded once they saw the empty chair next to them. They were reminded again of their friend who was not with them. What happened? Had they died? Had they moved abroad? No. They were in jail - for murder. The friends covered for them for over 20 years. Why? Because the victim deserved it. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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in all states or situations prices vary based on how you buy. Betabing Betaboo Welcome to this week's main episode of Rotten Mangle. I'm your host Stephanie Sue. The 20 year high school reunion was a big deal for these friends. They had all grown up, spread their wings, gone in separate directions, but one thing has always united them. An oath of silence, a pact that they made when they were 17 years old and they still haven't

broken it yet, they're like what, 37 years old now? Twenty years ago? Yes, 20 years ago. Everyone sat down smiling, chatting, laughing. For almost a second, it felt carefree almost until they glanced to their right and they saw the empty chair. They were saving a seat for someone who would never show up today, and they were reminded yet again over their shared secret. I know what you're thinking.

Did the friend move abroad? Maybe they died young? What happened to the friend? If you weren't a high school friend of theirs, maybe you're thinking. Did the friend move abroad? Maybe they died young. What happened to the friend? If you weren't a high school friend of theirs, maybe you might ask. Is that person that's supposed to be sitting there not coming? What's going on? Some of the friends might smile at you before saying,

Oh, no, no, no, they're not gonna make it. They're in jail for murder. Uh, what? How can you stand behind someone like that? How can you still support them? How can you be silent someone like that? How can you still support them? How can you be silent about murder? What kind of pact is this? If you asked them, the friends would respond.

If our friend hadn't done it, one of us probably would have. Another one would have said, I would have done the same thing if I had the balls too. Honestly, I think they went too easy on the victim. They should have tortured them first. They didn't deserve to die of painless death. I would have wanted them to suffer every single second of it. One thing was clear. The same sentiment was shared. The victim had it coming. They deserve to die. But who is the right to make that kind of call?

As always, full show notes are available at ronmingopodcast.com, but there is an incredible book on this case called Our Little Secret by Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Levoix. I mean, this book is so well written, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, even though I went into this book knowing completely what happened, who did what? I knew everything. And I think it captured the essence. Not I knew everything else and I knew everything, but you get what I'm saying.

There was no suspense in it for me, and yet I was sitting there just gripping my Kindle until my knuckles were white. I think it captured the essence of the case really well, which I imagined was such a hard task. There's so many differing and conflicting emotions. It's one of those cases where you're confused about what justice even really means. And I think this book answered the question pretty well while being able to empathize with all of the parties involved.

It's the best deep dive that you're gonna find on this case. And it's a really complicated case. This is one of those cases where I don't think we've ever talked about a story like this, where an entire town keeps a secret of a murder for 20 years. Everyone but the police, even the police, pretty much know who did it. But nobody, nobody's giving up the evidence

to put that person in jail. The police were bringing in the friends of the suspect, the old high school buddies, the ones that seemed to have taken that oath of silence. 20 years later, they all had families of their own, they had careers, they had moved away, aka, they had a lot to lose. You know, this is not the time. I mean, surely the police thought if they were ever going to talk, if they were ever going to confess,

it would be now. What kind of alliance would they still have to some promise that they made in high school, they had bigger things to worry about, like their own children? One by one, they sat with the detective. Some of them were helpful, some of them were genuine, some nervous, but mainly all evasive. So Eric, you've heard about the rumors of your old high school friend. What do you make of them? Eric shrugged at the cops.

He offered no answer. Look, I'm not the type to hang out with criminals, so I wouldn't know, bringing the next one. Ricky, did they ever tell you that they killed somebody? No, they didn't. Maybe they told a bunch of people at a party, but we were all drunk. I wouldn't know. Well, who were the people that told you that they told people at the party?

I wouldn't know. I don't remember. So, they never told you personally that they killed someone. I make no comment. All right, Craig, your turn. Your name keeps coming up. They say that you were best friends with them. Tell us what you know. I have nothing to say, officer. Sorry. Alright, Jordan, let's keep this easy. Tell us what you know. We'll stop bothering you.

Sorry. All I heard were rumors, and I mean, I don't really partake in rumors. Alright, Davis, you were close with the friend group. Tell us what happened. Just tell us. Sorry, all I know are rumors, and that would be hearsay, right? Another individual, the police interrogated, just stared out the window eyes blank. Look, there's a crow. He stared at the blackbird before continuing. That's a sign of death, you know. The detective was pissed.

He screamed at his subordinates after he interviewed all of the high school buddies, and he screamed. That's a sign of death, you know. The detective was pissed. He screamed at his subordinates after he interviewed all of the high school buddies and he screamed, nobody fucking knows nothing. The suspects won't talk, the families won't talk, the friends won't talk, the goddamn enemies won't talk, all they've heard are rumors. Why the fuck are they protecting them? This is the story. We're only one person.

Put their finger on the trigger and pulled it, and the whole town knew they did it, and they collectively decided to press their fingers to their lips in silence. But why? Victor Piquette was a kid when a tiny town in New Hampshire started losing its mind. I mean, genuinely losing its mind properly. They said it was the return of Jack the Ripper. You're like, what? Isn't he from the United Kingdom?

Well, maybe this is a copycat. Manchester's own Jack the Ripper. Recently, a young teenager named Pam Mason was walking to a babysitting job when she was kidnapped. She was 14 years old. The whole town worked together to put up flyers of her face everywhere, on every street corner, on every tree trunk, every pole, for a whole week the city asked, where is Pam?

And then a discovery was made. Her books and her gloves were found scattered in the woods. Okay, that's not looking good. On the eighth day of the tireless search, they found Pam's body, and she had been tied up, beaten horribly violated, raped, assaulted, stabbed, and shot to death. It's believed that whoever did this to her tortured her in ways unimaginable before they killed her. The whole city collectively lost their freaking minds.

I mean, rightfully so, who could do something like this? The cops kind of had a vague idea. Four years ago, another victim by the name of Sandra Valotti, an 18-year-old died in a similar way. She vanished while on her way home from swimming lessons. She was raped, stabbed, and shot by her kidnapper. Her body was also dumped in a snowbank. So maybe the same killer from four years ago struck again.

But that still doesn't answer who the hell the killer is. Everyone in town is talking about it. You couldn't go to a single establishment restaurant, pub, bar, bowling alley without people whispering about what happened to the two girls. If they were connected, if a serial killer was on the loose. Even Reena, Victor's mom, brought it up at home. One night during dinner, she told her husband, Hey honey, I think I know who didn't. Arthur didn't even look up from his plate.

She was talking nonsense obviously. I'm serious honey. The killer's mom told me. The fork clattered onto the dinner table. Reno, what in God's name are you talking about? I got a call from the killer's mom today. What? Who are you talking about? And why would they even call you? I'm not sure, but she knows that her son did it. I don't think she can bring herself to turn him in. I think she wants someone else to do it for her. Well, no! I mean, no! No! Why would she even tell you? You're not getting involved in that nonsense. Why would she tell you? Because she said that he killed one of the girls in our pig pen.

Side note, Victor's family were dairy farmers and they had this large property and in the back they had a pigstie, which is a pig housing area, a pig pen. Well, that's ridiculous. Rhino, I don't want you to get involved and I don't want our family to get involved. You just stay out of it. Arthur dropped the subject, but Reena kept getting calls from the alleged killer's mom. Finally she couldn't handle it anymore.

She had to tell the police with her without Arthur's support. Reena rushed to the police station, told them everything that she knew, and the next weekend. They came to the farm to talk to her, ask further questions. Arthur was livid. Reina sat there, confidently. She wanted justice to be served, it didn't matter what her husband thought. The killer is Edward Coolidge, I know it is. The bakery delivery driver?

His mother told me he didn't. He's 25 years old, married, he has a wife and a child, and he's known to have violent tendencies. He doesn't even have an alibi during the time of Pam's murder. You guys have to do something. This was during the weekend. The next Monday, life presumed as normal. Arthur got up to go to work early.

Before he left, he kissed his wife and told her, I want you to keep your nose out of this Pam Mason stuff, okay? Please. The whole town already knew they were involved. The police had stopped by a few days ago, and since then, they've already received a few threatening calls. They did not need this type of attention for their family.

They did not need this type of stress. They had six children to think about. Arthur begged his wife, please, let's just stay out of it now. Can we? She smiled and she nodded. That was the last time Arthur saw his wife and Victor saw his mother alive. Reena's other son woke up to find the house empty.

He started screaming her name. Mom? Mom! She always woke the kids up early to get things done around the house. She always had a list of chores prepped and ready for the minute that they opened their eyes. And now? The house is silent.

That's weird. He called his uncle who came over and the two start looking all over the property for Rina, and they checked to see if she was milking cows. Nope, she's not there. They finally went to the pigstie, the pig pet, where the girl had allegedly been murdered in. And there, there she was. The uncle threw the boy onto the ground.

No, turn away right now, don't look. And the boy kept crying, no mom, please no. Reena Piquette had been burned to death. Her entire body was blackened and sprawled out on the pig's die floor as if she was taken an app. 16-year-old Victor rushed home to see firefighters surrounding his family home. He rushed to comfort his little brother, but I mean, he's 16. He's a child.

He desperately needs comfort himself. But maybe being a kid gave him hope. He hoped that the police would get justice for their family, for their mother. But all they did was offer him a cigarette to smoke and a bunch of unfulfilled promises. Although the Pecate family firmly believed that Edward Coolidge, the man who killed two other girls prior, whose mother confessed to Rina that her son Edward was the killer, he was the one who killed Rina.

I mean, it's so obvious, right? I mean, he had to have. This came almost immediately after it was made well known that Rina went to the police with her allegation of him being the killer. Wait, so everybody in town knows that she went to the police? Yes. About this guy.

Yes. And now she's dead. So, are we investigating him? Oh, yeah. The whole town is incensed. I mean, they're pissed. They believe the police were so incompetent that you let a killer get away with one murder, four years later, they commit another murder, and now a third time, like, you have taken

a mother away from six of her kids. Look, if there's one thing that the police can't take in stride, it's being accused of not doing their job well. Even if they're not doing their job well. The police in DA's office came forward to spread the news. Their groundbreaking news was that Reena's death was not connected to Pam, because Reena wasn't murdered. Now the police said Reena committed suicide, suicide by self-immolation.

Yeah, why? Why is even crazier? They said Reena, a mother of six, a loving wife, a devout Catholic who does not believe in suicide, committed suicide by burning herself alive because she was depressed after the recent assassination of President Kennedy. Okay, look, that was a very devastating moment in history. But let's be real, that's not the reason she would commit suicide, that's just such a bizarre reason, I don't even know what to say. Now on top of that, suicide by self-imulation is incredibly rare. Not only that, it's often more committed by men than it is women, and those men are

more likely to have had some ties to fire. They work with fire, they're familiar with fire, typically the average person has an aversion against fire. And if they're trying to take their own lives, it's already a painful, scary process, they're not going to go out of their way to make it even harder for themselves. Regardless of that, Rina was a devout Catholic who didn't believe in suicide. She was terrified of fire and, there's more, there were no matches found near her. Nothing that could start a fire was found near her body.

She was also found in a peaceful laying down position, almost as if she was taking a nap. Firefighters who have seen the rare cases of suicide by self-immolation said, the victims' bodies usually will be contorted. Because in their last moments typically they are in immense pain. But she was lying down on her back as if she was already knocked down before she was set on fire. It didn't look like she was trying to fight the fire or she was in pain from the fire. Another odd thing to note there was Seaman found on her. Nobody tested to see who it belonged to. They didn't even ask Arthur, the husband, if they had had sex that morning before he

went to work. They just moved on, and the Peket family was left with no answers. Edward Coolidge was arrested. He was charged with two counts of murder for the murder of Pam Mason and Sandra Velotti. He was never charged for the murder of Reena Peket. Yeah, it's insane. Now this is the type of environment. This is the type of trauma that Victor Peket grew up in.

And as an adult, he tried to move on. He and his little brother opened up a welding business. But unlike his brother, I guess Victor never really settled down. He almost lived like a true bachelor, regardless of his age. He had the type of bathroom that only single men typically have, like the kind where you just wash the tips of your fingers because there's so much gunk everywhere, like on the faucets, on the sink. I mean, it was clear. Victor was not cleaning on his off days. Instead he would take up odd jobs here and there He was a bouncer at a very dangerous establishment. I mean it's safe to say that Victor had seen some things. He had done some things

And everything about what Victor was doing now felt so wrong, but also so right. Not once did they say that they should stop it. They just glanced at each other while she picked up the phone and she made the call. Victor's nodding at her, like do it. Hey honey, I just got off work and I know it's a little late, but I'm gonna head out to do some shopping real quick. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be home soon. Okay, love you. Shopping was code for what? Amanda. This is a fake name. Shopping was code for sleeping with Victor. She liked her husband. She always said she went shopping,

but instead she'd be at Victor's place having sex. I think both parties knew it. They just never set it out loud. Victor actually loved Amanda. This was like one of the first women in his life that he genuinely had feelings for. And he wasn't just saying that to get into a married woman's pants.

He begged her, please leave your husband marry me. I promise I'm gonna make you happy. He had every intention of fulfilling that promise. But Amanda thought, no way, my husband is stable. You're just a dude who's good and bad. That's about it. It was a while in bed with Amanda, that Victor gets a call from a close friend. Hello?

Harry, you gotta get over here. Your family members hurt. Harry, please. Now, Victor pulled up his pants and rushed over. He didn't think it was that serious. He even sat on the way out. He thought about what he was gonna do to Amanda when he got back. He never suspected.

I mean, who would suspect something like this? That your life was about to fall apart at the seams once more, due to one phone call. Who knew that he would be sitting in front of another loved one's house, with the bright flashing lights illuminating the place watching authorities carry out a loved one? He watched as a rookie cop. Officer Stephen Agrafio-Dist took pictures of every angle of the garage. Victor hated all cops, especially rookie cops. After everything that he went through

with his mother's unsolved murder, I mean, his distaste of the police was not surprising or unwarranted. But there was something about Officer Stephen that he took a liking to. Maybe it was the fact that Officer Stephen made it a point to walk over to Victor, shake his hand, and tell him how sorry he was for his loss. He sounded genuine. He

was treating Victor like a human. That was something. But Victor listened to the other detectives talking about the death of his loved one. And they all whispered, it's the first day of hunting season. It could have been a hunter. Yeah, but who hunts humans? It's all going to come together, okay? So Victor grows up when he's 16 years old, his mom is murdered. As an adult, in his 30s, another family member is murdered. And it's all gonna come together. But first I gotta tell you about high schooler Eric Windhurst. Eric Windhurst.

His life was very hard because his family was land rich instead of cash rich. I know, someone get this guy a tiny little violin. In high school, the difference mattered. The kids that were cash rich had fancy cars, fancy houses, but the windhers family, they just owned a bunch of land. They lived rather modestly. The only thing Eric could use for his social power were these two little cabins that his parents owned that were almost always empty.

He would throw parties there, he would be in charge of the invites, he would make it feel exclusive. That's what Eric did. Eric's mom Barbara was well known in town for how do I put it nicely. For being nuts, that's what they called her. They said she was cuckoo for cucko puffs, like absolutely crazy. She was the sole heir of the land barren, John Schachford Kimball.

Their land holdings went back as far as the 1800s. They owned bridges, ponds, lakes, farms. They owned a big chunk of New Hampshire and land. So are they very wealthy or what's going on? It's weird because the land itself... It seems like they're wealthy, but the mom doesn't want to sell the land ever. So they're not, you know. So they're not cash flowing? Yeah, they're wealthy, but the mom doesn't want to sell the land ever.

So they're not cash flowing. Yeah, they're not cash flowing at all. So anyway, Barbara Kimball went on to marry a man named John Windhurst. And she was already married once before. She was bringing in two daughters into this new marriage. John had three adult children already, so they weren't living in the house together in this blended family. But it was a lot of kids that they were bringing in.

And so they went on to create this like beautifully blended family. They had children of their own, a big big family. All you have to know though is that Eric Windhurst was the youngest and he always wanted to be like his half brother Trapper. Trapper comes from his dad's side from his first marriage and Trapper was ex-military. Eric looked up to him not because he dealt with guns and like did all the cool manly man stuff, but because Trapper was a stand up guy, that's what he was known for. Everyone says, hey, you need help on something? You can count on Trapper. He was a good person with good morals, and Eric wanted to grow up and be that. He

had a bit of a hero complex. That was this thing. He wanted to save people. And if we're being particular, he wanted to save Melanie. The truth is, there were others before Melanie, but it was too late to save them. So he bet his whole life on Melanie. Eric was in the bathroom when his best friend Matt confronted him. Are you fucking insane, Eric? Don't do it. What? Matt, I don't know what you're talking about, dude. I know what you're thinking, Eric, and I'm telling you don't fucking do it. This could ruin our lives, do not get that. I'm not gonna do it. Don't worry. Okay, promise me.

I mean, I'm scared for her too, Eric. Don't get me wrong, but we can't do something like that. Okay, okay, I hear you. I'm fucking serious, Eric. Don't. Eric smiled his signature to the grin. I swear, I won't. But he walked out with one thought. Every single adult in this girl's life had failed her.

Maybe it was time for a kid to step up. Denise Messier married the man she thought she was supposed to, one that made sets his name was Tom Benzo her parents liked him He was the right choice the boring choice. There were no sparks flying There was nothing that made her heart-pitter-patter the two had a daughter together Melanie, but Denise just couldn't do it Denise is like listen I love you and I love our daughter Melanie, but, I'm not into this marriage, I'm still young, I still have time to figure out my life. And she flung down divorce papers, decided to move from New Hampshire to Alaska. That's a dramatic move to get away from an ex-husband. Denise didn't even know anyone in Alaska. She just

wanted to start fresh. She wanted to go somewhere where nobody knew her, nobody knew anything that she had gone through. She was running from something, that's kind of the vibe. There was just something that she was terrified of, something that was trying to catch up to her. For a while things went well. She would bring baby Melanie back to New Hampshire to visit family, and on one of those trips, she ran into an old high school flame of hers. They were star cross lovers in high school. Denise's strict parents gave her one rule. Hey, you are forbidden from dating this Danny,

dude. Like, we don't know who this guy is, but you can't date the guy. They always thought that she could do better than him. Her family had, at the time, respectable curbures. Her dad was a police officer. Her brother was a military man later a commercial pilot and Danny Danny was Danny. He wasn't that impressive. I think the more you try to pull people apart the more that they're drawn to each other And that's exactly what happened running into each other again like 10 years after high school I mean it brought up memories it brought up these feelings and Denise was surprised to feel that there were still Intense sparks between the two of them, so she decides to go back to Alaska, pack up

her bags, move back to New Hampshire, and try again with Danny! And for a while, things were great, I mean beyond great. Danny felt like the one that got away, the one that Denise had been waiting for her entire life, the chemistry, the sparks, the sexual tension. I mean, it was all there. It's like a story out of one of those romance novels. They would go on to have two daughters together. Danny would adopt Melanie, and you know, maybe you really just don't know someone

when they're in high school. Maybe they changed drastically, and you still see them as how they were when they were 17. Danny would get violent with Denise. He was very possessive, very aggressive. Anytime Denise threatened divorce, he would get aggressive and trying to save his family. That's how he saw it.

He didn't want his family to fall apart. He couldn't have that. He would cry, and if Denise still wouldn't listen, he would scream at her, throw her around the couch and start strangling her. He threatened to kill all the kids and then Denise and then himself. He said he couldn't live without his family and she better not try and take the family away from him. Many times Denise would flee to her mom's house with the kids, where she was met with disapproving

stairs. Their expressions did all the talking. We told you so. Denise filed for divorce and got a restraining order against Danny. He lost his mind at that. He chased her around town threatening to kill her and that led to him being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. It just seemed, it seemed like a lot, but maybe it went okay because right after he was released, the judge granted him visitation rights. And for a few months, every single weekend, Danny would visit the girls at Denise's apartment. Till one day, he got to the apartment, and the whole place was empty. They had run away.

Danny would never see Denise or their two daughters ever again. Well, there are three daughters if you count adopted daughter Melanie. That was one of Melanie's first prominent memories. Of her mother packing their bags in the middle of the night, trying to make the whole thing seem like a fun game for everyone to participate in. The grab only your favorite toys and don't tell anyone we're leaving game. She remembered her mom bending down in whispering, we're going on a trip, okay? Some place far away from daddy but it has to be a secret you can't tell anyone.

Where are we going mommy? Back to Alaska. It'll be better there. Things were not better in Alaska. Their financial state was catastrophic. They had no money. Denise had a hard time finding a job that let her accommodate taking care of three kids, and Melanie became suicidal. Denise didn't know what to do. For the next one and a half years, Denise tried to talk to Melanie, trying to understand

what the problem was. Do you not want to be in Alaska? What is it? Why are you so depressed? It doesn't make sense. Melanie confessed that while Denise was very busy in her toxic abusive relationship, Melanie had been raped before leaving New Hampshire multiple times. How old was she then? She was nine when the rape started and it started slowly. The rapist was someone close to the family. The rapist tried to insert themselves as an authority figure in Melanie's life.

They told her that they needed to teach her about the birds and the bees, teach her about sex. The talks made her very uncomfortable, but it groomed her to being open to further discussion. Soon the rapist said he wanted to show her visually how it worked. He would show her his penis. Eventually he told her he wanted to show her how grown women were supposed to feel, and he started touching her. And then he started demanding that she join him in the shower. He was slow with his grooming, he was slow with his assaults. Once Melanie realized what was happening, it was too late. The rapists became frequent, he would terrify her so much that she could never speak about the abuse. There was so much that happened to her, it would be a disservice to even say this is a summary

of what took place. He would sneak into her bedroom, rearrange the furniture, write on the walls, make her feel like she was losing her mind, like he was everywhere all the time, like he was this omnipresent force. He would hide in the dark and jump out to scare her. He once made her hang from a pull-up bar holding a torch to her, threatening to burn her if she ever let go. He forced her to watch as he burned mice alive with that very torch.

She cried when he told her that he would do that to her, or worse, to everyone that she loved. She watched in horror as the rapist killed her cat, and the louder she cried, the more he would laugh. He would put a pistol up to her head and threaten to kill her. Sometimes he pulled the trigger. It was never loaded, but Melanie never knew that. Each time it was just a reminder that this was their little secret. Once Denise found out, I mean, her life shattered. She was so occupied in her own toxic relationship she didn't know what was going on with Melanie.

She felt like she had failed as a mother. She felt like she could never forgive herself. But at the same time, life isn't fair. Just because Denise knows this about her daughter doesn't mean that suddenly life will reward her with resources, tools, and the ability to provide for Melanie. A life that's going to promote healing and growth is not just going to be handed down to them. Denise felt like the only way Melanie would have a chance was for someone more capable

to raise Melanie. Melanie was sent back to New Hampshire to live with her uncle and aunt. They already had a child, a toddler, but they were financially well off. They had a live-in nanny. It seemed like the stable household that Melanie desperately needed, but her moving back had to be a big secret between the family, because Melanie would be back in the same town as her abuser, and he was the type to come back to finish what he started. The family had to make sure that very few people know of Melanie's existence back in New Hampshire And if anyone was gonna get away with keeping a secret like this

It was Philip Denise's brother the uncle that was taking Melanie in and his wife Kathleen McGuire Kathleen was a force to be reckoned with she is actually one of the most powerful woman in New Hampshire to date She would later go on to be a judge on the New Hampshire Supreme Court She's a very ambitious woman, disciplined, driven by the books, organized, detailed oriented. I mean, she put her all into everything. And it seemed to be a good influence on Melanie. What you watch depends on what kind of major in. Sometimes you're craving comedies like friends or South Park and sometimes you're more into dramas like HBO's Succession and House of the Dragon.

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per month. So Melanie is adjusting well. She even joined the boys soccer team and the school was pretty small. There was no girl's soccer team. There was just a boy's soccer team. She auditioned like everybody else and she was the only girl that made the cut and she's sitting there and she's like I'm gonna prove these boys wrong. I'm gonna prove it. I'm gonna prove that I can do everything that they can do if not better. They're probably waiting for me to fail. These boys, they're waiting so that they could say I told you so. Girls aren't as good as us at soccer. Yeah, this little sophomore Melanie had something to prove.

But she was so wrong. Not about not being good, but about the guys. The guys on her team genuinely liked her. They saw her as a skillful team member, and they valued her as a member of their team. And she just had a chip on her shoulder. They kept encouraging her. They supported her. They were there for her, they treated her like any other team

mate. There was no boys club in the soccer team. In fact, it was the first time in Melanie's life where she felt like she belonged somewhere. Melanie's life is looking up. The only problem is that Kathleen was a bit authoritarian. You can already tell, she's on the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, she's gonna be a bit of a disciplinarian. And Melanie was not used to that. Denise was more of a free spirit, so suddenly she's having someone tell her what to do, what to wear, what to act,

and she's feeling very, very claustrophobic. So she ends up turning to her guy friends on the soccer team, and this becomes like her second family. This was it for her. And Melanie gravitated towards the leader of the boys. He ends up turning to her guy friends on the soccer team and this becomes like her second family. This was it for her. And Melanie gravitated towards the leader of the boys. That's what she called them, the guys. Eric Windhurst.

He was a junior, captain of the team, captain of the friend circle. Everyone just kind of listened to the guy. If he said something, everybody did it. Melanie had a massive crush on him. He was tall. He had this strong build with blue eyes, I mean he was so charming, charismatic, athletic, all the girls in school, they wanted to date him.

Melanie would write to her mom. Eric gave me a write home, he's very nice and I like him a lot. His family practically owns Hopkinston, the town. Even through her forced calmness about Eric, I mean it was clear. To anyone that read that letter, she had a fat crush on Eric. He treated her so well, he cared for her. But he would just never see her the way she wanted. For some reason, Eric only saw Melanie as a little sister.

36-year-old Danny liked to keep busy. He liked to keep busy. He's 36 now. Even on Saturdays, you would probably find Danny at his workshop just a few steps away from his house. His house was a certified junkyard. If he wasn't a professional, people would have grunted as they passed his yard, complaining to neighbors that he was bringing down the curb appeal. So this isn't Hookset New Hampshire. Danny had bought acres of land. He had this massive property and right on top, he plopped down a house, a barn, a decent sized garage, and laid out on the grass everywhere We're just junk cars with bullet holes in them, broken down rusty parts, tires, multiple bulldozers that he was using and or fixing. It was a lot!

Danny's business card would call him a welder, but he fixed cars on the side. He was pretty good at it too. He was also kind of generous. Sometimes he would let people over to use his tools to fix their own cars. So that Saturday, his good friend Richard and 17-year-old Quart Burton came over to work in the shop. Okay, so his friend Richard is just coming there to fix his own car and he was using Danny's tools. The 17-year-old was invited by Danny. Danny really liked him. They had met on a construction job and you know, Quart had everything that Danny liked in young kids. Work ethic. He found it commendable. And so he said, you know what, I'm gonna be your mentor. I'm gonna teach you all the tricks of the trade. So on Saturday, when we're both off, why don't you come over to my garage and I'm gonna show you how it's done.

So 17 year old, Quart, he was nervous, he came over over he threw his jacket on the ground and he didn't know what to do. What should I work on? I can do anything you need me to Danny. Yeah well help me well to play it on this bulldozer first then I'm gonna have you make some paint. Okay sounds good. He ran past Richard on the way. Well he passed Richard's feet that were sticking out from under his car? Oh, uh, hello. Yeah, that's my friend Richard. Don't worry about him. Here, come to this bulldozer.

So they stand next to this giant bulldozer. Danny and Court, they set up shop, and while they did, they most likely talked about the weather. That's all everyone was talking about today. It was early November, the first day of hunting season. Danny's property was surrounded by woods, but he had cleared a big space for his work. The closest trees next to him, like the closest woods next to him, was probably 300 yards away. That's about 900 feet. To put that in perspective, because I have a hard time with

distance perception, it's about four fifths of the Eiffel Tower. Okay, so it's really far. Yeah. We were saying okay. So it's not like right there and this is very pertinent This is a huge property the woods are not like right next to his buildings It's not right next to the garage. It's a long ways away Danny pulls out an electric torch puts on his safety helmet and gets to work on the bulldozer with the 17 year old next time Assisting Richard was still knee deep under his car when he heard a strange pop noise him assisting. Richard was still knee deep under his car when he heard a strange pop noise. Okay, it was enough of a pop to trigger a mild form of his PTSD because Richard was a US Marine that served in Vietnam. So random pops that sound way too similar to gunshots, it could send him in a spiral. He quickly rushes out from underneath his car just in case

he's about to have a panic attack, and he tries to investigate. He sees court, the teenagers standing there staring at him with sheer panic in his eyes. Ugh, Richard, there's something wrong with Dan. Richard runs over, and Danny is laying flat on his back. His safety helmet was rolling on the ground next to him, and still in his hand was the electric torch. So Richard is like, Jesus Christ, he's been electrocuted! Richard is like, go call the fire rescue right now!

The 17 year old runs off. Richard didn't know what to do. He immediately starts pumping on Danny's chest hoping it would resuscitate him. I mean what do you do when someone is electrocuted? I feel like we should know the answer to that but we don't. He's screaming wake up Danny wake up! Richard's head was turning nonstop as he's multitasking. He's looking for help anyone. Anyone? He spots a neighbor from across the street. Hey you, call the rescue, I think Danny's been electrocuted, hurry! The neighbor calls his wife, babe call the rescue, Danny's been electrocuted, and he runs over.

He was quick on his feet. The neighbor runs to the outlet, pulls the plug on the electric tool, runs back to Danny, starts doing mouth to mouth CPR, Richard is pumping on Danny's chest, and he's going to town on his chest when all of a sudden, he slowly scrunches his eyebrows, lifts his hands into the air, and there, on his fingers, glistening, red blood. Wait, stop! The neighbor leaned down. There was something bubbling in Danny's mouth.

Oh my god, he's bleeding. Wait, how does that make sense if he's been electrocuted? Richard jumped into action, grabbed the first thing he could think of that could stop the bleeding. Plaster, this is like industrial strength plaster. I'm not sure why he grabbed it. He smeared it all over Danny's chest. They did more chest compressions, administered CPR. They could hear the sirens rushing to them, and they tried their very best to save Danny. But it was too late. He was dead. They looked up, maybe trying to see if there was a god there willing to save them.

But instead all they saw was the glimmering metal ace of spades cut out by Danny, hanging almost directly over his head where he died. Danny Piccat wasn't electrocuted. He was shot. Someone from almost 1,000 feet away had shot Danny Peket. A 1,000 feet away. Yes.

Of course, the first thought was that this was a stray bullet from Hunter's nearby. Well, that was the first thing that came to detectives' minds. Stray bullets can travel up to a mile, two miles, even with fatal velocity. It's possible. But is it probable? Once they saw how far the woods were, once they walked to the bushes themselves, hid themselves in the trees and saw where Danny was standing. I mean, it was impossible. There was no way a stray bullet did this, unless there's a one-in-a-trillion chance

because the bulldozer was blocking most of Danny. That means Danny Picat was murdered. And the only clue that they had to go off on was whoever did this had the skills of a sniper. Or they were just goddamn lucky. One shot from over a thousand feet away with Danny's body mostly being covered by the bulldozer. Whoever did this, they probably knew what they were doing. K, you're like fine, just find someone who's great with guns. I mean, how many people in this town are that good with guns? That can't be that hard.

And then, you know, from there, try to find the ones that want Danny dead. The problem is, it seemed like everyone in this town wanted to kill Danny Packet. The Ace of Spades, some people say it's an omen of bad luck. Some people say it's good luck But we know that Danny's life was not filled with good luck He grew up on a dairy farm and his dad Arthur the guy was a tank I mean he would wake up early to mill dozens of cows and then pull 10 hours doing construction work That's the type of father figure that Danny grew up under he didn't know what sleeping in meant

He didn't know what a lazy Sunday was his whole life. Danny's mother, Reena, was also a busy body at home. And being the youngest of six, that didn't absolve Danny from his duties to pull his weight around the house. After school, Danny was the closest with his brother, Victor. Wait a minute.

Yeah. Danny is the brother, a victor. He's the one that saw his mom dead in the, um, the pig's die. And Victor was the one that was called out to the scene because Danny died. OK. Yes. OK.

So we're going, it's all going to make sense. OK. You see Danny is the ex-husband. Yes, of Denise. But he's also Victor's brother. So Danny and Victor, they would run home after school, change out of their school clothes, put on work clothes, and they would start milking cows.

I mean, there were over 100 cows that needed milking, practically all the time. They never complained about the work, until one day their dad brought home a bunch of pigs. These pigs were something else. These pigs were a different game. Cow poop, manageable. Pig poop, it makes your eyes water.

That's how stinky and smelly their poop is. It just follows you everywhere you go. You could literally drive 10 miles away from the farm and you still feel like you smell the pig poop. The whole family protested. Until finally Arthur's like, okay, okay. I'm gonna make the executive decision and I'm gonna put the pig pens at the back of the property

far away from the house. It diluted the smell a little bit, but not much, but worse than the scent, with the dark memories that the pig pen would harbor in Danny's mind. Someone says if it happened yesterday, the memories were vivid, his uncle throwing him down screaming at him, don't look, turn away! And Danny had tears streaming down his face as he screamed, no mom, no! His brother Victor tried to comfort him, but by all accounts, Danny Piquet was never the same after that moment.

After Reena's death, it said that Danny started exhibiting some alarming behavior. He started sleepwalking through the house all night. Victor would wake up to banging and shuffling, and he was tasked with making sure that Danny got back to bed safely. With Wilde is that immediately after Reena's death, Arthur Piquet remarried. Some said it was fishy. Others said, no, Arthur's just the type of guy that needed a wife at home to do the cooking and cleaning. So Margaret was introduced to the kids as their new stepmom,

and they hated her on a fantastic level. I mean, the kids started rebelling once Margaret joined the picture. She was unwanted to controlling and undeserving to replace their mother. Victor went all out in his rebellion, constantly running away from home, starting fights. Meanwhile, Danny was just trying to find comfort in his friends. Mainly, a high school friend named Denise Messier. They were 16 years old when they met. They were 16 years old when Denise fell pregnant. Denise's dad? I mean, his face was probably the shade of a deep heirloom tomato when he found out.

We're talking about a 16-year-old unwed-girl pregnant in the role part of New Hampshire in the 60s. Her dad is a police officer. Her brother was headed for the military. They could not have a daughter giving birth at 16. So, like a few other girls from school, Denise was said to have gone to,

quote, stay with a family. But everyone knew she was staying with a relative until she gave birth and then she would come back with no baby and all the baby weight shed. The baby was put up for adoption. That's exactly what happened. And when she got back, there was one rule. You offered Bidden from ever seeing Danny Picad ever again.

It was devastating for Danny. But he tried to channel his anger into a finding of purpose. His brother Victor had managed to clean himself up and get into the National Guard. So now Danny is like, you know what? I wanna join the US Army. He gets stationed in Germany and he meets his first wife, Stephanie.

Everyone said that Stephanie was a knockout. Thanks. Okay, sorry. She was very different from the girls in New Hampshire that he was used to. She would braid her hair. She would tuck flowers behind her ears. Basically, they said that she was a certified hippie, and Danny was like, that's cool I've never seen that before. He got Stephanie pregnant and traumatized with his relationship with Denise and how it

ended. He wanted to do it right this time. Danny proposed and married Stephanie before she gave birth. But eventually, the two kind of realized that they weren't made for each other. I mean, opposite to Trax, like that whole shick is cute for like the first few seconds, but Stephanie was all about peace and world peace, and Danny was in the military, and he had a sense of duty about protecting his country at all cost. Yeah. So they had fundamental differences that they just could not get over. And then Danny got really possessive.

Stephanie loved freedom to move as she pleased, which she never ever cheated or anything like that, but Danny would constantly micromanage her, constantly accuse her of cheating. I mean, he was impossibly bizarre. He would yell at her, you're not allowed to leave the apartment without me by your side. It all reached a tipping point when Stephanie decided to destress in a bubble bath, and she starts filling the tub with water. Danny walks in, they get into a fight about something and she was over it, she said, Danny, you leave me alone or else I'll take our daughter and you will never see us again.

Any screened, you fucking bitch off fucking kill you, he picks her up through her into the bathtub, slammed her in fully clothed. So Stephanie didn't fight back, she didn't scream. She just sat there in the hot water, staring at the father of her child. She kept her word. She filed for divorce and Danny would never see her or their daughter ever again. Soon afterwards, Danny's brother Victor walks into Danny's place and sees a girl hanging out on the couch and he's like, okay, this girl looks so familiar and I can't even put my finger on it. And slowly the realization hit him. Oh my god, it's the girl from high school

that you got pregnant like 10 years ago. Denise messier? What the hell is she doing here? Danny walked into the room and he nonchalantly told his brother Victor, hey Victor, by the way, we're getting married. Oh, and we're gonna try and find our son that we had put up for adoption when Denise got pregnant when we were 16 and we're gonna find him, we're getting married. Oh, and we're gonna try and find our son that we had put up for adoption when Denise got pregnant when we were 16, and we're gonna find him, and we're gonna start a family again. Is that what? No, how it works, man.

Yeah, not how it works. I mean, this whole situation was really complicated. Denise had moved to Alaska, Mary Demand had a daughter named Melanie, and now she's moving back with Melanie and gonna marry Danny and it's just like a whole shit show and Victor is seeing all of this play out and mind you Denise's parents despise Danny hate him her whole family hate

Danny because he got her pregnant when she was 16 Okay Congrats Victor would later say well, I, what was I supposed to say? What are you fucking nuts? Her parents hate you, her dad's a cop, her brother's military, no way I'm not fucking saying that.

So the two get married. Denise comes into the marital union with a child from her first marriage, Melanie. This is in the past. They're long divorced now. Remember, she had fled in the middle of the night, gone back to Alaska? Melanie is sneaking back into New Hampshire.

Danny had moved on too. When he died, he was dating a woman named Ruth. You don't really need to remember her. But she had three teenage sons who all hated Danny. They despised Danny. I mean, Ruth saw this hot rugged man who is nearing 40, but he still had this youthful bad boy attitude about him.

He was very attractive. She would stare at him with loving eyes and her three teenage sons would look at her with disgust. Like how can you even like a guy like that? He looks so toxic. Clearly, he's using you mother. She would brush them off. But I'm sure a deep part of her deep down knew that Danny Pequette was dangerous.

Maybe they could all sense something about him. Remember his good friend Richard who was in the shop with him the day he was murdered? Richard would later admit that Danny would hit on his teenage daughter. Yeah, okay, I'm sure that's breaking a lot of codes to hit on your friend's daughter, but the worst part is... She was like a minor minor, not even just a teenager a minor Richard wasn't even surprised Danny was known to sleep around with young girls in the neighborhood He bragged about cheating on Ruth with a 15-year-old girl Danny is 36

And it seemed like Danny was perpetually helping out young teenagers in the neighborhood having them come over so he could fix their bikes They're tricycles their tricycles, their tricycles. So he's murdered. Who would want to kill Danny Packett? That should have been an easier question for the police, but it wasn't. Let's go down the long list of suspects. Let's start with the ones that were closest to him.

His current girlfriend's teenage sons, there were three of them, and they had already gotten into a ton of violent altercations. The police were called out to the house. Danny at one point had received a bloody broken nose and two black eyes. And the only reason Ruth's children didn't end up with far worse was Ruth was there, pulling at Danny pleading with him to leave her children alone. So maybe none of her sons approved of her decision to date this guy. Maybe one of them felt like the only way to free their mother from what was clearly abusive and toxic relationship was to get rid of the abuser ones and for all?

Then there was Kathy McGuire, Kathleen. So this is Melanie's aunt that is now taking care of her. Well, she was in the process of trying to legally get custody over Melanie. Denise had agreed, but Danny had formally adopted Melanie when they were younger. Remember? So there was no way Danny was going to give up custody of Melanie, even though he hadn't seen Melanie since that day that they left the apartment. Danny was the type of guy who's if I can't have her no one can. And maybe Kathleen being someone who was powerful, I mean at this point she wasn't a judge yet, but she was the

assistant attorney general in this county of the homicide unit. Maybe maybe she decided to take matters into her own hands. And maybe she knew how to get away with it. Then there was Victor's theory, so Danny's brother had his own theory. He's like, wait, I think my brother was killed by accident. You're like, what? I think the killer was trying to kill me instead. Remember the married woman, Amanda, that I was sleeping with when I heard that my brother had died? Well, her husband, he's a tough dude. Maybe he found out that I was sleeping with his wife.

Her, the last name, Picat, looked up our business address for Picette welders, came to Danny's house and just assumed Danny was me. What? Yeah. What a theory. What about the minor that Danny was allegedly sleeping with? Well, the minor was known to have a brother who was in the Marines, and it was a ledge that he conspired to kill Danny.

That was just one of the underage girls that Danny was sleeping with, well, keeping. I mean, think about the other ones. I'm sure they had family members who would love to get their hands on Danny. A 36-year-old sleeping with a minor are you kidding? There were also accusations that Danny was sleeping with a married woman similar to his brother, but this woman's husband was rich and powerful. And allegedly had underground connections. I'm telling you, the Danny had a lot of enemies.

Then there were the string of ex-girlfriends of Danny's. I mean, just judging by this guy's marriages, we can assume that he wasn't a great loving partner to his girlfriends. He was toxic, abusive, controlling. Anonymous calls came into the police to alleged that one of his ex-girlfriends had now married one of the top known drug dealers in the area and he was going around bragging that he was the one that killed Danny. Another lead was a few years ago.

Danny had been in a motorcycle accident. Okay, so he's riding around in his motorcycle like three years before he was murdered. And on the back, there was a woman named Diane. A car runs into the motorcycle. The woman was killed. Danny walked off was a woman named Diane. A car runs into the motorcycle. The woman was killed. Danny walked off with a sprained wrist. They had been driving through the mountains when they were hit by this car,

and Diane was thrown 25 feet. She fractured her skull. She was lying on the empty road while passerby stopped, and all they could do was wait 20 minutes until help could come. Technically, the person at fault was the driver of the car that ran into them, right? But the woman's family didn't care. It's that the brother had always blamed Danny for her death. I mean, it's not too far-fetched to think that maybe

he finally wanted an eye for an eye. Or could it be Danny's cleaning lady? She was known to be very terrified. Okay, very terrified of Danny. She would never come to his house without her sister or mother. She said that Danny often propositioned her while she was cleaning and just made her feel ultimately very uncomfortable. She was even too scared to drop him as a client. Then there were other allegations that Danny's family would passionately refute. Allegations that Danny owed a bunch of drug dealers a ton of money, and because it was making

them all look bad that he was getting away with thousands of dollars of drugs, the theory was that they all pitched in a bit of money to put a head out on Danny. But probably the most sinister of the allegations and the theories were the rumors, the harsh stories of why Denise, Danny's ex-wife, had left him because he was reaping his stepdaughter Melanie. The police decided to follow that lead of Melanie. They sat down with Melanie and they asked her a ton of questions about her stepdad's death.

Her will, his murder rather. How old is she now? She is a junior and she was honest, transparent. She said, I never liked Danny. His very strict and mean and he would belittle my mother. He would constantly yell at my mom about how to do things, but he never lifted a finger himself. I caught him multiple times physically assaulting my mother. He was just a horrible guy. She said that he raped her when she was young, and she suspected that he raped one of her friends, a girl her age that would come

over often when they were young. Okay, and Melanie, the night of the murder, what were you doing? I was at a soccer game, with my friend, Eric Wintersd. So the police were thinking, I mean, they don't think that Melanie herself killed Danny. Maybe one of her loved ones did. Maybe an uncle, an aunt, a grandpa, a grandma. I mean, people would be willing to do this

for a loved one, right? It couldn't have been Denise Melanie's mom because she was in Alaska when the murder took place. So somebody else, it seems like all of them would go to great lengths to protect Melanie, and all of them rightfully harbored a ton of hatred for Danny Pequette. When Melanie's grandmother was questioned on what she thought happened to Danny and who killed him, she responded coldly. The way he died was too easy.

He should have suffered first. Denise's other sister, Pauline, so this is Melanie's other aunt. She told her boss that she was excited that Danny was dead, and the boss was like, what do you mean? Or I'm just happy that my sister can finally come back to New Hampshire with the kids, so it seems like all of them had strong enough motive. So now, it was time to bring in Denise

and figure out what the hell happened. Melanie's mom Denise sat down, and she confessed to the police that she truly did not know that Melanie was raped until about a year and a half after they moved back to Alaska. I mean, she always had a feeling that Danny was terrifying to Melanie. Melanie always called whenever she was alone with Danny, begging someone to pick her up. Her grandpa, her aunt, anybody. When Denise found out, she knew that Melanie needed help, and she couldn't provide it.

She would never forgive herself for that, but she tried to do what she could. She asked her brother, Philip, who was always protective of her Melanie, and Denise told him everything about the abuse and Philip offered to help raise Melanie. The police wondered if Philip and Kathleen had enough motive to kill Danny,

but Denise said, no, no, no. My brother and my sister and law, they both wanted to protect Melanie, yes, they did, but they wanted her to go to counseling, they wanted her to get through school, to go through college, to have a future. They're intelligent enough to know that it serves no purpose to go out and shoot Danny. So while the police are investigating, Victor, Danny's brother would itch his new tattoo. It was an ace of spades with a bullet hole and blood dripping from it. Because remember right above Danny's head was the ace of spades. And he got it to remind himself to never

stop hounding for justice. He had already witnessed justice lost with his mom Rina when she was murdered in the pigstie. He didn't want it to happen again to his brother. He always felt like the police weren't going to take Danny's case seriously. Maybe they thought Victor and Danny were low-lifes. Danny's life wasn't worth the time and expense it would take to seek justice. Victor had seen that before with his mom. This time, he was going to make sure it didn't happen.

But maybe he was right. He had gotten word that the case was going to be classified as a hunting accident unless they got some new leads. And Victor was enraged to keep screaming, no, no, it doesn't even make sense, this is no fucking accident. I mean, someone took him out. I saw his dead body with my own eyes, no stray bullet could have done that. Victor shouted fuck you into the phone before he hung up at the detectives. And that would become a yearly tradition, right around the anniversary of Danny's death. November, Victor would call the police station,

ask what was being done to find justice first brother, the police would give him their standard response of, oh, our hands are tied, and he would yell fuck you into the phone before hanging up. The depressing part was every year that he called, the less and less people he knew that had worked on his brother's case. Soon most of the people in the station in the Sheriff's Department and any of these departments,

they had no idea who Victor Pekat was, they had no idea who murdered Danny Pekat. But what's crazy is the rest of the town seemed to know. No, the killer? Yeah. Because Melanie and Eric Windhurst set a lot of different interesting things to a lot of different people. Eric told a lot of different people, his half-brother, his sister-in-law, eventually his parents, his friends, and those people would tell more people, hey, did you know that Eric shot someone? I don't know, Eric was drunk at a party and he said he shot someone. I think it's a random,

dandy guy that they said was a hunting accident. Now how many of these people actually believe the whispers is unknown, but the fact that so many people knew and didn't go to the police is kind of wild. Even when Danny's murder was featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, the town kept it secret. It stayed quiet until decades later. Decades. Until decades later, decades, for decades, all of this is taking place. The police, it's a cold case, Victor calls every single year for decades. Nothing gets fixed until two separate letters arrive at the police station. I don't know. Two anonymous writers felt like at the same time that the game of silence had gone on too long. Maybe they felt like they didn't want to carry the burden of the secret anymore.

I don't know. Ten years after Danny's murder, a letter was written. It read. It's common knowledge that a young man named Eric shot Danny with his father's rifle to avenge Melanie's abuse. Eric arranged a nullify with his friends saying that they were at a soccer game. Eric's parents are aware of what has happened, and I am dumbfounded as to why this case is still unsolved.

It's a bad example to the many young people who know the truth about this murder. They look at it as quote justified murder because of the alleged abuse. This is not healthy. Eric has had a long history of shady dealings in the area. He is misled police very successfully, and usually, he's a great shot. He can charm his way through anything, and if that doesn't work, he likes to intimidate and threaten people. Signed, a former neighbor.

Then another letter came into the police station, which was clearly written by someone else. Something has been eating away at me. I've been afraid to step forward. Seeing the pain the family is suffering through persuaded me to do so. The Piccad family. Danny's family, they're wrong to think that Danny's death is somehow connected

to Danny's mom's death. It's all connected to Melanie. Danny's stepdaughter Melanie told me that Eric shot and killed her stepfather. Melanie said that she and Eric talked about how much she hated Danny because he sexually abused her. Eric is an expert marksman and wanted to blow him away.

He had gotten away with all kinds of crimes before it never caught, his parents always took care of it. But she said Eric took his father's rifle, drove to Danny's house with her, parked on a road nearby, walked through the woods. She pointed at who Danny was. Eric told her to get back to the car. He shot him and they ran back together. I hope this information helps Danny's family. I think it's incredible to think that it happened this way, but it did make God bless Danny's family. Why would you break into these apartments?

For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No, who's gonna catch us? What a police It was the height of the crack era and instead of locking up drug dealers some New York City cops had become them I would suit up in my girlfriend and Instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them. I would suit up in my uniform and we're going to rob some drug dealers and I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and

the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100% I saved my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set, an Odyssey originals documentary podcast series available now in the Odyssey app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. I'm not a big guy man, but I love being a dirty mother f***er. Now these letters would land on the desk of a very important person on this case.

Police chief Stephen Agrafio Des. Now this might sound new to you, but it's because we've only talked him as rookie officer cop Stephen Agrafio Des. The one that was shaking hands with Victor when Danny was killed, the rookie cop. Oh yeah. Yeah, well for more than a decade, he worked so hard, he worked like a dog The one that was shaking hands with Victor when Danny was killed, the rookie cop? Yeah.

Well, for more than a decade, he worked so hard, he worked like a dog and rose through the ranks of his department and now he was the police chief. Wow, he was there. And there was one case that nagged at him every single night of every single day. The one case that he never got questions to, the one that started his career really, and he never finished. Who killed Danny Piccats? And these letters would stir up that intense curiosity inside of him, and he would not stop this time until he got answers. You would think that the letters were slam-dunks for this case, but it wasn't. The investigators through the years were on to Eric too. They had tested all the rifles in Eric's family home.

None of them matched the bullets. So some random letter wasn't gonna get him arrested now. It's all circumstantial evidence, especially now, it's been 20 years after the fact. So the letters came in 10 years after the murder and now it's 20 years. Yeah, so you're like, well, this letter came in 10 years ago. And nothing happened and now he's police chief 20 years. Yeah, so you're like, well, his letter came in 10 years ago.

And nothing happened. And now he's police chief 20 years later. He's like, you know what? Let me try to reopen this case. Wow. So you're like, okay, well, where is everyone now? You know, these were 17 year olds. And now they're what?

Like 37 years old. Yeah. Well, most of everyone that was involved had moved on geographically and emotionally. I mean, where do we even start? So Eric, after the murder of Danny Pequette, he went through a really rough phase. He was a junior in high school, and afterwards, all he did was cause trouble. He was acting out, and no one could really quite put

their finger on why. I mean, they had an idea, but you know, what could they do? Eric would constantly throw parties at his mom's empty cabins. He never came home, he opted to sleep on his friend's couches. I mean, the guy was just going through it. After high school, Erick tried to move on the only way he knew how. He threw himself into the military. He wanted to be just like his older brother, Trapper. He joined the US Marines and during boot camp, he was a standout.

The way he handled the rifle was something else. It's like he was born with a gun in his hand. If that's not the most American description you've ever heard. Yeah. But the Marines kind of messed with Eric Moore. They were pretty intense. They would yell at him. They would say things like every Marine is a killer.

Okay. It's like they wanted to turn him into a killer. But what if he never mind? Before Eric could graduate boot camp, he was cut from the Marines. He was cut. You're like, wait, why? He was probably the best sharp shooter they had in that class. He started having an allergic reaction one day.

This is like the dumbest reason. His whole face swelled up. He looked like he was about to blow up, like just so swollen, everything was red and puffy. They found out that he was allergic to red ants. And the Marines were like, we're in the trenches all day. You can't be carrying around some epiphen because your body can't handle a reason with six legs.

Yeah, I mean, I'm saying that sarcastically, but I think it's wild that they cut him from the Marines because of his red ant allergy. He was discharged. What an allergy. Yeah, and what do we go, specific allergy for such a specific career mindset that you have. It's like, yeah. The cards really were not in your favor on this one. Eric was devastated.

His life starts spiraling out of control from there. He tried to take all jobs here and there, but he just had no meaning in life. He wanted to get the hell out of town, go somewhere where nobody knew him. He went to Colorado to join some high school buddies. He loved the landscape. He had no idea what to do with his life. He fell into alcohol, became addicted. He stole two things.

He stole some beer that got him arrested. And then he stole his friend's Rolex. He wasn't even sure why. He wasn't even trying to sell it. He didn't need it. He just seemed like he was losing it. But maybe that was his wake-up call. After that, he quit drinking, he started attending AA meetings, he got his life together, learned to trade and worked hard to impress his boss in the shop. But there was just something different about Eric. He would say it went back to junior year. Ever since then, he felt like he could

never live a normal life like everyone else It's like he was always running. He was worried to even settle down and put roots down He did marry a woman named Tracy Donahue at one point, but they got divorced. Things just never worked out for Eric And he had this feeling all the time since junior year this nausea like this unbearable junior year, this nausea, like this unbearable, soul-eating feeling that one might describe as guilt. But anyway, enough about that. If he thought too much about it, he was scared he was going to lose his mind. As for Melanie, college was rough for Melanie.

She lost her family and her soccer team friends, everybody split up and dispersed. She was trying to find herself again. A lot of old trauma started catching up with her, and she started behaving in ways that other people might not understand. Melanie said all she wanted in college was attention. She allegedly told a college boyfriend of hers that she had her stepfather killed because he was molesting her. She went around telling people that she was dying of terminal illness. She claimed she was munged by knife point on the soccer field. And in an attempt to reconnect with Eric again while she was mungued by knife point on the soccer field, and in an attempt to reconnect with Eric again while she was in college, she claimed that she was raped by a shadowy

figure. Everything but one was a lie. She said, I just wanted a lot of attention in a lot of different ways. I didn't say bizarre things, and as long as I got attention, that's all I wanted. It was a rough time for her, a lot of people reacted trauma like this. But after college, Melanie met a man. David Cooper. They fell in love, got married.

They were moving around a lot, but David was this idealistic optimist that brought out the best in Melanie. I mean, they never had the clearest plans on how they were going to make money, but they never stopped trying. Their whole thing was, as long as we have each other, it's going to be okay. And they would go on to have a few kids. Not a few. Five.

That's a lot. So Melanie had built this life and every day she fought hard to keep her life. And it was one of these days in her new life that she was asked to come down to the station in Idaho to be questioned by three officers who had traveled all the way from New Hampshire to talk to her. If she didn't consent to coming, she would be subpoenaed back to new hampshure. That is how it Melanie ended up in the interrogation room. With a babysitter watching her five kids, thinking of what she was going to tell her husband when she got home that night. And this has 20 years later?

20 years. If she even got to go home, that is. She sat in the chair and the investigators played nice with her, making her feel like it was all gonna be okay. And she finally broke down. She looked them in the eye, tears streaming down her face and said, I'm ready to tell you what happened. Melanie told the investigators, this is like 20 years later, that she told Eric and all the soccer team about her abuse, the rapes, the molestations, the death threats, everything that Danny Picad had put her through, and Eric wanted to help her. He was scared for her, scared for what would happen if God forbid Danny ever found her living in town. How would she ever be free?

He made up his mind, Eric said, I'm gonna kill Danny for you. I always thought of you as little sister, and I'm gonna do this for you, I'm gonna protect you, I'm gonna do it. No, you're not, Eric, don't say that. Yes, I am Melanie thought Eric was being silly like he's the one to always idolize these heroes Maybe he was just trying to pretend to be one again and you can't come I'm not taking a girl with me to murder someone Eric. You don't even know where he lives I can figure it out. You don't even know what he looks like

Eric was silent. I'll come pick you up at your house in 15 minutes What he looks like, Eric was silent. I'll come pick you up at your house in 15 minutes. Melanie said they drove 20 minutes to Danny's house, and from there they parked their car, went through the woods to get a clear view into Danny's garage where he was working. Eric had his rifle, he had always been a hunter since he was a kid, his parents taught him. He was a sharpshooter, one of the best. Melanie said, we just sat there for a while in the woods.

He was chewing gum and he says, once his gum runs out of flavor, he was going to do it. And then his gum ran out of flavor. He shot Danny, it was a perfect shot. They ran back through the woods as quickly as possible, back into the car. Melanie said Eric kept pushing her head down because Eric was a random kid. You had no connection to Danny, but Melanie did. They heard the ambulance, they heard the sirens as they drove off and their hearts were racing, and Melanie screamed, did you do it? Did you do it? I did it. But Eric, what he really wanted to say was, I never should have done that. So there in the interrogation room, Melanie confessed 20 years later, and she agreed to help the investigators bring down Eric. She called Eric on a tapped line so she could try and get him to confess. She pretended like

she was terrified because the police were poking around again asking questions. Oh, which side note, they told all the soccer friends that their alibi was that they were at the soccer game with them. And for 20 years, all of them stood by that. I know, I don't know how to feel about this case. Okay, here's my thing about this case. If the police went after every single rapist and every single murder and every single crime with this much passion, I would say, you know what, that is the law. But when you pick and choose which case is you go after with so much passion, I would say, you know what, that is the law. But when you pick and

choose which case is you go after with so much passion and drive, this is not the one. This is not the one. The transcripts of this phone conversation between Melanie and Eric are devastating. I mean, I guess I can see why Melanie was doing it. She had five kids. She has to protect herself. But don't get me wrong. I mean, Eric still had self preservation in his mind too, but after all these years, he still seemed so protective over at Melanie. It just kind of broke my heart.

He seemed happy to be hearing from her. He asked her how she was doing and she said she was okay. But he would say, no, but how are you really doing? Are you happy? Are you healthy? Are you being taken care of?

I think about you all the time. Are you all right? Is your husband a good person? I always wonder if you're okay. Not a single day goes by, I don't think about this. Not a day goes by, I don't think about you and how you're doing. He said, I'm tired too, Melanie.

I just, I'm tired. I try to live my life every day and live it as well as I possibly can. I can say I've lived a good and honest life of hard work and honesty. Every aspect of everything is for a reason, Melanie. It's because it's part of our lives and it's supposed, it's how it's supposed to enrol. The role I'm supposed to play in your life, there's a role you're supposed to play in my life, I have to believe the reason you came into my life is the reason why I've lived such a good life. Melanie tried to argue. It was wrong to kill Danny, and the officers are feeding her lines, by the way. It was wrong to kill Danny. You were wrong to kill him. It wasn't right. It wasn't right.

Melanie, I'm going to look out for you every day. He laughed at the fact that Melanie had five kids, and then he grew serious and he said, I never had kids. I guess bringing a baby into this situation just didn't seem fair. Melanie kept pressing to see if she could get a confession. Does this not affect you at all, Eric? Of course it does, Melanie.

Everything that's happened, everything I had to do with all of this has affected me. Why do you think I don't have a family? Melanie argued. I just wish you wouldn't have done does, Melanie. Everything that's happened, everything I had to do with all of this has affected me. Why do you think I don't have a family?" Melanie argued. I just wish you wouldn't have done this, Eric. I just wish you wouldn't have done this. Why are you blaming me, Melanie?

Because you killed him, and now my life has screwed up, and it would have just been better to just leave it all alone. Well, my life isn't a bowl of cherries either, Melanie, you know? Side note, Melanie was trying to tell the police that Eric killed Danny without her request, that he just decided to do it himself. She didn't realize that he was serious about it. She just thought that he was playing along. That was her story, but the judge wouldn't buy it.

And part of Melanie's own story gave it away. She had told Eric that she needed to go to the house with him because, A, he wouldn't know where the house is, B, he wouldn't know who to shoot. Regardless, Eric Winterst was arrested December 2005, 20 years after the murder of Danny Piccat. The people of their hometown were outraged. Not that Eric had killed Danny, but that he was arrested. Wow, so everyone wanted to protect him.

Yeah. Now, some people would later say, oh, I didn't want to protect him I was scared of the guy, but overall everyone's feelings were The guy's not a killer. He killed a child minister and he's not gonna be a serial killer Just to tell you how deep the secret was hidden a lot of people in town alerted each other by saying Erick's been brought in Erick's been arrested. Nobody said why? Nobody said for what? That's all they had to say. Other town people said, I don't know what happened,

but if Erick killed someone, the other guy might have done something really bad. Other than the theft of the beer and the watch, which was when Erick was a teenager, and now he's like nearly 40, Erick maintained a perfect record. He was a model citizen. Now his ex-wife and some of his other former friends that there was a side to Eric

that others didn't know, that he was a scary person. It's hard to say what Eric was. I think the truth is, generally, somewhere in the middle, because Eric's other girlfriends that he was something special. His most recent girlfriend Heather would say that she was a nurse. Every night after work, he works in construction. So his hands are calloused, he's exhausted. He would rub her back after work for an hour. He was kind. He always reminded her how much he loved her. I mean, he was a broken man that would never recover from what he had done as a child. He told her what he did. And later police were gonna bring her in

and she had the ability to destroy his whole life and send him to prison. And Eric told her, you gotta do what you gotta do. I just feel so bad for putting you in that situation anyway. Wow. What's even more depressing is the real motive for Eric killing Danny came out during trial. And my heart breaks for so many people involved.

I mean, it just doesn't make any sense, you know, a kid with no history of violence, with his entire future ahead of him, his life ahead of him, he goes into the woods to kill a man for a girl that he's not even in love with. He wasn't in love with Melanie. This was not his girlfriend. He never saw her like that. So why does he do that? Remember how I said there were others before Melanie that Eric was too late to save? Apparently

Eric's dad raped Eric's half-sisters in the family home and Eric knew about it and he could never do anything to stop it. But he felt like he could stop Danny. The story was confirmed by Eric's half-sisters. One of them said, I was 10 or 11 when it started. I woke up in the middle of the night, and the bottom of the covers at the end of the bed were lifted up. My stepfather was there. He had a flashlight and he was touching me. And I didn't know what to do.

He told me afterwards if I told anyone, he would ruin my mom. It went on for years. John Windhurst would not deny the sexual activity between him and his step-daughters. He would later claim that his step-daughters came onto him, that they were sexually throwing themselves at him, and he thought, well, better I teach them than some random boy down the street. And what has happened to these people? Or John? I think that he was, he wasn't no, no charges were pressed.

He's living with his wife. His wife never left him. Look, I get it. The prosecutor's job is to win a case, but it kind of gave me the X, seeing them be so happy at the fact that they uncovered new information that would bolster their case.

Like, great, good for you. You found out that there's so many rapists out there. What are you gonna do about it? But I guess the problem with this case is, it's not about emotions, it's about the law. The judge said, self-defense requires imminence. You do not get to kill someone, use deadly force and go after them while claiming self-defense.

And the defense argued, yes, but Melanie Cooper believed at any second she could have been harmed. Everyone, the police, the mom, the aunt, uncle, all of them failed to safeguard Melanie. But the judge argued. The victim was shot from afar. Do you have any evidence that the victim knew that Melanie Cooper was even in the area that he was going after Melanie Cooper?

The defense argued. First of all, your honor. With all due respect, we don't perceive Mr. Pecad as a victim. We will assert that Melanie Cooper thought that at any second she was going to be Rooter killed. Your honor, you have to look at this from the point of view of teenagers. You have a young girl terrified, clinging to this guy right here. Danny terrorized her family. He violated the restraining order. He brutalized and repeatedly Rooter, Melanie. The family fled to Alaska. Melanie was living in hiding in New Hampshire and the legal system was about to alert Danny because of the

files that were being processed for guardianship. Melanie says to Eric, nobody will protect me from this guy who is going to kill me or rape me. They had no choice. As the trial progressed, the public became more enraged with the DA, and they shouted, why are you even going after this guy, huh? There are other criminals that are worth catching. Why are you so dead set on Eric Windhurst? The DA said, because you can't have people taking the law into their own hands. Imagine if someone had a grudge against you or someone knew someone with a grudge against you. Would you want it to be okay for that person to kill you? There's a fine line between degrees of grudges, and who's to say where that line should be drawn?

And what if Eric had been wrong about Danny? And the town shouted, but he was sent. Now, it is speculated that the police chief, Stephen and the DA, they all went after this case because closing a cold case usually gives you a lot of, I don't know. Brownie point? Yeah.

It didn't matter. In the end, Eric stopped the trial short, pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 15 to 36 years in prison. He showed a lot of remorse for the Pequette family and for what he had done. But the Pequettes, I mean, they were rightfully still angry. So side note, I do feel a lot of sympathy for Danny's family members because they believe that Danny was not a molester. They believe that Melanie was making it all up. Now, I'm not gonna say that their belief is wrong.

I will just say it's very hard to have a family member taken away from you too soon. That's all I can say about that. But I do believe that with the evidence, not just with Melanie, but with the other miners that Danny was accused of sleeping with. There's just a lot of evidence to point that he was indeed sleeping with a lot of miners. Now is Melanie's turn.

Victor and his family were more upset about Melanie than Eric for some reason. I mean, I guess I can understand why if they truly believe that Danny was not a molester, I can see maybe they think Melanie's like this crazy liar. The judge sentenced her and this is crazy. The prosecutor literally did not want to press charges on her. Their hands were tied and the prosecutors themselves told the judge we would like her to just get like probation, please. She has been nothing but helpful to us.

And the judge said, yeah, no, that's not going to happen. She's going to be sentenced to three to six years. For hindering apprehension. Melanie cried as she was escorted out the room. And people had such mixed feelings. Some, many, I mean, most people thought that this was Melanie being revictimized over and over and over again. I mean, how many times can she be a victim?

But Victor and some investigators believe that she should have been punished harder and found guilty of second-degree murder. While she was being escorted out, one of the pecats said in a sing-song voice, bye-bye, Melanie! The assistant attorney general that prosecuted this case said, this is definitely a case I will never forget. I have no sympathy for Danny Pequette. I do have sympathy for his family, but I have no interest in prosecuting anyone else

who might have helped Eric and Melanie keep their secret. Denise, Melanie's mother, said, Melanie was crying out for help and I couldn't help her. I filled my daughter miserably. The author's visited Eric and Jail, and he showed them sketches of what he works on all day. He studies houses, and he worked in construction, remember? He studies houses, and he draws out the floor plan of his perfect home, and he can't wait to build it once he gets out.

The author's notice that it has just one room. When asked about it, he said, I'm damaged goods. Meaning he thinks he deserves to be alone forever. Erica has shown nothing but remorse for the murder and all the lives he has destroyed. He said to hide his crime for 20 years was very wrong. He did it out of fear. He didn't want to go to jail. He takes full responsibility. He believes that justice is finally being served. He regrets what he did, but in the same token, he understands why he did it. He said, every adult, every single person in that girl's life failed her from the moment she was born, till the day that I met her. She came to me

and her fear was more palpable than anything else I can remember. She believed her life was in danger. She made me believe it. I mean, did I do the right thing? Of course not. For me, I was rescuing a friend. I was stepping up to the plate when no one else would. And I can't tell you enough, it was the biggest mistake of my life.

But he said, when I finally walk out those doors and however many years it'll be, it will be the first time since I was 17 years old that I will actually be free. Melanie was freed from prison in 2008. She was a model inmate and she was excited to get back home to her family. Now I don't know if you guys think justice was served, but I'll leave you with this. Melanie was asked if she was terrified of Danny Pequette, in the beginning of the investigation. And she said, I was extremely afraid of Danny. He haunted us for a long time. He tried killing my mother.

He abused me, not just sexually. He was a monster, and I was very afraid of him. And there is a quote in the book written by Christian Frederick Hebel, a German poet, who said, "...genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights. And I feel like that sums up this case. And I don't even know how to feel. When I just feel so trained from this one. What are your thoughts? There was a part where, you know,

they were saying, when you're a teenager, the world is black and white, there's good and bad. And as you get older and as you get into adulthood, nothing is black and white anymore. Everything is just this grayish hue. And I think, I don't know. I don't feel that. Yeah.

What are your thoughts? Please stay safe and I'll see you guys on Sunday for the mini-shot. Bye!