Former WMUR Reporter Releases Book on LaBarre Murders
November 17, 2008
The first of two true crime books about convicted murderer Sheila LaBarre has already been released.
The book, titled Wicked Intentions: The Sheila LaBarre Murders - A True Story
LaBarre was convicted in June of this year of murdering and then burning the body of her live-in boyfriend Kenneth Countie, as well as the murder of another boyfriend, Michael Deloge.
A jury rejected the defense case that LaBarre was insane at the time that she killed the two men. After researching her case for more than two years, and meeting her in person, Flynn also has an opinion on LaBarre’s mental status.
“Do I think she’s legally insane or not responsible for her actions? No. I think she belongs in jail. I think the jury got it right,” Flynn said. “But when we talk about the things she does, we use words like crazy, nuts, lunatic, and I think it actually describes her behavior. Just because she’s crazy doesn’t mean she’s legally insane.”
Full story from Lara Bricker
Selectman wants fee for boats ‘docked’ in Epping’s landfill
September 29, 2008
Junk is arriving at the town dump by the boatloads — literally.
Jim Freeman has seen fiberglass bath tubs and Jacuzzis hauled to the landfill, but lately motorboats are becoming a hot item to dock at the dump.
As many as five large boats have been dropped off so far this year, compared to only two last year.
Because boats aren’t on the list of bulky items that require owners to pay a disposal fee, residents have realized that they can save big bucks by ditching them at the dump.
But that could change if Selectman Tom Gauthier has his way. He insists that residents ought to pay up if they want to drop off their boats.
This week, two boats were seen sitting side by side in the landfill.
“We need to do something about that. We can’t keep taking boats in there,” Gauthier told selectmen this week, suggesting that either the town start charging a disposal fee or simply not accept boats.
Full story from JASON SCHREIBER
Polka-Dot House May Be Changing Color
July 21, 2008
When Jason Reynolds gives directions to his family’s apartment, he just tells them to look for the polka-dot house.
“It’s easy to let people know where we live,” joked the 33-year-old father of five whose family moved into the funky apartment house at 242 Main St. six months ago.
Time has taken its toll on Paul Gatchell’s crazy paint job, but the 19th-century two-family house is still drawing stares, especially from newcomers to town who don’t know the story behind the building known to most as simply “the polka-dot house.”
It’s been almost 15 years since Gatchell painted his apartment house a bright desert orange with purple polka dots and crayon green trim, all to get back at a neighbor who opposed his plan to store his trucks, a trailer and other equipment for his business on the property.
Over the years, the house has become a local landmark. People still drive by to check it out when they hear about it, and many refer to the house when giving directions.
But the landmark that’s had so many people talking may soon get a makeover that most likely won’t include outrageous bright colors and polka dots.
Gatchell said the paint is peeling and the house needs a fresh coat. But he’s not sure what the color would be. He doesn’t even know if he wants to repaint.
GUILTY
June 20, 2008
A woman who claimed she was an angel sent from God to punish pedophiles was sane when she killed two boyfriends whose remains were found scattered around her farm, a jury found Friday.
Because Sheila LaBarre already had admitted that the state could prove her guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, the jury’s only task during the five-week trial was determining whether she was insane when she killed Michael Deloge in 2005 and Kenneth Countie in 2006. She was sentenced immediately to life in prison without parole.
As the jury filed out after the verdict, family members of the victims burst into applause.
“This is for my son,” said Countie’s mother, Carolynn Lodge. “(For) two years, my son could not rest. Now he can rest.”
The burden of proof was on the defense to show both that LaBarre, 49, of Epping, suffered from a mental disease and that the murders were a product of that illness. Defense lawyers argued that LaBarre was a delusional woman who believed every man in her life was a pedophile and who saw herself as an avenging angel. But the prosecution countered that she was a “crude, manipulative, cruel and vindictive” woman who violently lashed out at the men she dated.
Full story from The Associated Press
Also see:
Victims’ Families Denounce LaBarre After Guilty Ruling - WMUR
LaBarre Jury Gets Case
June 19, 2008
Over the six weeks of her trial, the fury and violence of Sheila LaBarre has not been disputed, nor has the fact that she lured men to her farm and eventually tortured them to death, then tended blazing fires that reduced their bodies to ashes. And yesterday, as they handed the case to jurors to decide, prosecutors and defense attorneys split on why LaBarre committed her crimes.
Prosecutors portrayed LaBarre, 49, as a cunning killer, a black widow who preyed on victims for no reason other than her own sadistic enjoyment. Defense attorneys said their client, who has admitted to killing Kenneth Countie and Michael Deloge, is an emotionally conflicted, profoundly disturbed, absolutely insane woman who kills as the boundaries between the hellish world inside her mind and the real world crumble.
Full story from Russ Choma.
Also see:
LaBarre case goes to jury (Fosters)
Jury gets case in Sheila LaBarre trial (AP)
LaBarre Case In Hands Of Jury (WMUR)
LaBarre Dragged From Courtroom After Outburst
June 17, 2008
Sheila LaBarre began screaming in court today, insisting she never hurt an animal, and was dragged from court.
“I didn’t harm my animals, I didn’t kill any animals,” she screamed at a psychiatrist hired by the state, who was testifying that he believed that it was possible LaBarre had harmed a number of her pets who lived on her remote Epping farm with her.
LaBarre, 49, has admitted to murdering two men, Kenneth Countie and Michael Deloge, but is pleading insanity. According to LaBarre, she killed Deloge because he admitted that he was harming her pet rabbits and that he was going to hurt her next. Defense experts testified that LaBarre suffers from paranoid delusions that men in her life are pedophiles and harm animals and she needs to protect society and children.
Full story from Russ Choma.
LaBarre Did Little to Hide, Despite Being Investigated for Murder
June 10, 2008
On March 29, 2006, Roxbury resident Kenneth Washington saw an attractive woman walking through a store parking lot and decided to try and pick her up.
Four days later, he discovered the woman he had been having sex with, getting money from and spending time with in the Boston area, was wanted for murder in New Hampshire.
Sheila LaBarre told Washington her name was Casey, that she was from Tennessee and was in the Boston area for real estate business. Her hair was dyed a burgundy red and she was carrying a shopping bag with clothes. She told Washington she had just come in from the airport and they had lost her luggage.
In fact, LaBarre had hitched a ride into town from Manchester and she was being investigated for the murder of Kenneth Countie.
Washington saw a news report on television the night of April 1, 2006, and called police the next morning. That day, LaBarre was arrested and has been in custody ever since.
Full story from Gretyl MaCalaster - Fosters Daily Democrat.
LaBarre said to have tried to manipulate police interviews
May 29, 2008
Jumping from subject to subject, constant calls to the Epping Police Department and bizarre letters were just “typical Sheila LaBarre,” according to Epping police officers.
Four officers have now testified that her behavior around the time of Kenneth Countie’s murder in March 2006 was no different from usual.
LaBarre had been a regular correspondent with the police department since she arrived in Epping in 1987. Officers, including Chief Gregory Dodge, have testified that she called and wrote regularly, and they often were called to the horse farm on 70 Red Oak Hill Lane where she resided.
Full story from GRETYL MACALASTER.
Police Demand Answers From LaBarre In Taped Interview
May 22, 2008
In a videotaped interview with police, admitted killer Sheila LaBarre continued to deny she killed Kenneth Countie while police became increasingly confrontational.
Jurors watched a tape of the interview Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. For much of the interview, LaBarre told how she met Countie, but as it continued, state police Sgt. Robert Estabrook raised his voice and accused LaBarre of lying about Countie’s death.
“You’re a liar! You are a liar,” Estabrook said in the tape. “You talked at length about your meeting with him. Talked at length about a sexual encounter with him. I bring you back to that night. That night that wasn’t long ago, and you can’t remember. You can’t remember.”
More from WMUR.com
Jurors Warned of ‘fairly ugly issues’
May 7, 2008
As they quizzed potential jurors yesterday, Sheila LaBarre’s defense attorneys asked questions that suggested they will argue their client went insane and murdered at least two men on her Epping farm after being “triggered” by certain events.
LaBarre, 49, admitted to killing Michael Deloge in the fall of 2005 and Kenneth Countie in March 2006, but said she was legally insane at the time of the murders. Yesterday was only the second day of jury selection in a case that could last four to six weeks, but already attorneys from both sides are beginning to show their cards — or at least test legal arguments on the potential jurors.
More from the New Hampshire Union Leader.
