The murder of Danny Croteau
Chicopee, Hampden County, Massachusetts · 1972
Overview
Danny Croteau, 13, the youngest of five altar-boy brothers from Springfield, Massachusetts, was last seen alive on Friday, April 14, 1972. The next morning a Chicopee police officer found him floating face down in the Chicopee River, still in his school uniform. He had been beaten about the head, most likely with a rock, and had a blood alcohol level of 0.18. Within days investigators were looking at the family's friend and former parish priest, Richard R. Lavigne, who was seen alone at the riverbank, asked police whether blood would still be on a stone thrown into the river, and gave statements that did not add up. A brother said an anonymous caller who sounded like Lavigne called Danny's death an accident. Lavigne was never charged. He pleaded guilty in 1992 to molesting two other boys and was defrocked in 2003; DNA testing in the 1990s and in 2004 could not tie him to the scene. In April and May 2021, after a cold-case unit reopened the file, Lavigne, 80 and in a Greenfield medical facility, gave eleven hours of recorded interviews in which he said he brought Danny to the river, gave him a good shove, tossed the object he hit him with into the water, and later saw him floating face down. On May 21, 2021 Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni authorized a murder warrant; Lavigne died of COVID-19 pneumonia that evening. On May 24 Gulluni named him as the killer and closed the case.
How it was solved
In 1972 Chicopee police noted Lavigne's inconsistent statements, his presence alone at the riverbank the day after the body was found, and his question about whether blood would remain on a stone thrown in the river; a diocese-ordered polygraph that May was first inconclusive and then, five days later, passed. After Lavigne was charged with molesting other altar boys in 1991, the state police reopened the Croteau file. A 1993 affidavit by a state trooper gathered statements from boys, now men, who described Lavigne giving altar boys wine, watching Danny from a parked car, and reacting with alarm when Danny shouted "I'll tell!" on a 1968 camping trip. A warrant for Lavigne's blood went to the Supreme Judicial Court; the blood on a straw at the scene was type B, like Lavigne's, but DNA did not match, and in 1995 District Attorney William Bennett announced the tests had failed to link him. Testing in 2004 also came back empty. That same year investigators learned, through a grand jury subpoena in an unrelated clergy case, that Lavigne had shown a diocese employee a typed, unsigned letter he said must have come from the real killer; a search warrant on April 6, 2004 seized it. In March 2020 District Attorney Anthony Gulluni's new Unresolved Cases Unit assigned a trooper to the case. His office sent the 1972 evidence to a Florida lab, which confirmed only that Danny's blood was on the stones, and in March 2021 hired a forensic linguist to compare the letter with ten of Lavigne's known writings. On April 14, 15, 16 and 17 and May 4, 2021, after Miranda warnings, the trooper recorded about eleven hours with Lavigne in his hospital room. Lavigne never said he killed Danny, but said he brought him to the river that night, gave him "a good shove," tossed in the water the object he had hit him with, left, came back and saw the boy face down in the river, and told no one. On May 21 the linguist reported that Lavigne could not be excluded as the letter's author, and Gulluni authorized detectives to seek a murder warrant. Lavigne died that evening. Gulluni said he believed the case could have been proven, named Lavigne, and closed the file.
Sources
- Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni formally closes investigation into the homicide of Danny Croteau, citing new evidence against Richard Lavigne (May 24, 2021)
“This past Friday, detectives with the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Hampden District Attorney's Office were authorized by DA Gulluni to present the case against Richard Lavigne to a magistrate in order to obtain an arrest warrant for the murder of Danny Croteau. However, Lavigne died this past Friday evening, May 21, in a hospital facility in Greenfield.”
- Former priest responsible for 1972 death of altar boy, but died before his arrest, DA says (May 24, 2021)
“In the 11 hours of interviews over five dates in 2021, Lavigne never admitted to killing Croteau, but he admitted being with him on the night of his death and later seeing his body floating face-down in the Chicopee River.”
- Hampden DA Says Former Catholic Priest Killed Altar Boy In 1972 (May 24, 2021)
“"I am announcing today that the investigation into the murder of Danny Croteau is now officially closed," Gulluni said.”
- Croteau murder investigation comes to a close (May 2021)
“During the April 16th [2021] interview, Lavigne stated that he brought Danny to the Chicopee River on the night of his death. Danny wandered off, and after waiting there for 20 to 30 minutes, when Danny did not return, Lavigne said he left him there and went home.”
- Hampden DA identifies former Catholic priest as killer in 1972 slaying of 13-year-old Danny Croteau (May 24, 2021)
“Lavigne died Friday at Baystate Medical Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, according to state records. The immediate cause of death was “acute hypoxic respiratory failure,” and the underlying cause was “COVID-19 pneumonia,” according to state records. He was 80.”
- A priest, a boy, and a murder (May 24, 2021)
“Gulluni said a key piece of evidence was recovered by State Police detectives working for one of his predecessors in 2004, when they obtained a search warrant and went through Lavigne’s home with a fine tooth comb. It was an anonymous letter, suggesting that someone other than Lavigne had murdered Danny.”
- Ex-priest dies of COVID-19 same day warrant sought to charge him in 1972 murder of altar boy (May 26, 2021)
“The statement of facts released Monday details the case from the moment Danny’s body was found. An on-duty Chicopee police officer reported the gruesome discovery at 8:25 a.m. that day.”
- Ex-priest suspected in altar boy's 1972 killing dies hours before arrest (May 25, 2021)
“The priest pleaded guilty in 1992 to molesting young male parishioners. He was sentenced to 10 years' probation and seven months of mandatory sex-offender counseling. He was defrocked in 2003.”
- 'Tragedy of the highest order': Danny Croteau murder haunted law enforcement until its conclusion (June 20, 2021; reposted by BishopAccountability.org)
“Bennett successfully battled with the Supreme Judicial Court and Lavigne’s attorney to retain a blood sample provided by Lavigne. While there was a bloody rock and a straw found at the crime scene, Bennett’s team was unable to recover a DNA profile from the items.”
- State Releases More Than 2,000 Pages from Altar Boy Murder Investigation (August 4, 2004; archived by BishopAccountability.org)
“Among the 2,035 pages released by the Superior Court clerk's office was a 1993 search warrant authorizing a blood test of Lavigne to compare his DNA with blood found along the river bank where Danny's body was found. Several investigators' reports and summaries of witness statements were also released, although the names of many of the witnesses were removed from the documents.”
- Croteau papers: investigation pointed to a suspect but fell short of physical evidence (August 8, 2004; archived by BishopAccountability.org)
“A lie detector test administered to Lavigne on May 4, 1972, showed "erratic and inconsistent responses" by Lavigne to a series of questions regarding Croteau's murder, according to previously impounded Franklin Superior Court records that were released two years ago based on another court challenge by the newspaper.”
- Murder of Danny Croteau
“In March 2020, Hampden County D. A. Anthony Gulluni created the "Unresolved Cases Unit", assigning investigators to re-examine old murders, including Croteau's.”