BENNINGTON — An arrest warrant was issued late Wednesday for a Chicopee, Massachusetts teen wanted in a brutal stabbing incident in February that left one man dead in the roadway of a Pownal trailer park as local children made their way home from school.
Elizah Coppedge, 18, is currently charged with murder in the 2nd degree for the stabbing death of Casey Gras, 36, of Bennington, inside the Pownal Estates Trailer Park off Route 7 in Pownal on Feb. 6. An arrest warrant and hold without bail request was issued by Bennington Judge Kerry McDonald-Cady late Wednesday afternoon on the murder charge. No arrests have been made so far.
According to an affidavit in the case, police were called to Chickadee Drive at about 3 p.m. for a 911 report of a male lying in the road, not breathing. Vermont State Police located the male dressed in underwear and a T-shirt with cut and puncture wounds to his torso minutes later lying near a fence in the roadway. Rescue personnel attempted first aid, which was unsuccessful. The male, later identified as Gras, was pronounced dead 41 minutes later. An autopsy found the cause of death to be stab wounds to the abdomen and upper body, and the manner of death a homicide.
Witnesses told police Gras was in the passenger seat of a Subaru in front of 374 Chickadee Drive, arguing with another individual. The argument soon escalated, with a witness seeing the other male, wearing a large knife sheath on his waist, standing outside the open passenger door, punching Gras. Gras exited the vehicle, and the fighting continued. The witness then noticed Gras walking toward his property as the other male knocked on the door of the trailer the Subaru was parked in front of, yelling to let him in. The witness told Gras to get off his property as the other male walked toward Gras.
Gras – mortally wounded – ran across the dirt roadway for about 30 feet, moaning in pain, then collapsed next to a tall fence just as the neighborhood schoolchildren were let off the school bus. Parents, meeting them before police arrived, tried to shield their eyes. A short time later, emergency medical services arrived and worked on Gras, where he collapsed. He was declared dead at the scene about 15 minutes later.
Video surveillance taken minutes after the incident from a neighboring property showed two individuals, a male and a female, wearing hoods that concealed their faces, walking quickly away from the trailer, followed by another male wearing a mask and carrying a backpack lagging behind. Police believe those individuals to be the female resident of the trailer, Misty Chandler, Coppedge, and another individual believed to be involved named Jacob Lundy.
A different witness revealed the three suspects, walking on NW Hill Road, enter the woods near a culvert before being picked up by a white-colored SUV. The witness provided photographs of the three suspects to police. According to police, all were believed to be the three suspects leaving the scene of the murder.
A later search of the trailer at 374 Chickadee Drive revealed blood stain evidence inside. Police also located a fixed-blade knife with blood stains on the blade on a hutch in the living room of the residence.
About 9 p.m. on the same day, Massachusetts State Police executed a motor vehicle stop in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Four individuals were inside the vehicle, including Misty Chandler, Jacob Lundy, and Elizah Coppedge. The fourth was an Uber driver. Police found suspected controlled substances and drug paraphernalia inside, as well as outstanding warrants for Coppedge, who was taken into custody. As he was being processed after his arrest, a wallet allegedly fell out of Coppedge’s clothes. Inside the wallet was a Vermont identification card belonging to Nathan Gray.
The Massachusetts court system released Coppedge after his arrest.
According to the affidavit, seized cellphone data and interviews with several suspects and acquaintances later revealed that Nathan Gray told police he had given Gras the wallet just before the two entered the Pownal trailer and that Gras had put the wallet inside his backpack. Gras, allegedly a drug user, and Gray had driven to Pownal to purchase drugs. When they got there, several individuals appeared from a back room of the residence and assaulted Gras and Gray, stripping Gras down to his underwear and socks. Gray, at some point in the beating, was able to escape the trailer and fled in the vehicle they arrived in.
An embedded social media video seized as part of a search warrant revealed all three individuals singing inside the residence at the Pownal trailer park just four hours before the homicide. Several still photos allegedly show Coppedge and someone holding an identical knife to the one found with blood stains inside the trailer, according to the affidavit. It was determined that the photo was taken the same day as the murder, just moments after the 911 call of the stabbing. A text from the phone shows the photo of the knife and the words, “I just did sun really bad,” followed by the return text, “Get tf OUTTA VERMONT RIGHT NOW BRO.”
Police reported that extensive efforts had been made to locate Coppedge and requested an arrest warrant to aid in that effort.
Coppedge is facing a possible life sentence with a presumptive 20-year minimum behind bars if he is found guilty.
Neighbors inside the trailer park after the murder said they feared for their children and all of the drug dealing has decimated the park.
“There’s so much drug activity in and out of there, I can’t really tell you who’s who,” said a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous. “I’m in constant fear for my grandchildren’s lives.”
