An unforgettable murder in Vermont – The Boston Globe

In a quiet city like Danby, the place the inhabitants on the time barely topped 1,000, the Peacocks’ ugly demise was greater than stunning. Who would brutally homicide a innocent, aged couple?

Greater than three a long time later, there could lastly be a solution.

In accordance with an affidavit filed by Vermont State Police final week, the Peacocks’ son-in-law, Michael Louise, was thought-about a suspect inside 12 days of the killings, after making self-incriminating statements. The 28-page affidavit lays out a decades-long, difficult investigation that got here to a head simply final week.

Shortly after the murders, Vermont State Police Detective Sergeant Brian Abbey referred to as Penny Louise, the Peacocks’ daughter and Michael Louise’s spouse, to replace her on the investigation. He advised her police had been on the lookout for a tan automobile seen across the time of the murders.

When Penny advised her husband that, he panicked. He drove a small tan Chevy sedan. Michael Louise took off, forsaking a rambling word that urged he was going to kill himself. As an alternative, he got here again and met with Abbey, the detective.

He advised Abbey a convoluted story about driving from his residence in New York to Vermont, to choose up some boards he had saved at his in-laws’ home. That didn’t make sense to Abbey. The boards, which police had examined on the homicide scene, had been far too lengthy to slot in Louise’s small sedan. In any occasion, Louise advised Abbey he modified his thoughts, and circled earlier than reaching his in-laws’ home.

Abbey requested Louise if it was attainable he blacked out and killed the Peacocks and simply doesn’t bear in mind it.

“Sure,” Louise replied. “I’ve considered that.”

Regardless of Louise’s unusual admission, he insisted he was harmless, and police lacked witnesses and bodily proof that positioned him on the scene. Abbey and Detective Sergeant Bob Jalbert realized that in 1966 Michael Louise was convicted of raping a 4-year-old lady in Rhode Island. When first confronted, Louise advised police he had blacked out and couldn’t bear in mind raping the lady.

Louise’s niece advised detectives that he had admitted to her that he had pushed to Vermont from his New York residence on the day of the murders, however couldn’t bear in mind stabbing his in-laws. His niece advised police he stated he had blacked out, a proof he appeared to supply every time in hassle.

Michael Louise, now 79, managed to outlast his earliest nemeses, however he couldn’t outlast police persistence — and advances in know-how.

Brian Abbey, the detective who labored so exhausting to carry Michael Louise accountable, died 18 years in the past. Bob Jalbert, the detective who helped slender the deal with Louise, died 10 years in the past.

Two years in the past, Sam Truex, a detective sergeant who joined the Vermont State Police 9 years after the Peacock murders, inherited the chilly case. A small blood stain discovered on the motive force’s aspect ground mat of Michael Louise’s automobile had been examined a month after the murders, however crime lab technicians concluded there wasn’t sufficient blood to attach it to anybody.

Within the three a long time since, DNA know-how has improved dramatically. Truex and Detective Sergeant Aron McNeil resubmitted the blood stain for testing, and a forensic chemist decided it was George Peacock’s blood.

Final week, state troopers from Vermont and New York drove out to Michael Louise’s home close to Syracuse and arrested him, charging him with the murders.

It was a memorable second, one Michael Louise will always remember.

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He may be reached at kevin.cullen@globe.com.