Man Pleads Not Guilty in 1989 Killings of His In-laws in Vermont

A New York man charged with the 1989 stabbing deaths of his in-laws within the Vermont city of Danby after fashionable DNA strategies linked him to the crime pleaded not responsible Friday throughout a court docket listening to.

The arraignment of Michael Louise in Vermont Superior Courtroom in Rutland got here two days after he was returned to Vermont from New York to reply fees within the deaths of George Peacock, 76, and Catherine Peacock, 73. He had been scheduled for arraignment Thursday however the listening to was delayed 24 hours.

Louise entered the pleas after which was ordered held with out bail, stated Vermont State Police spokesperson Adam Silverman, who monitored the listening to remotely.

Louise, 79, who was married to one of many Peacocks’ daughters, was recognized as a suspect about two weeks later after the couple was discovered useless of their Danby residence in September 1989. Investigators on the time developed circumstantial proof tying Louise to the killings, however there was not sufficient to cost him, police stated in an affidavit filed within the case.

Louise informed conflicting tales about whether or not he had traveled to Vermont from his residence in Liverpool, New York, on Sept. 13, 1989, the day the Peacocks have been believed to have been killed. Their our bodies have been found Sept. 17 after neighbors went to examine on the couple.

When Louise’s automobile was searched by the New York State Police on Oct. 6, 1989, investigators found what was described as a small blood deposit, later decided to be human, on the driving force’s aspect ground mat. On the time, the blood deposit was not giant sufficient so it might be typed.

The blood was subjected to DNA testing in 2000 by the Vermont forensic lab, however the take a look at that was performed on the time was not as delicate as present testing. It was retested in October 2020 and a portion of it matched a pattern taken from George Peacock.

Police haven’t publicly advised a motive for the killings. Prosecutors stated that Louise is an individual of curiosity in “a number of” unsolved homicides in New York State.