Dark Downeast - The Murders of George and Catherine Peacock (Vermont)

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

When an elderly couple was found murdered inside their Danby, Vermont home in the fall of 1989, it had residents of the small town looking over their shoulders and double-checking their door locks at night.  State Police identified a suspect early on in the investigation, but the evidence they had against this person was largely circumstantial, and the physical evidence, a single drop of blood, wasn’t enough to point to a suspect. And so, the double murder sat unsolved for over thirty years until 2020, when the case was reopened with the hope that new forensic DNA analysis could finally shine a light on long-concealed answers.This episode is released in collaboration with Season of Justice in recognition of National DNA Day. You can Text DARK to 53555 to support Season of Justice today. Together, we can solve cold cases.  View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/georgecatherinepeacockDark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

When an elderly couple was found murdered inside their Danby, Vermont home in the fall of 1989, it had residents of the small town looking over their shoulders and double-checking their door locks at night. State police identified a suspect early on in the investigation, but the evidence they had against this person was largely circumstantial, and the physical evidence, a single drop of blood, wasn't enough to point to a suspect. And so the double murder sat unsolved for over 30 years, until 2020, when the case was reopened with the hope that new forensic DNA analysis could finally shine a light on long-concealed answers. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the case of George and Catherine Peacock on Dark Down East.

Every day without fail, 76-year-old George Peacock picked up a copy of the Rutland Herald newspaper at a store near his house in Danby, Vermont. It was such a routine of his that people noticed when George didn't show up at the store on Wednesday, September 13th, 1989, or the next day, or the next day. It was also unusual when on Sunday, September 17th, George didn't clock in for his shift at the Rutland Travel Lodge. He worked part-time three days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and was fastidious about his schedule. He did not miss work or appointments, period. The desk clerk at the lodge was a little concerned, so they talked to a friend of the Peacocks, a woman from out of town named Lorraine, who happened to be staying at the travel lodge that day. Lorraine said she hadn't seen George or his wife, 73-year-old Catherine, recently either,

but she and her husband would stop by their house later to check in. When they pulled into the yard of George and Catherine's red one-and-a-half-story house just off Route 7 in Danby, Lorraine could see that their car was in the yard and there was a light on in the living room, but all the doors were locked. The Peacocks were known to be extremely security-conscious and safety-obsessed, so it wasn't a surprise to find the house locked up tight, even if they were home. But no one responded when she knocked. Lorraine knew the neighbors, Jay and Faith, so she went next door to see if they knew where George was, but they hadn't seen

him either, not since he mowed his lawn on September 13th. That was days ago now. Together, they all returned to George and Catherine's house for a closer look, peering through windows and calling out to the couple who lived there. But as Jay looked through the windows on the front door, he could see George inside, laying at the foot of the stairs. Jay ran to the Peacock's car in the driveway, and that was unlocked, so he was able to get the garage door opener. From there, it was possible to get into the house through a basement access door. It doesn't seem like this door was locked or even had a lock to begin with, so Jay was ahead of Lorraine as they made their way to the foot of the stairs to George. It was obvious to Jay that George was deceased. Jay knew that

Catherine hadn't been well lately, so he bounded up the stairs to see if he could find her too. When Jay saw Catherine laying on the floor of one of the bedrooms, also deceased, he hollered down to Lorraine not to come any further. They both left the house through the kitchen door and went to call the police. Vermont State Police arrived at the Peacock residence around 9.40 that morning. Detective Sergeant Robert Jalbert noted that George and Catherine's home had several exterior doors, which again were locked, except for the kitchen door that Jay unlocked to get out of the house that morning, and there was no sign of forced entry anywhere either. Detective Sergeant Jalbert found George lying almost face down, slightly on his right side, with his legs curled up in a semi-fetal

position at the foot of the stairs. Beneath him was a large pool of dried blood, and it was clear that George had multiple stab wounds to his chest. Looking around the immediate scene, it appeared George had a violent struggle with his attacker, starting at the top of the stairs, and then continued to fight back all the way down the stairs before he was killed. The back pocket of George's pants, where he presumably kept his wallet, had been slashed open. The wallet was found on the floor near his body, and it looked like it

had been rifled through. Investigators located Catherine's purse elsewhere in the house, and it looked like someone had emptied that out too. Other than that, though, it didn't look like anyone had gone through the house or torn it apart in search of valuables. Jewelry was right where it should have been, closets were untouched, and dresser drawers were unopened. Crime scene technicians noted a bloody footprint on the carpeted stairs leading up to the second floor and blood spatters on the stairwell walls. They also found blood on both sides of a door that led into the bedroom where Catherine was found. The room appeared to be used for storage with a collection of random items all around, including a few plastic bags of clothing and a pile of particle board planks

stacked over on one side. Catherine had also sustained apparent stab wounds to her chest, but there was no visible blood on or around her body and no sign of a struggle. None of the clothing she was wearing had knife marks either, not her bra, sweater, or cardigan. These details are really odd to me because I'm not sure how someone can have obvious stab wounds to their chest, but the articles of clothing that typically cover your chest are undamaged and there's no blood anywhere. But according to the 30-page affidavit I have, which summarizes the facts of the case, the detective surmised Catherine had been overpowered by her attacker, was subdued, and then repeatedly stabbed. After the scene was fully processed and secured, George and Catherine's bodies were transported for autopsy. The medical examiner

determined their deaths to be homicides, with Catherine's death being the result of multiple stab-incised wounds of anterior precordium, or the area of her chest over her heart, multiple stab wounds directly to her heart and to her liver and diaphragm. She had bruising on her temple, the bridge of her nose, and near her left kidney. George, too, died of multiple stab wounds, with seven to his chest, which damaged his ribs, sternum, lungs, diaphragm, liver, and other internal organs, as well as injuries to his scalp, hands, back, and more. The medical examiner concluded that the murder weapon was likely a single-blade knife with a thin, narrow blade, or a double-edged bladed knife

approximately five-eighths of an inch wide and slightly longer than four inches. He believed the killer stabbed Catherine and George while standing behind them. Also worth noting from George's autopsy was the presence of hairs in both of his hands. Additional strands of hair were found on the carpet beneath George's body before he was removed from the house. The hairs were collected as evidence. The autopsy determined that the peacocks had been dead for several days, which lined up with the last reported sighting of George mowing his lawn on September 13th and the most recent copy of the Rutland Herald found in the house for the same date.

On further investigation, police also learned that George had missed a doctor's appointment at 3 p.m. on September 13th. When news of the double homicide began to make its way around Danby and Greater Vermont, the details were scarce but alarming. Diane Derby reports for the Burlington Free Press that there had been a string of break-ins in the area recently, and so neighbors were locking their doors up tight, fearing that the murders of George and Catherine were the result of a burglary gone wrong. Jay, the neighbor who found their bodies, said he had stepped up his own security measures. He told the paper, quote, everybody's packing iron, end quote. Police weren't saying either way if burglary was the motive. Rutland County State's Attorney James Mongeon said

they weren't closing the doors on any possibilities. But behind the scenes, the investigation had already started to develop a strong theory of the case, and there wasn't anything random about it. George and Catherine had three adult daughters, and all three of their daughters traveled to Vermont with their traveled to Vermont with their husbands to meet with investigators on September 18th, the day after the bodies of their mother and father were discovered. That's when police told them they were considering every

one of them to have knowledge of the homicides. Now, police knew that there were some friends and other people who had access to the Peacock's house, but those individuals were apparently ruled out as having anything to do with the murders. But since there was no sign of forced entry, investigators believed George and Catherine let their attacker inside, because it was likely someone who didn't seem like a threat when they came knocking at the door that day. Police interviewed all of the daughters and their spouses and learned that the last time any of them visited Catherine and George was about a month prior to their deaths. Their middle daughter, Penelope, who went by Penny, and her husband, Michael Louise, drove up from their home in Liverpool, New York for a week-long visit.

According to statements by Penny, she and Michael took their 1986 Chevy Celebrity for the three-and-a-half-hour drive. Detectives noted that when Penny and Michael drove to Vermont to meet with them about the murders on September 18th, though, they were driving a rental vehicle. Michael worked at a car rental company inside an airport, and sometimes when they went to Vermont for a visit with Penny's parents, they rented a bigger vehicle so they had enough room for Penny's children. But this time, Michael said he wanted to drive a rental car not because of the kids, but because he was worried that their personal vehicle might break down, something about an issue with the struts. About two weeks into the investigation, police received some tips about vehicles spotted

in the Peacock's driveway around the time of the murders. Yvonne Daly reports for the Rutland Herald that police were looking for a light-colored, square-backed vehicle, a description that kind of sounds like a 1986 tan Chevy Celebrity like the Louises drove. Investigators stayed in touch with the Peacock's daughters during those first few weeks of the case and called Penny on September 28th to let her know what they were working on. Detective Sergeant Brian Abbey told her that they were looking for a tan car that had been seen at her parents' house on or about September 13th, and the next thing on their list was to obtain toll slips to see if that got them anywhere. Now, when you hear toll slips, especially in the United States, your first thought might be tolls for highways and

interstates. That's what Penny's mind assumed too. She didn't realize, and the detective didn't clarify, that he was referring to toll records for long-distance phone calls. According to court records, Penny and her husband Michael Louise had an extremely close relationship. A witness statement says they had all the same friends, always knew what one another was doing and when, and talked about everything. So Penny told Michael what she'd just heard from the detective about the tan car and toll slips. Immediately, Penny could tell that her husband was nervous. The next day, Michael Louise took off, leaving an alarming note behind for Penny to find. Penny called detectives on September 29th after Michael took off to inform them that soon after her husband heard about the toll slips and hand car, he became obviously upset. She had found a note from Michael saying that he didn't want to hurt her or the children, so he was leaving and

going to Pennsylvania. He wrote that he hadn't been able to eat or sleep and was scared that law enforcement weren't going to believe him. He said that on the day George and Catherine were killed, he drove to Saratoga, New York, but he didn't go any further. The note made Penny believe that Michael may be planning to die by suicide. Despite the content and perceived tone of the note, Michael ended up coming home either later that night or early on September 30th. When he returned, he had a brand new pair of boots. Michael typically wore boots to work, but he'd been wearing sneakers recently. And him going out to buy a brand new pair just didn't align with Michael's shopping habits. Witness statements indicate that he usually had to be reminded to get a new pair of boots

when his started to wear down, and even then he'd wait until a big snowstorm or something to finally invest in new footwear. Now, Michael and Penny happened to have a previously scheduled meeting with the detectives in Rutland on the same day he returned, because Penny was supposed to submit blood samples for possible testing. Side note, the affidavit I'm looking at says that Penny and Catherine were there to submit blood samples that day, which is probably a typo, but I don't know for sure if the second name was supposed to be Michael's or not.

So I don't know for sure if he gave a blood sample that day. But I do know that before they left Vermont, Penny and Michael asked to speak with one of the detectives privately. Michael told the detective that he was actually too nervous to clearly communicate what he needed to say. So he handed over the letter that he originally left for Penny to find when he took off the previous day, along with a second letter that he wrote while he was gone. Michael detailed his whereabouts on the day George and Catherine were murdered, saying that after he worked the night shift at his second job delivering newspapers, he drove Penny to work in their tan Chevy Celebrity,

but instead of going home, Michael figured he would use the day to drive to Vermont and pick up some boards he was keeping at his in-law's place. They were exactly what he needed for a project he wanted to finish at his own house. According to Michael's letter, he started driving towards Vermont from Dewitt, New York, where Penny worked, but realized he overestimated how much energy he had that morning after being up working most of the night. So he had to make several pit stops along the way to grab coffee and rest before getting on the road again. He said he made it to Saratoga, New York, about 150 miles from where he started, but decided he just didn't have it in him to drive the last 50 miles to Danby, so he turned around and started back home. Michael also shared in this letter that since the murders, he could hardly sleep,

his nerves were shot, he couldn't think straight, and any time he tried to eat, his stomach turned. He wrote that when he learned police were looking at a family member for the murder, he just freaked out because he was 50 miles away in Saratoga that same day. But Michael was clear. He was not at their house or even in Vermont that day. After reading the letter, Detective Sergeant Abbey posed an interesting question. He asked Michael if maybe he did go to Danby, and he did kill George and Catherine, but he blacked out and couldn't remember doing it. Michael responded, quote,

yes, I've thought about that, end quote. He didn't say anything else, except that he could account for all of his time and movements that day. The suggestion by the detective that he could account for all of his time and movements that day. The suggestion by the detective that Michael could have blacked out before committing the crime doesn't appear to be random. Police had pulled criminal histories for each of the family members' first thing and found that Michael Louise had a record. In 1966, Michael was charged with rape of a four-year-old girl in Rhode Island. When the girl's parents called the police, he tried to say the girl injured herself but later confessed. He'd been left alone with the girl for less than 15 minutes.

Michael first pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. But later, during psychological evaluation, a psychiatrist found that even though Michael didn't know why he did it, he also said he could have stopped himself if he tried. The Newport Daily News reports that Michael Louise ultimately pleaded guilty to a charge of carnal knowledge, not the original rape charge, and he was sentenced to six years. According to a witness statement about the crime summarized in a 2022 affidavit,

Michael had told Rhode Island police the presence of his attorney. During that interview, on October 5th, 1989, Michael Louise provided a written statement, which rehashed the same details he'd already shared in the previous letter. However, this statement had timestamps and many more specifics about how he spent the day of September 13th. Michael stated that he dropped Penny off at work by 8.40 a.m., then went to a grocery store to grab cigarettes, leaving there around 9.15. He then got on the I-690 on-ramp by 9.30 a.m., and that's when he started thinking about the boards he was storing at the Peacock's house. He said there were four of them, each about

nine feet long, and they were in the upstairs bedroom. Police knew that these boards did in fact exist. They were in the same room where they found Catherine's body. Michael continued on with his timeline, stating that he made it to Saratoga, New York between 1.40 and 2.10 p.m. and sat in the parking lot of a shopping center for 10 to 15 minutes before driving a little further into Saratoga and resting again. He decided he just couldn't make the rest of the trip. So Michael turned around in the direction of home and made several more stops on the way. His last stop that day was around 6.15 p.m. to pick up his paycheck at the airport.

He said he went straight home after that. Michael denied being in Vermont and having anything to do with the murders of his in-laws. Another topic came up during that conversation, Michael's new boots. Detectives knew about the boots Michael bought when he took off for the day, and his wife had told them it was weird because of his typical reluctance to get a new pair, even when he really needed them. When investigators asked Michael about them, he said he told his wife his old ones were bothering his feet

and he was planning to get new ones and throw the other pair away. They later tried to confirm this with Penny, and she said she didn't remember Michael ever mentioning the boots hurting, but then later changed her statement to say she actually did recall Michael saying that. So Michael's statements weren't exactly satisfying to police and if anything, had only deepened their suspicion. They crunched the numbers and ran mileage and travel time from points along the map where Michael claimed to be that day. Investigators noticed that had Michael continued driving from Saratoga that afternoon,

he would have made it to Danby, Vermont at the precise time the murders were believed to occur. But it wasn't enough to cuff and charge him with a double murder, and they knew it. Physical evidence is what they needed. The previous day, Vermont State Police had received consent from Penny Louise to search and process the car Michael was driving told Penny not to say anything to Michael about the search in case he tried to destroy the car or anything inside it. But it was obvious that she had looped him in about the impending search because it was Michael's lawyer who brought it up during the interview on October 5th. But luckily, the car hadn't mysteriously disappeared overnight or anything like that, so Michael and Penny surrendered it to investigators

for processing. Two New York State police officials assisted Vermont investigators and processed the Louise vehicle on October 6, 1989. They collected a total of 17 exhibits from the car for later examination and testing. According to an affidavit, the trooper searching the vehicle identified a few areas on the driver's side of the car with what looked like blood deposits on them. On the driver's floor mat, the trooper also identified a small reddish-brown stain. It looked like blood, but it was tiny. We're talking a single drop at most. So further testing was necessary to determine if that's actually what it was, and if so, what or who it might belong to. The testing would take a few weeks, and in the meantime, Vermont authorities had more questions for Michael. If only they could

find the guy. A few days after their car was searched on either October 8th or 9th, Penny found another concerning note from her husband, and Michael himself was nowhere to be found. The second note that Michael left for Penny never made it into the case file, and investigators weren't aware of it until a few years later. But court documents include statements from witnesses who said they read it themselves and could recall its contents. The letter was longer than the first, about eight or nine pages, and in it, Michael says he was leaving because he knew he was a suspect in the double murder case. He wrote that he loved Penny and he thought about her parents a lot and he couldn't imagine harming them, but he thought

he knew how the whole investigation was going to end and he couldn't face it. The family members who read the note said it felt like Michael was trying to garner some sympathy for the situation he was in and possibly say goodbye. His words were not direct, but based on the note, Penny believed Michael was going to harm himself. The note was found near a bag on the back porch of their home that contained a new and unopened gun still in the box, some ammunition, a hunting license holder or tag, and a receipt. Michael told Penny in the note to return everything in the bag and get the money back. Later, when Penny and family members compared the receipt to the items in the bag and get the money back. Later, when Penny and family

members compared the receipt to the items in the bag, there was one thing missing, a hunting knife. I don't know who informed police about Michael taking off again, but this time, he was actually reported as a missing person. With that, his name went public. Jamie Heller reported for the Rutland Herald that New York State Police had issued a bolo for Michael Louise. Public records showed that he was married to one of the Peacock's daughters, so journalists quickly put the pieces together. When reporters asked if Michael was a suspect in the double murder case, though, the Rutland County prosecutor refused to give a concrete answer. He said only that he was one of many family members who were already interviewed and one of a number of individuals who were still under investigation at that time. Michael was missing at least a day or two, leaving his wife to worry and others to wonder where he was, what he was doing, or had already done.

But then Penny got a phone call from Michael. Again, despite the tone of the letter he left, he was alive. Penny asked where he was and what was going on, and after talking for some time, Michael agreed to meet with Penny in the parking lot of a mall a few towns over. When Penny, her daughter, and Michael's niece, Patty, found him at the Pencan Mall, he was sitting in his car. They got in with him and he started explaining that he had been at the library reading up on polygraphs. He also told them he spent a lot of time trying to remember the day Catherine and George were

murdered but said he didn't think he could have done it. Now though, he allegedly said that he did remember going to Vermont that day, but was drawing a blank on everything else. According to the niece's witness statements, that 20-minute or so conversation ended when Penny put her hand on Michael's shoulder and said something along the lines of,

well, we know you didn't do it. That was that. Michael returned home on October 12th and told Penny he planned to admit himself to a hospital for psychological treatment, though it's unclear if that actually happened based on the source material I currently have. Within a few days of his return,

Yvonne Daly actually got Michael on the phone for a comment in the Rutland Herald, and Michael said that he'd been on, quote, a little trip. I'm back, end quote. The same day Michael came home, two Vermont detectives drove to New York to speak with Penny again. They asked her about Michael's habits and routines, and Penny said it was actually pretty common for him to go

quote-unquote riding as a way to relax. Sometimes he'd be gone all day long. Sometimes he'd drop her off at work and then go out for one of his rides and was occasionally late picking her up at the end of the day. Penny never asked him where he went or what he did on those rides. Detectives asked her when was the last time Michael went for one of his typical rides. According to an affidavit, Penny responded that it was that Wednesday, when he went to Vermont September 13th. She quickly clarified that she didn't actually know if he went to Vermont that day or not. The circumstantial evidence was building. There was no doubt about that. It seemed every statement made by family members and even

Michael himself pointed to him having the opportunity to kill Catherine and George Peacock. But they needed more than that to bring charges, like the physical evidence they were waiting on. But when a forensic scientist at the Vermont State Crime Lab finally called with results from the tests they'd run on the samples from Michael's car, it made the job of investigators even more difficult. Glenn Welker of the Vermont State Crime Lab called Detective Jalbert on October 24th, 1989 to inform him the small reddish-brown spot on the driver's side floor mat was, in fact, blood. But they needed to do more testing to determine the source. Two days later, on October 26th, Welker called again to confirm that the blood was human. But

unfortunately, there wasn't enough of a sample there to run any typing analysis, meaning they couldn't determine if the blood was type A or type O or any of that, which was really the extent of analysis done on blood at the time. They weren't developing DNA profiles for comparison to suspects or victims because technology hadn't come that far. Not yet. Additional physical evidence in the case included hairs found in both of George Peacock's hands during the autopsy and two cigarette butts collected at the scene, one outside in the yard and one inside the kitchen trash can. Neither George or Catherine were smokers. But like the initial tests on the blood evidence, the hairs and cigarette butts weren't a slam dunk. The hair samples did not match Michael Louise, and court documents say that the cigarette butts simply yielded no results at the time.

None of the physical evidence could definitively rule Michael Louise in or out as a suspect. So the investigation continued, albeit slower than the first few weeks. In April of 1990, there was talk of an inquest, which would compel a certain out-of-state witness to answer questions under oath in front of a judge

and without an attorney present. It's unclear if that actually happened or if it yielded anything significant, though. There were no arrests that year or the following. Michael Louise ultimately refused to submit to a polygraph, and it seems like his lawyer probably advised him to stop talking to police soon after. According to one witness statement, Michael acted pretty much normal after that. Later in 1990, though, Michael was actually arrested on an unrelated charge for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He served 18 days in

jail and then just went about his life, I guess. Investigators conducted a few more interviews in 1991 and 1992, but after that, the case cooled way off until it went cold altogether. A little over 10 years later, in 2000, the blood evidence found in Michael Louise's car was sent off for updated analysis, in hopes that advancements in DNA testing could identify whose blood was on the floor mat of that Chevy celebrity. But again, the results were disappointing. The DNA STR kit available at the time was not sensitive enough to develop a profile and allow for a match. Again, the case fell dormant. Danby residents could not forget what happened that September afternoon in 1989

and still talked about George and Catherine, who were known as quiet people who kept to themselves, but also deeply religious, kind, and giving. The town clerk in Danby at the time, Janice Arnold, told Alan J. Keyes of the Rutland Herald in 2005 that people were wondering if the case would ever be solved. Law enforcement shared in their frustrations about the lack of progress. Detective Sergeant Joel Davidson explained, Basically, the case is sort of in a holding pattern. We believe we know who did it, but we can't prove it, and that individual will not talk about it and will not talk to us. We're kind of stuck.

End quote. Detective Sergeant Davidson said what the case really needed was new evidence, something to turn the case around so their theory of what happened and who was responsible could be proven in court. It would take another two decades for that to happen, but the case of George and Catherine Peacock did finally turn around, thanks to advancements in forensic DNA technology. In May of 2020, Vermont State Police Detective Sergeant Samuel Truex began leafing through case documents for the Danby double homicide of George and Catherine Peacock alongside Detective Sergeant Aaron McNeil.

Their very first order of business was to get the existing physical evidence back to the lab for analysis. It had been 20 years since the last attempt at developing a DNA profile from that single drop of blood, and DNA short tandem repeat testing had advanced tenfold since then. So on May 14th, the bloodstain evidence, along with the hairs and cigarette butts, were sent to the Vermont forensic lab. The results came back about five months later. That single drop of blood was actually determined to be a mixture from at least two different people.

The major DNA profile in the sample was a one-in-quadrillion match to the standard from George Peacock, meaning blood from one of the victims was found in the vehicle of the primary suspect Michael Louise. The minor DNA profile in that sample, though, was, quote, not suitable for interpretation, end quote. As far as the other evidence goes, we know the hair samples found in George Peacock's hand did not match Michael Louise, but the hairs were not compared to either George or Catherine. I don't know if they didn't have anything to compare them to or what, but it seems the origin of the hair is still unknown at this point. For the cigarette butts, forensic chemist Joe Abraham was able to develop a DNA profile from the one found in the driveway outside the Peacock's house. But that profile didn't match Michael Louise or George.

It's unclear if the profile was compared to Catherine or anyone else. Having an answer to whose blood was on the floor mat of Michael Louise's car after more than 30 years was a pivotal development in the long-standing case. But they weren't ready to bring an arrest just yet. The current investigators wanted to catch up with witnesses who had previously given statements, whoever was still around and alive to do so. Police spoke with Michael's wife Penny once again in 2022. She was 77 years old at the time and admittedly didn't have much recollection of her previous statements or the events of the original investigation, but she did remember that her husband had been a

suspect. Investigators asked Penny again about that day, September 13th, 1989. Though in the past she had stated she didn't know where Michael went that day, or if he made it to Vermont, this time she said she did know Michael was going to Vermont on the date her parents were killed, to pick up some boards he kept there. With that, and the DNA profile match, plus more than 30 years of the investigation leading up to this point, police showed up at the door of 79-year-old Michael

Louise with an arrest warrant in hand. In October of 2022, Michael Louise was extradited to Vermont, where he pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder for the killings of George and Catherine Peacock. Michael is now 81 years old and in poor health. According to Michael Alban's reporting for the Bennington Banner, Michael needs around-the-clock care for basic needs like getting into a wheelchair, using the bathroom, and bathing. Because of this, he was actually permitted to be released from a correctional facility the clock care for basic needs like getting into a wheelchair, using the bathroom, and bathing. Because of this, he was actually permitted to be released from a correctional facility and enter home detention. He's currently at a health and rehabilitation center in Windsor, Vermont, awaiting trial. Michael Louise is innocent until proven otherwise. We've got to

wait a little while longer before we see if the evidence against him is enough for a conviction. According to Vermont Judiciary Records, there is a hearing scheduled for the State of Vermont v. Michael Louise on Monday, August 26, 2024. Time is a tricky thing when it comes to cold cases. Though everything laid out in the affidavit of probable cause was convincing enough to secure the arrest of Michael Louise, many of the statements referenced in the document came from witnesses who are now deceased. The original lead detective on the case is now also deceased.

Among those who are still alive, memory has simply faded. Though we wait to see how those statements, the DNA evidence, and everything else will play out at trial, it's still awe-inspiring to witness how the hands of justice, assisted by years and years of advancements in DNA analysis, were able to stretch through decades to finally bring this case closer to closure. It's happening more and more these days. Advancements in DNA testing and access to this type of forensic analysis are leading to answers in long-standing cold cases. Though in this case, the Vermont State Police had access to testing and apparently the funds to do so, that's definitely not the standard. With agencies taxed for time, funding, and

technology in New England and across the country, a non-profit organization called Season of Justice is helping to bridge the gap between limited resources and finally finding answers, even decades later. Take, for example, another Vermont case, that of Rita Curran. 24-year-old Rita Curran and her family waited over 50 years for closure in her unsolved homicide. But as part of a renewed investigation beginning in 2019, detectives turned to advanced DNA analysis called forensic genetic genealogy to find the answers that had been waiting in evidence storage for half a century. Season of Justice funded a grant

for that advanced testing and research in Rita's case, which helped to identify the suspect in her murder more than five decades later. I covered her story in two parts on Dark Down East, and I'll link those episodes in the show notes for you if you want to hear about the full investigation from 1971 all the way to the day it was finally closed. Thanks to dedicated supporters like you,

Season of Justice has awarded 180 grants in support of cold cases, which have resulted in 13 SOJ solves, like Rita Curran's in Vermont. But there is more work to do. So today, April 25th, 2024, on National DNA Day, when we remember and honor the work of dedicated scientists throughout history, I invite you to support Season of Justice with a donation that will allow them to continue awarding grants to investigative agencies and families on their journey towards justice. You can text DARK to 53555 to support Season of Justice

today, because together we can solve cold cases. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case at darkdowneast.com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram at darkdowneast.com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram at darkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones, and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.

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