Killer in the Walls: The Crimes of Daniel LaPlante

Hey, weirdos, I'm Alina, I'm Ash, and this is morbid in the Burm once. Happy September! Let's do what to sing this time. Last time I didn't. I feel alive. Oh yeah. I feel powerful. I feel like we put practical magic on in the studio today, and just had it play. And it was gorgeous. Well, we did our shit, like it's 70 degrees. Yeah. Barely. It's raining. It's gloomy. Yeah. We got yummy drinks this morning. We had good breakfast. We saw a dog. I yelled at that dog that I loved it. I hope it had a great fucking day. It's true. And I'm having a great day. And we got cake, because it's Caleb's birthday. It is Caleb's birthday. Caleb of horror soup and scream fame. Hell yeah. If you see him in the streets, say happy birthday. Say bitch. Belated happy birthday, because it's birthday's today. You missed it. Yeah. So say, hope your birthday was great. Hope your birthday was swal big fella. Yeah. So we're going to eat cake with him when we record scream later. Not marble cake, because it came to my attention today that the two other people in this office don't like marble cake. No, I hate marble cake. I ordered a cake and I was like, you guys like marble, right? And they're both ate in an arena. We're like, what? Yeah. And I thought they were fucking with me. No. Where do you guys stand on marble cake? Let us know. I just have never liked it. I don't get it. I think you get the best of both worlds. See, I don't. Here's my thing. Whole last one thing. Don't half-ass too. I feel like marble cake. I feel like a half-assing. Marble cake is fully half-assing both flavors. I think it's so yummy. You're never getting a full bite of one flavor. And if you are, it's usually shitty of that flavor to be quite honest. No. I've never had a marble cake where I was like, wow, this is good cake. Really? It's just like, no, this is shitty. Please let us know where you stand. Yeah. I just don't like it. I feel it just from this room today that I'm in the- No, I think you might be ready. My majority. I think it's fairly beloved, but I don't know. I've never made a marble cake. I just assume most of my views are in the strange category, so I just could be wrong. A lot of them are. I think a full chocolate cake is where it's at or a full vanilla cake. I mean, I'm down for both of those two. Make it, like, put your whole tentos down into that flavor. Here's the thing about my thick-ass cake is cake, and I like all cake. I like- See, I'm a velvet cake. I like cookies and cream cake. I like marble. I could name you a bunch of cakes. Yeah, I'm there. I'm picky with cakes. Make sure you're doing the cake right for me. Good to know. I'll never make you a marble cake on your birthday. Well, what would you do? I would eat it, and thank you for it, because you put time and effort into it. Wow. Yeah. But now I know. So that would be such a dick move. That was like a different move now. You're like a marble candy. So yeah. Okay. Okay. For the burn months. And cake. Already decorating for Halloween, I'm already ready for it. I'm going to re-watch Widow's Bay. That's my next thing. I told Drew today that if he didn't get my Halloween decorations out of storage, that I would fight him to the death when I got home from work. And he said, "Clearly, you haven't been looking at the doorbell cameras." And there they were. And I said, "Oh, my God. I'm so excited to decorate." Yeah. I feel good. I feel alive. Yeah. My seasonal depression is leaving slowly but sure. Just I have reverse seasonal depression. Yep. So I feel good. It's valid. I feel powerful. I did something really weird and powerful earlier that I didn't even mean to. I wish we could talk about it. Yeah. It's crazy. But it was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced in my life. But it shows you that I come into my true power in the fall. I know it's life. I know it's life. What? But yeah. It's fall. But today, on this, the first day of the burn months. On this burn day, we're going to be doing the crimes of Daniel Lapland. Now you may be like, wait a minute. This sounds a little familiar. We did a mini morbid. Yeah. I was one of my first mini morbids way back. It had to have been like 2018, 2019 maybe. I think I got a solid five pages put together. Yeah. Like it was a mini morbid. Yeah. So we didn't really get into like the, you know, the needy degree. And it's been a long time. It's kind of got buried in the archives. So we wanted to do like another look at this case because this case is a crazy case. It is fucked up. So this will have a little bit more of the details that a mini morbid normally wouldn't simply have? And it's a crazy one. It's also a Massachusetts case, which is. It is? Yeah. I forgot that. Yeah. Fuck. This is Massachusetts. Oh, shit. Which is kind of gross. What? How many? That's like, that's almost 10 years ago that we covered that. That's nuts. Yeah. So and again, like we just didn't go deep into it. No. So we went deep into it this time in Holy Hell. Fun. So let's get into it, shall we? Let's. So this goes back to early 1986. Frank Bowen's wife lost, unfortunately, her long battle with cancer. So he was left alone to raise their two teenage daughters, Tina and Karen. This was at their home in Pepperel, Massachusetts. Pepperel. That's a small town near the New Hampshire border for those who don't know. As the sole income now for the family, Frank took whatever shifts he could with the bus company he worked for. He just worked his ass off to make sure the kids had everything they needed. But he often had to work at night, which left the girls home alone in the house. Yeah. Again, their teenagers. It's not like he was leaving children. Also the 80s. So Tina, one afternoon, got a call from a boy who said his name was Danny Lepland. Yeah. Danny told Tina he actually went to a different high school than her. But he had gone to her high school, or I think it was like he had gotten her phone number because a friend of his had gone to her high school and thought that they would maybe hit it off. Weird. This is the 80s. Oh, okay. Fair. This is the only way of communicating. If you want to get in touch with someone or you want to start anything, you have to call. I literally just said earlier, like maybe two minutes ago, this is the 80s and then you're like, this is the 80s. I was like, then you're like, oh, right, right. So over the phone, Tina said that Danny seemed charming. He seemed nice. Like someone you would want to get to know and why not, all right. So almost immediately the two started talking daily and you know, they were like really hitting it off. Cute. And for Tina, the relationship with Danny was her first and she was just really excited about it. Now after a few weeks of daily phone calls, Danny finally mustered up the courage to ask Tina on a date and the two made plans to meet at a local ice cream shop, which should be like a very adorable date one, you know, and Tina couldn't wait to finally meet Danny in person. And he had also said he had claimed that he was like a football player and super popular and like he's an old, kind of like the dream guy for like a teen, you know what I mean? But so she gets to the ice cream shop. And the image of Danny that she had built in her head was different shattered, I would say. Uh, rather than a handsome football player who was like outgoing and excited to meet her, Danny was very dishevelled and unkempt. He did not look like a football player, you know, and he just wasn't the same in person. And she was like, Oh, this is not the same woods. So she, you know, she kind of felt like she'd been lied to because she had. Yes. She had led her to believe certain things about himself and we all see catfish again. I've got fish. She pulled an Angela. So she was disappointed. And frankly, she was uncomfortable. Yeah. This guy is lied to you. But you don't want to start anything off on a life. And now you feel weird about it. Like that's weird. So after an hour or so, she was like, I'm pretty good with going home now. Like she was just like, I don't want to do the same one. Which is 100% her rights. Absolutely. And if you are not into someone on a first date, you can in that date, five seconds into the date. It doesn't fucking matter when it's called free will. Exactly. Now for a few weeks, Danny had been, you know, a pleasant distraction from the pain of her mother's recent death. Yeah. We kind of brought her into something a little exciting and something she could actually be happy about. Yeah. But after that really awkward afternoon date, she didn't see Danny again and she was just like kind of thrown back into dealing with the grief of losing her mother. Now one afternoon, a few weeks after that disastrous date with Danny, Tina and Karen decided, you know what, we want to try to talk to our mom. So they held the seance, they did like a little like Ouija board kind of situation. They wanted to just talk to their mom. Yeah. Teenage pearls who just lost her, I would do the same thing. So down in the basement, they set up candles, they did like the whole thing. And they were just trying to talk to their mother's spirit. And they were like, you know, at this was kind of unsuccessful. Nothing really happened. But almost immediately after the seance, strange things started happening in the Bowen household, one night while Tina and Karen were watching TV, they heard loud knocking. That sounded like it was coming from the front of the house. So assuming someone was knocking at the front door, Tina went to see who was there, but no one was there. Yeah. Now the next night the noise is continued. And it occurred to Tina and Karen that the seance maybe it was successful. Maybe this is what this is. And they were like, wow, like maybe this is some form of communication, which - Literally shatters my heart. - Yeah, that breaks my heart into tiny little pieces. - 'Cause it wasn't just knocking. There were other inexplicable things happening in the house, like the lights would go on and off without anyone touching the switches. Objects would be moved or like misplaced completely. The TV channels would change, like sometimes seemingly on their own. Reporter Jeffrey Higgins said the two girls believed they'd contacted their mother. - Yeah. - They thought their mother's ghost was doing these things to somehow communicate with them. - Now Tina and Karen may have believed they'd successfully made contact with their mother, but it didn't make them feel better because it didn't feel like their mom. - Yeah. So maybe they were like, "Oh no, like we've made contact with something." - They were worried. - Yeah, 'cause then the knocking on the walls and other forms of communication seemingly are things happening. They said it felt often aggressive and like vaguely threatening. - Yeah. - Which was not their mom's energy. They also started to sense that whatever was communicating them was somehow also watching them. - Ew. - And again, if this was their mother's ghost, it didn't make sense that she would take food and drinks from the refrigerator? - No. - Which would happen? - Oh. - When no one was home, there would be food or drinks gone from the refrigerator. - This would fuck me up on a level that I can't even explain a lot. - Yeah. - After more than a month of noises and missing objects. - A month? - They decided to tell their dad. What was going on? - And after hearing the story, Frank kind of broke its heart. He assumed the girls were just still really wrestling with the grief of losing their mother. And they were like, he was like, I think this is just them really wanting to hear this or experience this. Or maybe it's just like, it's an old house. It's probably just noises. Higgins said their reporter said their father Frank never heard any of the taps, but he was working a lot. He just thought these were two teenage girls reaching out desperately and trying to contact their mother. And their imaginations were getting the best of them. Which is a reasonable thing to them. - Yeah, absolutely. - The noise is another inexplicable experiences continued though for several weeks. They would get louder, they were getting more aggressive with each time they would happen. And in time, the girls started to think, okay, I don't think this is our mom at all. And I don't even know what this is, but we got to do something about that. And that was confirmed one night in the fall of 1986. It was just a typical evening at their house. And Frank was at work, Tina and Karen were home, they were watching TV and they heard the familiar knocking. And this time though, it didn't sound like it was coming from the walls, but from the basement. - You determined to figure this out. Tina grabbed a flashlight, which also. - Bad ass. - You want a fucking badass? - Yeah. - With Karen right behind her, they descended into the dark basement. And at first, it looked like nothing was different in there. But as Tina swept the flashlight across the room, she saw it on the wall across from the stairs, written what looked to be blood was a message. It said, "I'm in your room, come find me." - Ew! - Yeah. - Oh, I just got chills. As someone who has been a teenage girl before, that is the shit that is nightmares or made of. - You can't even conceive of that. - No. - Being home alone without your dad in the house as a teenage girl. I'm just speaking from my own experience. Hearing noises in the basement and then going down there and seeing written in what looks to be blood, "I'm in your room, come find me." - That's a horror movie. - That's a urban legend. - That's a horror movie. - What? - That is the movie, urban legend. - So obviously fucking terrified, the girls did exactly what they should. They called their dad at work. And they were like, this is what we just found. So he comes right home and called the police immediately. And when an officer arrived, he and Frank went and searched the house in the basement. But when the officer looked at the message on the wall, he said it wasn't blood, it was ketchup. - Okay. - But it was supposed to look like blood. - I mean, still, yeah, I could understand why you would think that. - And obviously, you know, the fact that it wasn't, so again, this is the '80s, this is the '80s. We don't believe women. - Yeah, we don't believe anybody. So like because it was ketchup and not blood, they just kind of thought so Frank was like, explained to the officer. He was like, my wife did just recently pass away. We're all struggling to adjust to it. Like they have been hearing noises. They have thought that there was ghosts. They have thought they may have been contacting her. So the police officer was kind of like, yeah. That's probably just kids' imagination. They probably did it. Maybe to get a little attention because you're working a lot. - Yeah. - And Frank thought that too. He was like, I have to work so much. I wonder if they're like trying to get me home kind of thing. So he was just like, oh, I feel bad. Like he's a good dad too for really giving a shit. - And thinking like, okay, maybe this is on me. Like, you know what he'd be like, maybe me, which you know the bar is low. I'm like, it's so cool that as a daddy gave a shit. - He gave a shit. But he was working so hard just to support them. And he's thinking, okay, this thing I have to do, maybe I'm actually like causing issues. Like they want me to be home. But obviously, it was frustrating for them, you know? But after the whole basement thing, things at the bow and house seem to calm down. There weren't any noises for a little while. That all came to an explosive end on the night of December 8th. Frank can take in the girls out to dinner. And they'd also taken Tina's friend, Kathleen, with them to dinner. - Nice. - Kathleen Napa, her name was. And after dinner, they arrived back at the house. And Frank could immediately tell that something wasn't right. - Oh. - Not only were there some valuable items clearly missing, but it also looked like someone had used the toilet while they were gone. So convinced, obviously, someone is broken into the house. Frank started searching the house to make sure the intruder wasn't still there. And he went from room to room. And then when he got to Tina's bedroom, he opened the closet door and he was surprised to find a man standing in front of him in Tina's closet. - No, thank you. - With a hatchet in one hand and a pipe wrench in the other. - Fantastic. (upbeat music) - So later, Frank would describe the man as being in his, what he thought was his early 20s. - Okay. - And Tina told police he was about six feet tall, at least. - Okay. - But their descriptions varied somewhat from one another. What they all agreed on, though, was that the man had painted his face with ketchup and mayonnaise, in a pattern that looked like war paint. His hair was spiked in multiple directions and he was wearing what they all described as a quote, "Harry Jacket." - A Harry Jacket? - Yes. - The fuck is a Harry Jacket? - I assume like a fur coat, maybe. Why wouldn't you just say fur coat? - I don't like that. - I don't know. - They know it's, it's gotta be different. - I don't know. - A Harry Jacket. - I got a Harry Jacket. - You and ketchup and mayonnaise all over your face? - That's fun. - Yeah. - Man, he's a good figure here. - I don't know about your skin. - Disgusting. - Ew. - And to find that in your daughter's closet, holding a hatchet and a pipe wrench. - And the dad is an armed. - Like, what the fuck? - What's the what happened? - So, yeah. - I don't even remember. I'm like, what happened? - What happens? The man advanced on Frank and rounded all them up together. - Oh, fuck. - And then, because he has two weapons, remember. - Yeah. - And he's threatening the girls. He's threatening like, so they're just trying to like, - Well, they just got home, they're so off guard. - Then, in a quote, very calm manner, he ordered them all into one of the other bedrooms. So, he was like wrangling them into a bedroom. So, but thinking quickly, Frank managed to slam the door to the bedroom once they were all inside, leaving him - Out of the outside. - Like he was able to like, push him out of the bedroom. - Good, good, good. - So, temporarily safe in the bedroom, Tina crawled out the window and climbed down the side of the house, and then ran to the neighbor's house and called police. - That's alert number two. - Yeah. In a small town like Pepperel, they don't really get a lot of calls like this. - This is wild, but this was in Pepperel, right? So, they did, the dispatcher was like, holy shit. It's people are being held hostage in a home. - So, the police got their lickety split 'cause like, they're not doing anything else. - Right. - So, like, they got there right away. And the officers were relieved to find Frank and the girls in the house unharmed. Unfortunately, after thoroughly searching the house, which included at least one canine officer, they found nothing that he was no longer there. He just fled the scene. - Okay. - Now, although the intruder was gone, the family was understandably very shaken up and uncomfortable with the idea of staying in that house that night. - So, they say, I'd be like, we're going to the holiday in. - So, Frank booked a room at a hotel nearby where they would stay for a few days while everything was investigated. - So, two days after the home invasion on December 10th, Frank went back to the house just to get some more of their stuff. And when he pulled into the driveway, he said he looked up at the house and standing in the second floor window, he saw the silhouette of a man looking at him. - Oh, why is this motherfucker just like hanging out in this empty house? - Assuming it was the intruder, Frank ran to the neighbor's house and called the police again. So, moments later, a pepperole police officer, Stephen Bessanson, arrived at the house. And he was skeptical about what France Frank had reported, which I'm like, maybe don't be. - Why were you skeptical? Like, they didn't lie about this before. - Yeah. So, Bessanson said, I could tell as I drove up, he was very upset. He's pointing at the house. I said to myself, here we go. He's going to say he saw the guy at the window. 'Cause this is now the third time they've come and not found anything. - But I'm like, but still. - Do you think he's just like making this shit? Like, why would he make this shit up? - Yeah. And also, what else are you doing? - So, with his gun drawn, he entered the house cautiously announcing a man. himself and banning anyone else, make themselves known. And he had barely taken 10 steps inside when he saw the first floor was a disaster. Oh, yeah, he said, when I opened the door, on the right hand wall, I saw a knife sticking out of the wall. And I see it's through a picture, a family picture. Oh my god. Written on it in Magic Marker. I'm still here. Come find me. He said, now the hair goes up on the back of my head. On another wall, there was a second picture pin to the wall with a knife, a kitchen knife. And it, too, had a message written in Magic Marker. I'm going to kill you all. Oh my god. Yeah. And the police officer found this. This is next-level shit. Yeah. After finding all of this, Byzantin called for backup. And within two minutes, he was joined by Chief David Young and Sergeant Jim Scott. They all started searching the home, searching each floor, the basement everywhere. And despite a second thorough search, the three officers failed to find anyone in the house. And Byzantin recalled thinking to himself, that bastard is still here. We're missing something. Yeah. They were. Now, as he took one last look around the second floor of the house, because he said he's here. I know it. Like he was like, I know he didn't leave. Byzantin spotted a small door in the bathroom that provided access to the pipes. And he said, I'm thinking son of a bitch, there's enough room back there for someone to hide. So he shines his flashlight into the crawl space and landed right on the intruder's face. Oh my god. He said, I pulled my pistol and said, I got the son of a bitch right here, but he didn't move. I told him, let me see your hands or I'll splatter your brains all over that wall. And I said, Massachusetts, that is the most massacuse it's arrests. I was like, Damn, put your hands in the air, kid. And you're not gonna make your brains bleed everywhere. The son of a bitch. We love son of a bitch over here. Like he said son of a bitch twice. And that same thing. It's not enough. Now the intruder did it as he was told. And Byzantin surprised when he came out of the crawl space, it was not an adult man, but a teenage boy, a boy who'd quickly be identified as Tina Bowens, one-time friend, like the long distance friend who they went out once, 16-year-old Daniela Plant. 16 years old hiding in the walls. What struck the officers most about him wasn't how young he was, which was crazy, but it was how eerily calm he was. Byzantin said he was not afraid. He looked out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't afraid to have a gun stuck next to his head. Jesus. Now, during their search of the house, peperal officers discovered that LePlan had been effectively living in the walls of the Bowens house, some of which allowed just a few inches of space to move for several months. That is insane. Presumably since the knocking in the walls began in June. Yep. Now this is December. He's been in there since literally half a fucking year. From his various positions in the walls, he was able to see through vents and would coordinate his activity to coincide with times when Frank was at work. This is my worst name. That's why he never heard it, but his daughters did. In the late evenings, when he was sure the Bowens were asleep, he would emerge from the hiding place in the walls and take food and drinks out of the refrigerator and move the family's belongings around. Just to fuck with them. Also, that's why I have motion detectors. Yeah. It's insane. Because the balls it takes to the evens. Like, what if somebody comes down for a glass of water? Yeah. You just didn't give a fuck. Oh, he was ready to be taken care of that. That is brazen. Now, in the news of the home invasion and what Plantville plants arrest, hit the local news, everyone in peperal and the surrounding towns were fucking shocked. Yeah. I was living in the walls. So I did not know this was going on. But your parents were my parents were local attorney Patricia Wagner said he was in a sense holding these people hostage. Nobody would have thought some guy would be living in their walls. No. Also, why did I just call him on, Papa, your parents? I thought that was funny too, but I let it go. I sat down and I was like, why did I sit down? Your parents, your fucking parents were probably worried about it. I don't know those those homies. I got to ask them about it. Yeah. I should have. We just saw them. I know. But a lot of people who knew Danny weren't entirely surprised that he does something so bizarre and violent. Imagine knowing somebody that you wouldn't be shocked if you found out they lived in someone's walls for six months and showed up in a hairy jacket. Do you know not a hairy jacket? I still have so many questions about that. Yeah. Can you think of one person where you wouldn't be shocked if they lived in somebody's walls for six months? I'm trying. I'm genuinely trying. Thankfully, no. Yeah, I don't think I can. I really can't think of something that has that kind of patience to be honest. Yeah, truly. That's so fucked. That's my worksphere. That's how we stayed at a hotel together on the first night of your book tour when I didn't sleep. I was totally convinced somebody was watching me from here. And I was like, holy shit, my biggest fear. That is scary. Well, apparently one neighbor told a reporter, when you saw Danny, you watched him. He earned his reputation. He was a troublemaker from day one. Oh, shit. That's scary troublemaker. Okay. Yeah, living in walls. Not okay. That didn't shock you. Other neighbors and peers later described him as strange and disturbed. From an early age, he learned a rep in the neighborhood as a problem child who frequently acted out. Jill Gary, who was one of the neighbors of the little plants, told a reporter that when Danny was seven years old, seven. She and her husband hired him to help them in the greenhouse, like paying him like a little bit of money to clean out the stones in the field, fields where they grew pumpkin and squash. Oh, hell yeah. That's so New England. But when she went to check on him a few hours later, she had smashed all the pumpkins and squash in their field. What a son of a bitch. I'd be fucking pissed. Oh my god. Like so pissed. Yeah. Now, Danny, Danny said, Danny. Danny, Danny, Danny boy. Danny's tendency to act out and be destructive was as far as most of the people in Pepperel could tell perfectly in keeping with his family's reputation in town. I can't remember anything about his family. I was just sitting here wondering about that. No, this is just so a reporter for the Boston Globe said his family is far from popular living in a rundown house that has always seen more a home to barnyard animals and junk. Oh, that said, not one. You can't really judge people by their home. I don't think we had somebody in our town who lived in a crazy ass house. And he was the nice man and he was a very kind person and like super philanthropic and super, he like gave all his money to like other things. He was also rich as fuck, which was crazy. Exactly. But he just didn't care to take care of his own stuff. He just wanted to help other people. He just wanted to bond. He just don't immediately judge people like that. Yeah. Just saying. I'm not saying that's the case here. I'm just saying like, you know, you know, and then there was that other house and that guy was really nice. Really nice. That's the thing. I've seen two situations where that where you can't really judge the book by the cover. So I'm just saying either of those houses exist anymore. No, I don't. So weird. I know. But in that said, not everyone thought very poorly, especially of Danny's mother Elaine Moore and his stepfather. Local attorney Robert Casey said they're both salt to the earth kind of people. Oh, really? So there's like very conflict. It might just be people judging based off of what they see. Yeah, like a book based on the cover. Or you just don't know. Yeah. That's just like two sides of it. Interesting. By the time he was 10 or 11, I mean, clearly Danny was a fucking wreck. Like he was a problem. Yeah. But that's not always due entirely to one thing. Right. You know what I mean? So by the time he was 10 or 11, Danny's behavior turned criminal at 10 or 11. I think it was criminal at seven years old smash and pump cans. In 1981, the local general store was broken into and police strongly suspected 11-year-old Danny and a friend of committing the crime. But there was no direct evidence linking them so they couldn't do anything. A beanie at 11. Yeah. In the summer of 1985. Before I was born. Oh, just just before. Yeah. Danny's mother enrolled him at St. Bernard's High School, a private Catholic high school about a half hour away in Fitchburg. She said, "John will save you." Yeah, best she sits. Two Fitchburg is a match. She sits. Danny joined the football team, ran track and got mediocre grades. But he struggled to make friends. Okay. And again, it looks like the parent they were trying. Yeah, it sounds like it. Classmate Patrick, but I think it's McGiggen. McGiggen. I like it. Told her reporter. The guy never really was all that friendly. He never liked to go to parties. He never really talked much. And a lot of the other students describe him as a loner who mostly kept to himself. After one year at St. Bernard's, he withdrew from school in June 1986, which was when he reached out to Tina Bowen before. It's unclear whether he had known Tina from a previous school year, but he was clearly interested in her and got her number from the phone book in place the call. So he might have known her because he remember he went to St. Bernard's after like he transferred there. Yeah, yeah. So he might have gone to school. He could have gone to the school, even though he said he didn't. Exactly. And she might not have noticed him because he's, well, she was younger. He's him. When she rejected him after their first date, he was unable to simply let the rejection go. And he became obsessed with her and eventually started hiding in the walls of her home to torment her entire family as punishment for her rejection. Oh my god. Do you know what I was going to say? I wonder if you like followed her home after after the date, but back in the day, wasn't your address in the phone book, too? Yeah. They just sent you in. giant book. Why? Did everyone's addressing that was a good idea. Because you know what? It's like. No, but he thought things like it happened. A thing like like these things obviously happened, but they felt few and far between you know, like it just didn't feel that scary. Yeah. Like now it's like just like the scariest thing in the world. If anybody knows where it's in shape, it is. Now following his arrest in December, Danny was charged with arms armed assault in a dwelling, breaking and entering, malicious injury to a property, an armed burglary. And the last charge was relating to the jewelry and personal items he'd stolen from the house. Gotcha. Under the circumstances, he was booked at the PEPRO police station and then transferred to the state psychiatric hospital in Bridgewater for psychiatric evaluation. Now because of his age, he was a minor. The contents of the core proceedings related to this whole thing are not available to the public. That's such a bummer. So the outcome of the psychiatric evaluation and any other info about Danny's mental health are unavailable. I would I would pay money to read about that. What is known is that Danny was eventually transferred from Bridge water State Hospital to a juvenile detention center, which tells you a little bit about what's going on. There were many good findings. Yeah. In October 1987, after spending 10 months in a juvenile facility, awaiting details about his trial, the judge set the bail at $10,000. And after taking out a second mortgage on their home, Elaine Moore was able to afford the bail and Danny was released into her custody. Oh, wow. Yeah. After a decade of Danny's bad behavior, the residents of PEPRO were not pleased that he had returned home. Yeah, out on these streets. Yeah, neighbor Darlene Mahoney told her reporter, you'd see him walk out there by himself and she gestured to the woods behind his house and she said that's the only place you'd see him. The woods. The fog? Yeah. The thing was Danny wasn't just spending time in the woods. He was wandering the neighborhood, checking for unlocked doors because he's going to go live in somebody else as well. Yeah, he's not going to stop what he was doing. On the afternoon of October 14th, someone broke into the home of Raymond Pindell and stole 22 caliber pistols in a large amount of cash. Oh my gosh. A few weeks later, Danny's parents found one of the pistols and its holster in his laundry basket. It's also like, dude, I don't like, I don't know what I would do if my kid was accused of this. I can't imagine that. But it's a danger to other people. And if you're going to bail him out, okay, like that's a whole argument in and of itself. But you better have eyes on this mother fucker if you're bailing him out. Well, that's the thing and its responsibility. I don't and again, I'm not saying I know what I would do in like these situations. But from my place right here, I'm sorry if you terrorize an entire family for six months and say you're going to kill them all and try to hurt them and literally break into their house like, like to hold them hostage with their father and like you should stay in jail. I'm sorry. I love you. Yep. But you are paying for what you did and that's and it's like and also your dangerous. I'd be scared for my own safety. That's something you just have to come to terms with. It's not going to be easy. And you can say I still love you. I still support you as a human being. But you are dangerous to other people. And I can't have this happen to somebody with me. It's my responsibility allowing you to be out. And that's what I'm saying. I'm like, dude, is your responsibility to, again, keep eyes on him. And you can't have that kind of responsibility. Like it's too not when you're dealing with somebody like that, even if it is your child. Like he's obviously dangerous. Yeah. He's, you're not going to be able to have eyes on him all the time. It's just not going to work. It's not realistic. So you need to, you know, it's, it sucks. The whole thing sucks. I feel for these people. But so they did confront him. And he claimed that he'd obtained the gun a year earlier. That was despite having been underage and unemployed at the time that he claimed to have obtained the gun. You know, like when I was 15. His parents accepted the excuse, but they took the weapon away. In the weeks that followed, the break-ins and thefts around Pepperel continued. Crazy. Weirdly enough, on November 16th, Danny broke into the home of his neighbor's Andrew and Priscilla Gustafson, who lived directly behind him. It was about a quarter mile through the woods. Among other things, he stole a cordless telephone to telephone cable boxes and remote controls and several silver coins. Later, when he was interviewed by police, Danny's brother, Stephen told the investigators he saw Danny with silver coins similar to those reported missing. Including a statue of Liberty coin in a box. Okay. Fancy one. About a week after the break, a break in at the Gustafson home, Danny approached his brother, Stephen, and Stephen's friend, Michael Polowski, and asked whether either of them could get him 22 caliber bullets. I'd be like, uh, you're on bail, so no. And I'd be like, why? Yeah. I don't even want to know why. Now, you're on bail. They said, why? And he said, he, quote, wanted to make a large bullet and sell it. What? I'd be like, uh, what? Now, apparently, Michael Polowski, the friend, was unaware of the whole stolen gun situation because I was like, they kept it in the family. Yeah. So he had no idea that that was part of this old thing. So he was like, okay, like, you want to make a weird bullet? Like, I don't know. He's like, he's going to cut me in on the sales like this is wild. So he was like, sure, in a few days later, he provided him with a handful of bullets from a box that he had himself. Okay. And in the week that followed, Danny practiced loading and unloading the guns. On the evening of December 1, Andrew Gustafson returned home from work a little past 5 p.m. He was typically greeted at the door by his children, five-year-old William and seven-year-old Abigail. And he said it was empty and quiet in there. So immediately, he's like, what is going on? So he's wondering how they upstairs. So he went upstairs and checked the primary bedroom where he discovered the body of his wife, Priscilla. She had a pillow over her face with two bullet holes torn through it. So panicked, he called the police to report the murder and screamed at the dispatcher. I don't know where my children are. Within minutes, officers from Townsend and Pepperwell were at the scene. Not entirely certain what to expect from this whole thing. Officer George Ajo, one of the officers, said, Officer Johnson and I went inside to search. First, we went upstairs where the wife was and she was on her back with a pillow over her face. You could see she had been shot through the pillow. After confirming that Priscilla was unfortunately deceased, Ajo and Johnson began searching the house for the children. Ajo recalled, "I went into the upstairs bathroom. The shower curtain was pulled shut. I opened the shower curtain and there was a blonde-haired little boy. I believe, lying face down." We searched downstairs. We found the daughter in the tub. There was still water in it. Oh my god. He drowned both the children. By the way, yep. Outside, Ajo informed Andrew Gustafson that they had, unfortunately, found his children deceased. And then he called for additional officers in crime scene text to come. In the bedroom, a technician from the Department of Public Safety found a portion of a broken condom on the floor, as well as semen on the bed spread. In the closet, they found, quote, "a knotted brown sock dampened with saliva, consistent with having been used as a gag." There were also seven ligatures crafted from a necktie, stockings and pantyhose. In the kitchen, detectives found an open, nearly full bottle of beer sitting on the counter, and quotes several pieces of paper, which were torn from the pages of a pornographic magazine. Jesus Christ. And as if this couldn't get any worse, they found out that Priscilla was pregnant. Yeah. So two children, three children, yep, technically, and an innocent woman killed in their home. Like, horrific. He is a deranged motherfucker. Yeah. Now to state police detective Joe Lawless, which what a name for a detective. It's going to say you got to be a criminal or a detective. Detective Lawless. He'd been at the bone crime scene when Danny was arrested. He said the scene at the Gustafson House felt eerily familiar and his mind immediately went to Danny LeBlanc. He said there certainly were some parallels between the crime scenes. He lived almost directly behind the Gustafson House. It was through a thick area of woods, but there were no other houses between them. The next day, during a search of the woods behind the Gustafson House, investigators discovered a flannel shirt, the nameplate from their house, and a pair of wet work gloves. When they were given the shirt to smell, the tracking dogs followed the scent to within three or four feet of the LeBlanc home, I'm sure. That afternoon, detectives interviewed Danny at a local library, and he claimed on the previous afternoon, he'd been at home watching television, and he didn't know anything about the murders, and he didn't know anything about the previous breakings. Wow. His alibi was weak as fuck as fast. Anyone see you home watching TV? Yeah, and the investigators were suspicious. But when they returned a short time later with a warrant to search the house, Danny had fled. Interesting. So now they're all but certain that Danny LaPlan is the killer, and the district attorney's office issued a warrant for his arrest. And he hasn't even gone on trial yet for now. No, and now they're going to have to find him. Yup. So the news that Danny was on the run, set everyone in peperal in town. and all the surrounding towns on edge. Select women, Julia Stockwell told a reporter, "This is not supposed to happen in this kind of town." People are crushed, scared, and trying to figure out a way to deal with it. Like, maybe this isn't supposed to happen anywhere. No. Among those most frightened were the Bowen family. Yeah. They'd moved to New Hampshire since the home invasion, but they were scared that they might be targeted by Danny a second time. And I tracked down some of them. Yeah, so Frank Bowen took the girls to a hotel and waited to hear for police. Oh, Frank's like, "I'm not doing this." Like, "What a dad." Well, police in the area set up roadblocks and mobilized a search team of officers from various agencies. They had sent dogs, they had a helicopter. During all this, Danny is just frantically planning his escape. With police everywhere, like, in the air and on the ground now, Danny's options were pretty limited. And it's unclear where he was on the first day of that whole, like, manhunt. But on the second day, he looks like he fell right back into his old habits. Like, what he knows best. Broken somewhere. On the afternoon of December 3rd, Lynn McGovern returned to her pepperel home a little before 2 p.m. And before she'd even stopped the car in the driveway, she had woman's intuition. And she said she was just struck with a distinct feeling that something is wrong. Wow, she didn't even see anything. So she didn't even go in her house. In fact, she walked back to the road, got out of her car and just walked to the road and flagged down one of the pepperel officers who was assisting in the search of Danny and told him, I think someone's in my house. And she just knew. She didn't even know. Women. She pulled in the driveway and she said, I just got this wave that, like, something's wrong. Don't go in that house. I would trust her with my life. I would too. I would trust her with my damn life. I would, like, Lynn, if you're out there. I trust you. Lynn McGovern, I trust you. And what a bad bitch to listen to that intuition because it's not always easy to listen to. Because sometimes your brain will convince you, like, don't be, don't be over dramatic. I do that all the time and it's never good. No, so don't do that. So she says, hey, I think someone's in my house. And the officer was like, I'll totally take a look. But he was like, I got it be pretty fast because they need me to get back to the search for Daniel, a plan. She's like, I think you have found your target. Paul McGovern, her husband, said as soon as they opened the front door, they heard a thump upstairs. The officer turned around and told his partner to turn off the cruiser and get help. Unfortunately, by the time the officers entered the house, Danny had jumped out the second story window, slid down the garage roof into the ground and then fled into the woods. A few hours later, 17-year-old Jonathan Lang was at home alone when he heard a knock at the door. No, thank you. He looks out the front door and there's no one there. So he goes to the back door and he sees a teenage boy standing on the porch. And he later said, I just taped the news on the VCR. Stop it. And I recognized him instantly as a Danny Lepland. Oh my, imagine not mother fucker on your backstep in your home alone. So Lepland asked him whether the Langs had a dog. He literally says, do you have a dog? I'd be like, I have two fucking huge dogs who will tear you apart. I'd say we have 17, in fact. And he must have seen the concern look on Lang's face 'cause he was horrified because seconds later, Lepland began begging to be let into the house. No. So Lang was like, absolutely not a dog with you. Absolutely not. So Danny flashed the pistol and screamed, let me in and kept saying it. Like he was screaming at this 17-year-old, let me in and like flashing a pistol. That's fucking terrifying. Lang still was like, go fuck yourself. And instead ran to the phone and called the police and Danny fled again. Yeah. Now increasingly desperate for an escape route, Danny next entered the home of Pamela McElla and held her at gunpoint. Geez. Entered her home and held her at gunpoint. She said, he asked me if I knew who he was. And I said, yes. Lepland then asked why there were so many police officers in town and she explained they're looking for you. Hello. Now panicked, Danny forced McElla into her van and told him to her to drive him away. Oh, as they drove, McElla watched the plant out of the corner for eye all while trying to formulate an escape plan because people for masks, she just don't play. No, we don't fuck around. We don't play. Finally, when she came to a stop sign, she slowed the van to about 15 miles an hour and jumped from the driver's side, rolling down a small hill and landing on pavement. I'd rather get roadburn than deal with Daniel Lepland. When she looked back to see where he was, she saw the van make a right-hand turn. You have my van, take it. Yeah, Pamela immediately reported the kidnapping to police and a helicopter managed to track the van from the air until an officer could arrive chasing the van through the streets of nearby the town. The officer managed to get Lepland to pull this vehicle off to the side of the road. But Danny immediately jumped out of the car and fled on foot in the direction of a lumber yard. So officers from multiple jurisdictions descended on this lumber yard and started search. During this whole thing, officer Scott Como and Paul Barada spotted Danny hiding over an overturned dumpster inside of it. Okay. Anywhere he belongs. Right where he belonged in the fucking trash. And they said, we just told him, you're not going to get out. And so he came out and laid down on the ground for us. What a moron. Also, how many charges have you now racked up on here? Like, already you were fucked. And then you just racked up a bunch of extra charges. Yeah, he's just going, going, going. During his initial interview following his arrest, Danny insisted he had been home at, he'd been home watching MTV when the murders were committed. Then why are you running? He said, I had nothing to do with anything. Why are you running? But he was charged with three counts of first degree murder to which he pleaded not guilty. And was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for what would be three weeks of extensive psychiatric evaluation to determine if he was competent. He said, don't come back. At the time, Elaine Moore and her husband, David, his parents, stood by their son and protested his innocence. They said, you didn't do it. And I said, OK, OK, David Moore told a reporter, you talk to anybody who knows him personally and they would say he couldn't do that. He's not violent. Oh, OK. Based on the motions put forth by La Plants Lawyer, it was increasingly clear that they were going for the insanity defense. But the Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney was prepared for that to be inevitability. Also, you don't run if you're insane. Yeah, and they started building in defense. Among other things, evidence of Danny's mental competence could be seen to the extent at which the crime had been orchestrated. And remember the pillow. Yep. And the length to which he went to cover up his involvement, which included snipping the collection portion of the condom. So as to not believe behind any fluids, although he inevitably did in the process. So he thought he was smart with that. Investigators also pointed to the fact that Priscilla had either been ordered to redress herself or he had redressed her afterwards. Oh, my. Yeah. On January 13, 1988, Daniel a plan appeared before a judge in Cambridge, where he was indicted for the three murders, as well as 10 charges related to the attack on the Bowen family the previous year. And nine other charges related to robberies committed in Townsend around the time of the murders. At the time, he was denied bail and held at East Cambridge jail. Yeah, they saw how well bail worked out before. After nearly 10 months of delays in pre-trial hearings, Lapland's trial began in the fall of 1988. At the time of his arrest, the evidence against Danny was monumental, insurmountable. But by the time the trial began, the prosecutor had received also letters reportedly written by Danny to a friend. And in them, he wrote, among other things, they won't find the gun I was alone. They got nothing on me. And another letter he wrote, they have no gun yet and they'll never find it. They have a lot of other things. They went to the trial. Investigators had found the gun. And it was in the glove compartment of an old Jeep on the Lapland property. Wow. Good hiding spot. Yeah. Some of the more compelling testimony came from Stephen Lapland's brother's friend there, Michael Polowski. He was the one who provided the bullets that unfortunately Danny used to kill the Gustafson, or Priscilla Gustafson. Polowski was able to provide a sample of the bullets he'd given Danny, which allowed match to those used in the murder. And a ballistic expert testified that the rounds had been fired from a 22 caliber pistol discovered on the Lapland family's property several months earlier. Yeah. On October 25th, nearly a month of testimony, the jury deliberated very briefly before coming out to find Lapland guilty on every single count. Judge Robert Barton said during sentencing, there's some that would say that you should receive the same sentence that you imposed on the Gustafson family. That is death by ligature or hanging, but we have no death penalty and Massachusetts. Unfortunately. In this case. In this case, Barton sentencing the plant to three consecutive life sentences with no parole, no commutation, and no furloughs. Good, have fun. In simple terms, he was never to be released from prison. Never see the son again. Danny has appealed to his conviction in various points over the years, but none have been successful in 2017 when Lapland petitioned the parole board to consider him for his eligibility. His case was rejected largely on the grounds that he appeared to have no remorse for his crime still. Wow. Yeah. Psychiatrist Dr. Fabian Salah said all of this was just a presentation to come across as somebody who is sad about something. for which in my opinion, he is not, 'cause he pretended to cry. It was an execution. He executed one person, went and executed a second person, and then he ended up executing a third person. And we should call them children. Exactly. Two years later, in March 2019, Lapland took his case to the state's highest court, arguing that he should be eligible for parole due to legislation adopted in 2014 that said inmates convicted of murder as juveniles must be considered for parole after serving a minimum of 30 years. The amount of times we run into that. The court rejected its claims, citing the 2017 conclusion that Danny was not remorseful for his crimes, period. Speaking on behalf of the justices, Justice David Lowry wrote, "The defendant's sentence is proportional both to the crimes he committed and to his particular characteristics as an offender." Absolutely. So he will stay in prison. Good. That's where he belongs. Part of it. A. He's a monster. A straight-up monster. He's a monster. They would be wise to never consider. Oh, they never should. He lived in people's walls, killed a pregnant woman and her two children. Yeah. Like, no, you don't, you don't, you don't, and then went on the run and kidnapped another person. Yeah. And victimized how many others by breaking into their houses as well. Exactly. Like he truly haunted the town of Pepperill in the surrounding areas. Yeah. And the surrounding town, like, and the poor, like, obviously, just the Gustafsons, like, I can't imagine the father Andrew what he has gone through now, losing everything. Yeah. At once. And just like, losing everything, like, your home as well, you could never stay there. Oh, yeah. That's the thing. That's your life. Yeah. You lost your life, essentially. Like, how do you, how do you live? I don't know. With that. Like, poor man. I feel so bad. I mean, having to deal with, like, the terror that they were living with, the terror that they were living with, and then the PTSD that would come after that. Yeah. Your home is your safe space. And for that to be violated in that way, yeah, I can't imagine ever feeling safe again. Like how do you get comfortable and make me like the opposite of a Gora Fobick? Yeah. I just want to be out all the time. Truly. Oh, honey. We need a fun fact after we do. We really do. My goodness. I got one for you. It's about alligators. Alligators. Yeah. This fun fact says, please hold them, you get it up. Alligators have 74 to 80 teeth at any time and can go through 3,000 teeth within a lifetime. Holy shit. Yeah. As their teeth were down, new ones grow in to replace them. Damn. Isn't that like, you'd never have to go to the dentist. Never. Just regenerate a new fucking tooth 3,000 times. And sharks do that. Oh, they do? Yeah. I'm pretty sure they do that. I don't know how many, but I don't think they like indefinitely do it. I think they have like several, yeah. I think they have like several, but I don't know if it's an indefinite amount. How many? Not positive. Will sharks go through in a lifetime? Wow. They do even more. Really? Yes. They go through 20,000 to 50,000 teeth, sometimes up to 200,000 depending on the species. Damn. And they don't have any roots. Wow. That's why they're teeth. Wow. So easily? Yeah. And they grow like new rows of teeth. Yeah. It's not even just like one regenerating or like whole damn show me a teeth show me a teeth also. And on top of this like fun fact, I just, I had to look up how Andrew was doing. Andrew has passed away, unfortunately, but he remarried. He had children. Okay. He had grandchildren. So he had a good life. Like he was able to gather the pieces and seemingly lived a very lovely life. I'm happy. That like happiness. Yeah. Just in his like, you know, obituary, yeah, it says he had a hardy laugh, a warm and welcoming smile, a keen and reflective mind and kind words for everyone. He was a light in the darkness. Oh, wow. So he was like a lovely person. Okay. That's an even more fun fact. And he had a big lovely family. He had two daughters like, I'm very happy to hear that he was that he could find a life again after that. I just can't imagine it exploding the way it did. And like, and he looks like such a sweet guy. Oh, he looks like a sweet man. I know. So happy. That happiness. So, Andrew's family. I'm really happy that he had you. Yeah. Cheers to you guys. That really killed me to think of him walking into that house. Yeah. My God. God damn. All right, guys. Well, we hope he keeps listening and we hope you keep it weird, but not so we're thinking go live in people's walls and terrorize the community and the surrounding communities as well. Don't get out of here. Don't do it. Get out of here. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]