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Daniel J. LaPlante (born May 15, 1970) is an American convicted murderer serving multiple life sentences for the 1987 murders of Priscilla Gustafson and her two children in Townsend, Massachusetts.
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LaPlante lived with his mother and stepfather and two brothers. While growing up in Townsend, LaPlante claimed to have been sexually and psychologically abused by many adults in his life including his father, stepfather and psychiatrist.[1] Allegedly LaPlante's father was responsible for the majority of the abuse.[2]
LaPlante attended elementary school in Townsend and went on to attend St. Bernards High School in Fitchburg. LaPlante played football and ran track[3] but he struggled with school.[4] He was diagnosed with dyslexia at an early age,[5] [citation needed] and some of his classmates described him as “creepy" and "weird." and he was generally considered a loner by both fellow students and teachers.
The opinion among the residents in the neighborhood was that LaPlante was "strange" and "disturbed".[4]
As a teenager he was referred to a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with hyperactivity disorder, because of his abnormal behavior, his appearance, and his lack of hygiene. LaPlante was said to have hidden in the walls of the home of 15 year old Tina Bowen, who he had a date with, in 1986 and was later arrested.[6][7] LaPlante had also been arrested by police other times previous to this. [4]
In October 1987, LaPlante was living with his mother and stepfather while being out on bail. During this time he committed several burglaries in the neighbourhood where he obtained money and guns. Later, LaPlante's stepfather discovered one of these guns in LaPlante's laundry basket.[8] When confronted by his mother and stepfather LaPlante claimed to have bought the gun. LaPlante would burglarize a neighboring family, the Gustafsons, where he would steal valuables and knickknacks.
On December 1, 1987, LaPlante entered the Townsend home of Priscilla Gustafson, a nursery school teacher. Gustafson, who was pregnant, was found face-down on her bed, her pillows covered in her blood. LaPlante had raped her and shot her multiple times at point-blank range.[9] LaPlante drowned both of her children (7-year-old Abigail and 5-year-old William) in separate bathrooms.
LaPlante was questioned by police about two days after the murders but at the time there was not enough evidence to arrest him. Later the same day police went to LaPlante's home to interview him further and seeing the police approach LaPlante leapt off the porch and fled.[10] A manhunt was launched involving police, police dogs and helicopters. Meanwhile LaPlante had made his way on foot to a home in the neighbourhood where he stole a van and briefly took the woman who owned the van hostage. He then drove towards Ayer where he was spotted and pulled over by a policeman. LaPlante left the vehicle and escaped into a lumberyard where he threatened the owner with a gun and then hid in a dumpster. LaPlante was then apprehended by two policemen who kept him under guard until reinforcement arrived at the scene- where LaPlante could be arrested and taken into custody.
A year later, LaPlante was sentenced to three life sentences for the murders of the Gustafsons.[2] On March 22, 2017, a re-sentencing hearing for LaPlante was held at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts. LaPlante asked for a reduction in his sentence.[11] At the hearing, it was mentioned that during his first appeal,[when?] previous court rulings were cited saying that juveniles convicted of murder should be given a meaningful opportunity to re-engage with society.[11] There was also a new law allowing “juveniles convicted of murder with extreme cruelty and atrocity to ask for parole after they’ve been behind bars for a minimum of 30 years.” The judge, however, affirmed LaPlante's sentence[12] of three consecutive terms of life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole after 45 years, after a forensic psychiatrist evaluated LaPlante and found that he was not remorseful for his crimes.[13][14] LaPlante is currently held at MCI - Norfolk.[15] Between 1990 and 2000, LaPlante was held in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, including the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.[16]
LaPlante was featured in Season 2, Episode 1 of Investigation Discovery's Your Worst Nightmare series "Bump in the Night".
LaPlante was also featured in Season 1, Episode 2 of Lifetime Channel's "Phrogging: Hider in My House series "Footsteps in the Attic," which documented LaPlante's crimes committed prior to the Gustafson murders.[17]
On September 9, 2024, Investigation Discovery released Season 1, Episode 1 of "The Real Murders on Elm Street" titled "Killer in the Walls".[18]
On August 5, 2023, Lifetime released a film titled Boy in the Walls also based on LaPlante's offenses prior to the Gustafson murders where he secretly lived in the walls of a teenaged girls family house and terrorized the family through various methods before committing the Gustafson murders. However unlike[citation needed] "Phrogging: Hider in My House series "Footsteps in the Attic," Boy in the Walls is a fictional story only loosely based on Laplante. The film is directed by Constance Zimmer and it stars Ryan Michelle Bathe and Jonathan Whitesell.[19][unreliable fringe source?][20][unreliable fringe source?][21][22]
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