All language subtitles for The.Real.Murders.on.Elm.Street.S01E01.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV

Andrew Gustafson lived in
Townsend, Massachusetts with

his wife and his two children.

He was trying to get in touch
with his wife, and he was

calling the house in Townsend,
but she wasn't picking up,

so he was concerned.

He came home, and he found no
sign of life at the house.

He called for his wife,
no answer.

Called for his children,
no answer.

So he had this feeling
of dread inside him.

He went upstairs to
the bedroom

and his wife was lying face
down on the bed with a bloody

pillow on top of her head.

He didn't have it in him to go
looking for the children so

he called the police
and waited for them outside.

This was just a horrific,
horrific scene and something

that does not happen in little
New England towns like this.

So people were terrified.
The entire area was terrified.

On December 1st, 1987,

when the police arrived,

Andrew Gustafson told them that
his wife was dead upstairs.

She was also several
months pregnant.

And they questioned him,
"How do you know she's dead?"

And he said that
he just knew

and said that his children were
probably dead too,

but he hadn't gone to look
for them.

So the police didn't know what
was going on.

I was notified by
the state police headquarters of

an unattended death in Townsend.

We went upstairs,
and in the bedroom, I observed

the body of Priscilla Gustafson
on the bed.

I saw what appeared to be
bullet holes in the back of

the pillowcase, or the pillows
that were on her head.

She was partially clothed.

One hand was tied to one
of the bedposts,

and on the nightstand was
a half empty bottle of beer,

which I thought was
very strange,

and an open condom packet.

When I went to
the upstairs bathroom,

I saw the body of a young boy,

five years old, face down
in the bathtub.

We do try to compartmentalize
those types of scenes

so it doesn't affect
the job that we do.

But I just have a vivid memory
of that little boy in the tub.

And on the first floor,

was the body of
a young girl,

fully clothed,

drowned in
the downstairs bathtub.

To think what it would take to
drown William and Abigail,

just two innocent children,
and not just killing them,

but drowning them.

That's physically,
hands-on, holding somebody

under the water until they die.

For someone to do that,
there's, there's, I mean,

it's beyond words,
it's beyond evil.

Andrew Gustafson
was an attorney,

was married to Priscilla.

She taught Sunday
school and kindergarten.

She was well-liked
in the community,

and they seemed like they had
an idyllic life.

But as a homicide detective,
you have to start from the very

closest circle to the people
who knew the victim.

In this case, no one was
above suspicion.

While police checked
out Andrew Gustafson's alibi,

almost immediately,
word spread.

I mean, Townsend,
Massachusetts is small-town

America, even though it's only
30 miles outside of Boston.

This is kind of Americana.

A lot of the cemeteries in this
area go back to the 1600s,

and so it has a really
long history.

It's a safe, quaint
little New England town.

And Townsend only had,
in the '80s, probably

10,000 people.

This is your home for
original reporting.

The murder was so horrific,
it drew the attention of

the Boston media, some national
media, and the media descended

upon that little town.

Everywhere you turned,
there was a sense of fear,

a sense of-- am I safe

in this little town that
I grew up in?

People were
locking their doors.

If they owned guns,

they were making sure
they were loaded.

Everybody was looking out
for their neighbors.

People were looking out for
anything suspicious.

The entire area was on edge.

So police checked out
Andrew Gustafson's alibi,

and it became clear he was not
involved in the murders.

This poor man lost his wife,
lost his baby, and lost his two

children all at the same time
with no known motive.

It must have been just
the worst possible day that

anyone can imagine.

So Andrew Gustafson spoke to
the police, and he recalled

that there were things missing
from the house, and they'd had

a burglary in recent days prior
to the murders

where a cable box had been
missing, where there'd been

a glass of beer or a drink left
out in the house.

Things that didn't seem that
serious at the time,

now took on importance.

Police knew that there'd been
a string of burglaries

in the area,

so when Andrew Gustafson told
the police about

the prior burglary,
immediately they thought these

might be linked.

The police had a working theory

that Priscilla and William had
come home and caught

the burglar there and that this
had been an impulsive crime.

Abigail came home later,
she was the last one killed.

Police were looking at this as
possibly just being

an interrupted burglary.

But everybody knew that
we had a killer on the loose.

No one knew where he was going
to show up or what horrible

crime would happen next.

During that time,
I was a police lieutenant from

the town of
Pepperell, Massachusetts.

When I heard of the murders
and the nature of the murders,

it sounded like something
Daniel LaPlante would do.

And I think he was entertained
by such things.

We had already arrested him on
the charges of kidnapping.

He was certainly a person of
interest based on

his violent past.
All rise.

But this guy is a juvenile.

Daniel LaPlante was only
a 17-year-old boy.

But he was
no ordinary teenager.

He was a dangerous individual,

cold, calculating,

a very, very smart young man.

He was on a path of escalation.

His criminal acts went from

routine breaking
and enterings to

the most sinister
and bizarre acts that

I had ever experienced.

Everybody knew that a killer
was out and on the run,

And everybody was looking
over their shoulders.

Police told people to
stay indoors.

They told people to keep
their doors locked.

Police had no idea what was
motivating the killer.

The fact that there had been
a string of local burglaries

seemed like it was related
because of the prior burglary

in the Gustafson's home.

But were these even related
to the burglaries?

They really had no idea.

We developed a list of
the usual suspects.

And I use that term
very loosely.

It's people who had criminal
background, who have committed

violent crimes, who have been
breaking into houses.

17-year-old Daniel LaPlante was
on that list.

We found out the house breaks,
including stealing guns out of

houses, all started to occur
after he got released on bail.

We were starting to put
pieces together.

A couple of detectives found
him at a library in Townsend.

So they went and spoke to him,
and they didn't

have a great feeling
on the interview.

He told them that he had
an alibi, that he'd been at

a birthday party,
and there were other people

who could corroborate that.

But he seemed a little jumpy,
so police were suspicious.

And then he just fled.

He was a person of interest,

but we didn't have evidence
that tied him to the scene.

So we needed to gather as much
information about

Daniel LaPlante as we can.

He had committed crimes in
Townsend as a juvenile.

And also in Pepperell, which is
a neighboring town,

he was arrested and was out on
bill for the crimes he had

committed in Pepperell.

Frank Bowen lived in
Pepperell, Massachusetts.

He was a bus driver,
and he lost his wife to cancer

in 1986.

He had two daughters.

Tina was a teenager in high
school, and she had a younger

sister, Karen.

And the three of them were
alone and grieving the loss of

their mother, trying to cope
with Frank working long,

long hours, and his daughters
home alone.

The daughters were not dealing
well with the loss of

their mother, and they were
trying to contact her.

They had a seance,
and while conducting the seance

to try to communicate with
the deceased mother,

they started to hear noises,

knocks on the walls,

and they felt that it may be
a signal from

their deceased mother.

And then they started noticing
things that seemed out

of the ordinary.

They'd come into rooms,
and they would find lights that

had been off were now on.

Things were moved in various
rooms around the house.

So they started asking
their mother questions.

And when they would ask
questions, there would be

knocking in response to it.

So the two little girls who are
dealing with the loss of

their mother, went and told
their father that they actually

had their mother in
the house

and she was trying to
contact them.

And the father, Frank,
just thought that

they were grieving.

It did create a disjoint
between the two daughters

and their dad.

He honestly felt that
they needed psychological help

and that this was
not happening.

But that changed very quickly.
On December 8th of 1986,

the family had returned home

and found that one of
the toilets had been used.

They immediately figured that
somebody had been inside

the home, and they
started a search.

When he got up into
his bedroom, Frank finds a man

in there wearing this oversized
coat in war paint

carrying an ax.

It's like something
out of a horror movie.

And he took this
family hostage.

He was very deliberate.
He was very calm.

He seemed to have no
fear whatsoever.

And he had secured them in that
room and had left them there.

At that point, one of
the daughters escaped,

was able to go next door,
report the kidnapping,

call the police,
and we arrived.

We searched the home,
the woods around the home.

We searched the area,
the roads, and no suspect

was found.

As police officers, we had to
believe the story as

unbelievable as it sounded.

I had covered murders.

I had covered suicides,
strange deaths.

I had never encountered
anything like this.

During our search, I did find
the hatchet just outside one

of the doors.

But as far as a sign of
an intruder, we found none.

No member of that family were
able to identify the intruder.

His disguise, apparently,
and the fear he instilled made

it impossible for them to
identify who this was.

But now Frank knew his girls
had been telling the truth,

that there was
something happening.

It wasn't just in their minds.

Our thought was that
the suspect, if he existed,

had fled into the woods.
We're talking nighttime.

And it would have been very
easy for the intruder to hide

himself in the woods.

And finding him would have been
extremely difficult.

The family
didn't want to be back in

the house, understandably.
The girls were just terrified.

So immediately,
they went and just stayed in

a hotel, because they knew
they couldn't sleep in that

house again.

Two days later,
Frank returned to the house.

And as he was approaching,
he saw something.

He saw the same man as before

and thought, this man is
trying to kill us.

So Frank Bowen
called the police.

I got there about 10 minutes
later, and you could see

he was distraught.
And he said, "I just saw him.

He's in the window.
He waved at me."

I said, "OK."

The police had locked the house
when they left the night

of the incident.

So I walked around the house to
check for tracks.

There was none.

No broken windows.
The doors are intact.

So I decided if I'm going to go
in his house With a very slim

possibility in my mind that
somebody's still here,

I'm still not going to just
walk in.

So I unlocked
the door real quiet.

As soon as I cleared the door,
there was a picture up on

the right-hand wall

of the family.

And there's a big knife stuck
right in that picture.

And written in magic marker,
it said, "I'm still here,

come find me."

At that point,
I said, "He's here.

"I don't know how,

but he's here."

This was terrifying for
this family.

An intruder had been in
the house and had held

the family hostage.

And now he's back again.
He won't give up.

Officer Steve Bezanson arrived
at the Bowens' house, and he was

certain that the intruder was
still there.

I'm listening quietly,

because now I'm thinking,
I want him to think

the homeowner's here,

not me.

And I look to the right,
and I can see the hallway.

That goes down to the rest of
the house, and there's another

picture of the family with
another knife stuck through it.

I said to myself, I got to
search this house,

and I'm going to need help
doing it to get it right.

So I backed out real quiet,

and I got the radio,
and there was a sergeant

at the station.
And I said, "I need you up here.

I need you up here now."

We checked everything,

closets, between mattresses,
under the bed, you name it,

we checked it.

Every place we could possibly
think of, we checked.

And we wound up in
a laundry room downstairs.

And I remember looking up at
the ceiling going,

I don't understand why
we can't find him.

And then, just like that,

I looked up at the corner.

There was a set of pipes from
the upstairs bathroom,

but they didn't like looking
at the pipes.

So they built a wall to
hide the pipes.

I'm looking at this wall going,

there's enough room someone
could hide behind that wall.

As soon as I walked over there
and turned on the light, I saw

there's a four foot pile of
dirty clothes right there,

and nobody stacks dirty clothes
behind a false wall.

I just moved a couple of pieces
of clothing.

I saw black hair,

and I said, got it.

He just looked at me out of
the corner of his eyes,

and I could see
the wheels turning.

I said, "I want to see your
hands real slow."

And he's got a pistol
right here.

And he put his hands up
real slow.

When I saw they were empty,
I reached in and grabbed him

right by the arm, said,
"Let's go."

The intruder was
a 16-year-old boy.

His name was Daniel LaPlante.

This was no ordinary teenager.

Beyond that, this was no
ordinary criminal.

After having arrested many
young men, I was rather

surprised by
his unconcerned manner.

This young man,
despite his age, was

very dangerous.

And for the first and last time
in my entire career, I bypassed

the usual ritual of taking only
two mug shots, and I took six

of them, thinking that
they would be used sometime

in the future.

So Daniel suffered a lot of
abuse as a child.

He was abused by his father,
his psychiatrist, by other

people, sexually and physically
and psychologically

for a long period of time.
And he displayed really

troubling behavior from
an early age.

He was a loner.

He was somebody who didn't know
how to deal with other

human beings.

And that only got worse
with time.

He was held at my request
without bail on the charges of

kidnapping, but also for
mental evaluation.

At the time,
we approached the assistant DA

to really work hard on the case
to get it before the judge.

In other words, for his trial
not to be delayed.

To be targeted by
a psychopathic person like this

is really shocking.

So once they arrested
the suspect, they realized that

Tina had dated
Daniel LaPlante once.

He'd made contact with
her over the phone.

And then eventually,
they had a date and they went

out for ice cream.

And he misrepresented himself
on the phone.

He completely misrepresented
who he was

and what he looked like.

And she got a bad feeling
from him.

So she broke it off
after that one date.

So that one date led to this
guy stalking her and living

inside the walls of her house.

Daniel was in and out of that
house for six months.

One of his acts was to remove
electrical outlets

so he could spy on
the family members.

And he was able to see
when they vacated a room,

leave his hiding space

and create these
disturbing acts

that would get the girls to
fight among themselves

and to tell their dad these
stories of milk being drank,

channels being changed,

and it would allow him to slip
back into his hiding place.

Everybody remembers that
feeling of hearing something

thump in the basement...

...thinking it's a monster,
thinking somebody's hiding

in the closet.

In this particular case,
it was actually true.

It's terrifying that a single
date, just going out for ice

cream, and not progressing
beyond that is going to turn

into somebody breaking into
your house

and then tormenting you
for months.

Whatever his plan was,
whether it was to rape one of

the daughters, whether it was
to kill all three people,

I can't be sure.

So Daniel LaPlante was sent to
Bridgewater Hospital for

psychiatric evaluation.

And after that evaluation,
he was diagnosed with

antisocial personality
disorder, and he was put into

juvenile detention.

And everybody felt
they should be safe.

Daniel LaPlante lived on
Elm Street.

And it was only a mile through
the woods from the Gustafson's

house, except Daniel LaPlante
was in juvenile detention,

or so they thought.

When he turned 17,
the judge decided that

he should be tried as an adult.

And when Daniel LaPlante was
charged as an adult,

he was able to get bail.

He was brought before
the judge, not to be tried,

but on a bail hearing.

And the judge, at the time,
without any police input

or presence, released him
on $10,000 bail.

And his mother mortgaged
their house

and put up the $10,000 bail
to get him out.

There's no question that
the judge made

a massive mistake.

Daniel LaPlante was very
dangerous, from terrorizing

a family to kidnapping.

When I found out about
the murders, I said, "I wonder

what Danny LaPlante is
doing lately."

Homicide investigators had this
other violent, strange,

bizarre crime, with Daniel
LaPlante living a mile from

this triple murder.

I think it's an aha-moment for
the police, but they didn't

have any hard evidence to tie
him to the murders other than

his proximity to them and his
prior violent past.

So at 7 o'clock that next
morning, we reconvened at

the crime scene

to gather as much information,
as much evidence as we can.

Outside the house, there was
a pillow laying on the ground.

So I called in a state police
K9 tracking team,

and we began a scented search.

And the dog was on a heavy
scent, tracking from the yard

into the woods.

Within a few minutes, one of
the state troopers found

a wet flannel shirt.

In addition, there was also
wet gloves in the woods.

So the police believe that
those articles of clothing

could have been involved with
drowning the children.

The K9 immediately
picked up on a scent from those

items and led us
through the woods,

and eventually led us to
Daniel LaPlante's house.

After we did the K9 track,
we applied for

a search warrant.

We executed that search
warrant, did a complete search

of the entire residence.

Daniel was not there at
that time.

One of the key pieces that
we found were a pair of wet

socks in Daniel
LaPlante's bedroom.

And on the wet socks,
we found a blonde hair.

Could be from Abigail.

In addition to that,
we found some bullets.

Those spent bullets matched
the cartridges that were used

to murder Priscilla Gustafson.

There was no doubt that
we were on the right track.

After we recovered those items,
we applied for an arrest

warrant for Daniel LaPlante.

But at this point, Daniel had
fled, and a manhunt was on.

We released
his picture to the media,

and the media ran with it.

24 hours after the triple
homicide of the Gustafson

family in Townsend,
police are still on the hunt

for their killer.

On the 6 o'clock news,
the 11 o'clock news,

they posted his picture.

We tried to let people know
we were looking for

Daniel LaPlante, and anyone who
could help us,

we encouraged them to
drop us a tip.

The media from Boston and from
Worcester and from all over

Massachusetts had descended on
Townsend and Pepperell,

and as a reporter, I was
talking to the police officers,

the Chiefs of Police, I mean,
everybody was

harried and frazzled.

People who were off duty had
come back on duty.

Everybody was involved
with this.

For the first time in my police
career, and the last time,

I put on my bulletproof vest.

I felt Daniel would head to
Northwest Pepperell because

he knew it well.

It's almost rural,
heavily wooded, very easy to

avoid detection.

And my choice was prophetic.

The reports of a suspicious
young male in the area were

almost immediate.

And they were located within
a wood area bordered by

four roads.

So we circled that area.

I pulled into a driveway in one
of the homes.

And a lady said,
"I know why you're here.

I just arrived back home.

Could you please come in
my home while I reenter it?"

And I said, "We certainly
will, ma'am."

I asked my partner to remain
in the cruiser.

So upon our arrival into
the home, it didn't take more

than half a minute, and I heard
a loud thud upstairs.

I quickly asked the lady,
"Do you have a pet?"

She said, "I have a cat."
I said, "That was no cat."

Upon getting to the top of
the stairs, I found a 16-gauge

shotgun lying at my feet with
the bolt closed,

assuming it was loaded.

I believe that was the sound of
the thud that I heard.

We did a thorough search of
the entire home.

He had fled from an upstairs
window, had jumped onto

the garage, into the woods
behind the home,

and had taken flight.

His goal was to take me out
with a 16-gauge shotgun.

I believe what deterred him was
the presence of my partner

in the cruiser.

The husband of the house did
indicate that the shotgun was

his, but he indicated that
a handgun was missing, and also

a belt of ammunition.

And it was obvious that
the intruder was attempting to

arm himself.

Everybody knew that the killer
was running around,

and the police were everywhere.

Every time somebody saw
something move in the woods,

they'd call it in
to the police.

People are locked into
their homes in total fear.

And they should have been.

They absolutely should
have been.

When you kill three people,
there were no bounds anymore.

There was a real danger of him
not just abducting anybody,

but he would have killed them.

People knew they had to try to
catch him before

somebody else died.

This was one of
the largest manhunts in

Massachusetts history.

Everywhere you turned,
there was a police car.

There was an officer looking
for Daniel LaPlante.

We knew this person
was dangerous.

We knew he had the potential
to kill again.

We needed to get him
off the streets.

You have to remember,
we were dealing with this young

person who hid himself in
walls, who made his way through

this forest.

So this person was skilled at
avoiding detection.

In a matter of 15 to 20
minutes, I do get a report that

once again, faced with a police
officer, this fleeing felon

decided to run into
a lumberyard in

the town of Ayer.

My fear was with LaPlante armed
with a handgun, somebody was

gonna get taken hostage

or somebody was gonna
get killed.

So the police cordoned
off the area.

They blocked off the streets.
A police helicopter was up

and police were going through
it and at some point one of

the officers thought he heard
something by a dumpster.

Several officers
surrounded the dumpster.

They ordered Daniel
to come out.

And he finally decided to
surrender himself.

He was transported to the state
police barracks located on

Elm Street in the town of
Concord, Massachusetts.

He was charged with the murder
of Priscilla Gustafson,

Abigail Gustafson,
and William Gustafson.

I sat next to him during trial.
His eyes were cold.

He looked right beyond you.
No remorse whatsoever.

So I covered the trial for
my newspaper.

I remember sitting in court
and looking at LaPlante,

and he was just without
emotion, just expressionless.

Like, he never showed
an ounce of empathy.

He never showed any discomfort
for what was going on,

just a soulless look.

The jurors can follow us with
their notebooks if they can.

There were several factors that
linked Daniel to the murders.

Shell casings that were found
in the LaPlante home were

the same exact type as those
found at the murder scene.

Also, a hair found on one of
Daniel's socks was indeed from

the head of the murdered
Abigail Gustafson.

And during one of the searches
at the LaPlante home,

the actual murder weapon
was found,

which was a .22 revolver in
an abandoned vehicle located on

the LaPlante property.

We also recovered two cable TV
boxes and remote controls that

were taken previously at
the Gustafson home.

So before the murders happened,
LaPlante had been in that

house previously.

Thank you.
May all be seated.

At the courtroom,
ironically located at

the intersection of Elm Street
and Gorham Street,

the jury found Daniel LaPlante
guilty of the murder of three

members of
the Gustafson family.

Guilty of murder in
the first degree.

He was sentenced to three
consecutive life terms with no

chance of parole.

You're looking at somebody,
perhaps, if such a thing exists

being totally evil.

The lead investigator told me,
"Tom, have you seen how

Elm Street keeps popping up
on this?"

You know, his residence on
Elm Street, he gets taken to

the state police barracks on
Elm Street in Concord.

He's prosecuted, found guilty,
at the courthouse at the corner

of Elm Street in
Lowell, Massachusetts.

There are seven total
Elm Street connections

in this LaPlante saga,
which is quite bizarre.

Was justice served here?

I guess under the law,
justice was served.

But how can you ever recover
from losing your wife

and your two children
and your unborn baby?

So he was off the streets.

But as far as the Gustafson
family goes, I can't, I can't

answer that question.

You know, a case like this is
just so, so terrible.

Just, it's just so awful that
people never get over it.

Like, it's a kind of thing that
makes people pause and really

think, how could one human
being do this to another?

I've never forgotten it.

You know, I covered it as
a reporter, but I've never

forgotten this case.
It was evil showing its face.

Two beautiful children,
another one on the way,

and this terrible person broke
into the house and ended it.

For no reason, just killed
these people.

There was no real motive that
we ever uncovered,

other than the fact that
they walked in when he was in

that house.

This person was cold

and evil personified.

Once upon a time...

Elm Street was a good place
to live.

We were the type of community
where people still waved to you.

The charm was there.

It's pretty...
but we have our fair share of

serial killers.

There was satanic rituals
being held there.

Is he still out?
Is he going to come after me?

A firefighter said something
heinous had happened.

You don't really know
when it's going to happen,

or what's going to happen
or who's doing it.

I was screaming "My dad's dead!
Someone's killed him."

Evil took over that night.

Be aware of the danger
out there.

I don't know if I've seen
a broadsword like that.

Detective found things that were
beyond their wildest nightmare.