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Daniel J. LaPlante ( May 15^th 1970) is an American convicted triple-murderer serving multiple life sentences for the 1987 murders of Pricilla Gustafson and her two children in Townsend, Massachusetts, (1) which he committed at age 17. (1) LaPlante had a juvenile record of breaking and entering. He lived with his mother and stepfather in Gustafson. (2). While he was grown it up in Townsend, Daniel LaPlante suffered traumatic childhood as one could have imagine (3). LaPlante was a minor when he had his first run-in with the law. Along with getting into trouble he also was sexually and psychological abuse at the hands of many adults in his life. LaPlante’s father was responsible for the majority of the abuse.(3) He also struggled with school and he was diagnosed with dyslexia at an early age. His classmates referred to him as “creepy and weird”. As he grew into a teenage the school had him referred LaPlate to a psychiatrist due to his abnormal behavior and his appearance, which was lacking hygiene and self-improvement. LaPlante soon would have to end his psychiatric treatment because his psychiatrist sexually abused LaPlante during their sessions, which is lead to believe that this also impacted him in a negatively way.

Later in his teens, LaPlante established himself as having a criminal record. He would spend his evenings breaking into homes and taking their possessions. LaPlante wouldn’t stop there, he would move items around in the victims homes, making it apparent that someone had been there but it wouldn’t be bluntly obvious when families would enter their home. Later, this would grow to him breaking in just to play mind games with people.(3)

The rest of his life is about to take a creepy and odd turn. In 1986, LaPlante began a darker and horrific past at just 16 years of age. LaPlante somehow obtained a phone number and address that was thought to be one of his previous burglary victims. The house belonged to a family of 3. A single father and his two daughters. The daughters were named Annie and Jessica Andrews, both around the same age as LaPlate. LaPlant began to stalk the daughters. Annie and Jessica were under the impression that a friend of theirs gave LaPlante their number. (3) During several phone calls from LaPlant Annie agreed to go out with LaPlante and the date didn’t go at all. LaPlante had learned that Annie’s mother recently died from cancer and LaPlante took great interest in the death of her mother. They would not go on a second date.

One night the girls were alone in their home, they were missing their mom and they were having a séance. During the sessions they would hear rhythmic knocking against their bedroom walls while they were asleep. The girls thought they were talking to their deceased mother. They would ask questions and the “ghost” would respond by knocking on the wall. The excitement wore off fast as the knocking went on for several days, the knocking progressed to furniture being moved and the girls thinking they were being haunted by a malevolent spirit. Their father didn’t believe them and brushed it off as his daughters struggling with the loss of their mother.

On a dark cold night in January 1987, the knocking had begun while Jessica and Annie Andrews were alone in their living room. During this time the girls were beginning to think they were insane, the knocking would only happen when it was just the girls alone in the home. The knocking began to get louder and louder but it sounded like it was coming from a different room of the house this time. It was in fact, coming from the basement. Just like a scene out of a scary movie Annie was armed with a kitchen knife and the girls made their way to towards the source of the noise. Once they made it to the basement, there waiting on them was a message written in red on the basement wall. It read: “I’m in your room, come and find me.”

The girls scared and horrified at this site left the house immediately and went to the neighbors home where they called their father. Brian Andrews, father of Annie and Jessica, returned home after the call and believed that the girls were responsible for the graffiti on the basement wall and ordered the girls to go to counseling.

Weeks later, as things were trying to get back to normal. The girl’s were alone and they heard the same knocking sounds but this time it didn’t come from the basement it came from behind Annie’s bedroom wall. When the girls entered Annies room they were greeted with more writings on the wall. This time in bright blood red color it was written “I’m back. Find me if you can.” They ran out of the house and into the neighbors house, again, they called his father. Brian came over and immediately went over to the house determined not to find anything. However, when Brian entered the house, he noticed that things were more disheveled than the girls and the neighbor had told him. Brian entered into Annie’s room and along with the message written on the wall, there was an additional message it read “ Marry Me”.

On the other side of the room, the most unusual site unfolded. There was a young boy dressed in Annie and Jessica’s mothers clothes, wearing her make-up, a dress and a blonde wig. He was holding a hatchet. LaPlante had been discovered. Brian and LaPlante had a physical in counter and LaPlante was able to escape.

The local police were now involved and in the Andrews’ home. The blood red writing on the wall was was ketchup. One officer was able to find a hidden crawl space behind a cupboard which was built into the wall of Annie’s bedroom. The officer opened the crawl space door and LaPlante was balled up inside.

With LaPlante removed the police were able to search the rest of the Andrews’ home. The officers were in shock and horror as to what they were finding. Not only did LaPlante have hidden crawl space but he had been living inside the walls of the Andrews’ home. LaPlante had tunneled around to other areas of the house and made peep holes around the house he was using to spy on Annie Andrews.

LaPlante was placed in a juvenile facility where he stayed until October 1987. LaPlante returned to the life of burglary, in November of ’87 LaPlante stole two handguns from the neighbors house.

On December 1^st 1987 a nursery school teacher by the name of Priscilla Gustafson met LaPlante and would not live to see the next day. That day in December a pregnant Priscilla opened the door to LaPlante, unknown to what was about to happen to her and her children. Priscilla had been found face-down on her bed, pillows covered in her blood. Danny LaPlante raped her, then shot her multiple times at point-blank range. LaPlante drowned both of her children in separate bathrooms. William, age 5, was drowned in the upstairs bedroom and Abigail had drowned in the downstairs bedroom.

LaPlante was on the run after the murders. The area police officers were in a manhunt. A few towns over from Townsend, LaPlante had kidnapped a women in her car. The women had escaped. LaPlante was discovered hiding in a dumpster 48 hours after the manhunt started. The police took him in and inspected his clothing. They found a hair on his sock that was a match to Abigail. A year later, LaPlante was sentenced to three life sentences for the murder of Priscilla, Abigail and William Gustafson. (3)

On March 22^nd 2017 a resentencing hearing for Daniel LaPlante at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts. LaPlante asked for a reduction in his sentence. (4) At the hearing it was mentioned that his first appeal for LaPlante was citing previous court rulings that say juveniles convicted of murder should be given a meaningful opportunity to re-engage with society.(5) There is also a new law that states “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.” At that time, during this re-sentencing, the judge gave him the maximum penalty of 45 years after a forensic psychiatrist evaluated LaPlante and found that he was not remorseful for his crimes.

The article I have chosen to evaluate is Daniel LaPlante. Daniel is a triple convicted murderer serving life for crimes he committed in 1987.

According to Wikipedia Daniel LaPlante was 17 when he committed the murders of Pricilla Gustafson and her two children in Townsend, Massachusetts. Even though he was 17 years old, he was tried and sentenced as an adult. The article in Wikipedia is brief and doesn’t give much information on the trial, history or the story behind Daniel LaPlante’s murders. The last time the site was updated according to its most recent resources was in 2017 when he asked to be re-sentenced on the basis that he was a juvenile at the time he committed the crimes. The judge ruled that he would have to wait 15 more years before becoming eligible for parole. (1).

The story of Daniel LaPlante was shown on a television program by Investigation Discovery Your Worst Nightmare: Bump in the night. While his story was on television, it does lead to questions about the accountability of what was told. (1)

The article’s content is relevant to the topic but It’s not up to date. In March of 2019 there is an article by a news media site that goes into current and new detail about his sentencing. This also brings to light that there is missing content in this Wikipedia article. (2)

The article is, however, neutral and non-bias toward an opinion or position. With this being an article about a murderer killing a woman and two small children, there could be many opinions and legal positions about the crimes and the perpetrator. The article does a good job at not having specific viewpoints or casting any persuading for the audience. (1)

The article had several resources listed, they all worked except the video clip that was attached by YouTube. It wouldn’t play the clip; in fact, it stated that the video could not be found, so either it was uploaded wrong or YouTube removed the clip. The article was concise, clear and easy to read. There was one tiny grammatical error in the article. (1)

The article’s body was not very organized, it started off by as going into his conviction, then his adolescent’s, then there was part of the story that was hastily put in about the murders and how he fled and then later caught. (1)

There are no pictures of Daniel LaPlante in Wikipedia, they are elsewhere on the internet. The article doesn’t have any images or clips that are showing. The Talk of the article, it was listed as poorly sourced and nominated for deletion in 2015 but it was denied. (3)

Resources:

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_LaPlante

2) https://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/03/23/daniel-laplante-priscilla-gustafson-murder-1987-townsend/

3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Daniel_LaPlante