A Massachusetts district attorney announced the closure of the Danny Croteau cold case and said Richard Lavigne caused the death of the 13-year-old boy.
Hampden DA: Former priest killed boy, 13, nearly 50 years ago
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announces Monday, May 24, 2021, that nearly 50 years after police discovered the dead body of 13-year-old Danny Croteau floating in the Chicopee River, his office concluded that Croteau’s killer was former Catholic priest Richard Lavigne, a convicted sex offender who died Friday. STAFF PHOTO/DUSTY CHRISTENSEN
A photo of 13-year-old Danny Croteau, who in 1972 was found dead in the Chicopee River. Hampden County’s top prosecutor has announced that his office concluded Croteau’s killer was former Catholic priest Richard Lavigne, a convicted sex offender who died Friday. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Print National Desk
Nearly five decades after an altar boy was found dead in a Massachusetts river, the district attorney says the case is closed.
Danny Croteau, 13, was found dead along the Chicopee River in Springfield on April 15, 1972. He had been bludgeoned to death.
Former Catholic priest Richard R. Lavigne was named as a suspect in the case but never charged. He died Friday, Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni said. In fact, earlier that day, I authorized members of my office s state police detective unit to present the facts of our investigation to a magistrate in order to obtain a complaint and arrest warrant for Richard Lavigne, Gulluni said.
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Ex-priest suspected in altar boy s 1972 killing dies hours before arrest: He will face that higher power now
May 25, 2021 / 6:49 AM / CBS/AP
Investigators were preparing to seek an arrest warrant for a defrocked Roman Catholic priest long considered a suspect in the 1972 killing of a western Massachusetts altar boy shortly before his death last week, a prosecutor said Monday. Incriminating admissions Richard Lavigne made in a series of recent interviews while in a medical facility further implicated the longtime suspect in 13-year-old Danny Croteau s death, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni told reporters.
The Hampden County DA says Danny Croteau (left) was likely murdered by Richard Lavigne (right).