By Ray Duckler
Concord Monitor
CONCORD, N.H. — For the first time in state history, law enforcement officials can focus full time on cases that, in some instances, have baffled investigators for decades.
A Cold Case Unit, approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. John Lynch last July, was unveiled yesterday at a press conference that included family members of three murder victims.
State Attorney General Michael Delaney, flanked by Lynch and others, introduced the four-man team. The podium area was crowded with members of the Department of Justice and the state police, both of whom worked together to create the groundbreaking office.
Detectives Scott Gilbert, John Encarnacao and Robert Freitas, along with Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker, will reopen a file of mysteries that have baffled officials since 1969.
New Hampshire lists 117 cold case victims, covering 102 cases. A cold case involves a homicide, a suspected homicide, or a missing person suspected to have been murdered.
Money from the federal stimulus package, $1.2 million, will pay for the unit, which is scheduled to operate for at least three years. Delker said a progress report will be filed next December, adding that he hopes the program’s budget will be extended beyond the summer of 2012.
“I don’t want to advocate . . . that in the next 30 to 60 days we’re probably making an announcement of a cold case arrest, because I don’t think that would really be the case,” said Col. Frederick Booth of the state police, who helped assemble the cold case lineup. “But the fact is that we are digging in, and we are going to dig in hard and fast.”
The three sisters of Kathy Lynn Gloddy, who was 13 when her badly beaten body was found on a dirt road 3 miles from her Franklin home, pushed lawmakers to create a separate wing of law enforcement to focus solely on unsolved murders.
Gloddy, raped and strangled, was found Nov. 22, 1971. No one was ever charged, although several suspects surfaced through the years.
“There are some people of interest that they’d like to speak with and have not been able to because of time and resources,” said one of Gloddy’s sisters, Karen Beaudin, who drove from Ohio to attend yesterday’s press conference. “It’s sad for the families, to know someone may have information on a case and nothing can be done. I really believe in my heart that within the first year there will be one or two cases that will be solved.”
Officials were close to arresting Ed Dukette, who rented an apartment upstairs from the Gloddy family in the early 1970s and later moved to Florida.
Beaudin, in fact, was scheduled to accompany Delker and Gilbert to Florida last summer while wearing a hidden device to tape Dukette incriminating himself.
But Dukette died in August, shortly before the trio arrived at his home.
“We were confident we were going to be able to bring him back with us,” Gilbert said.
The police still consider Kenneth Bonefant of Tilton a suspect, Gilbert said yesterday. Bonefant was interviewed for a 20/20 segment on the crime, but his comments never aired. He spoke to the Monitor the day before the news segment ran, Oct. 29, claiming his innocence.
“I still feel there is information out there,” Beaudin said. “I’m very hopeful that someone will be charged.”
Someone was charged in the murder of 5-week-old Adam Robbins, whose mother, Denise Dow, was invited to yesterday’s press conference to share her story and show that cold cases sometimes heat up.
Dow left her two young children with her boyfriend, George Knickerbocker, at their Concord apartment 26 years ago to run errands. When she returned, her son had been badly injured, and he died hours later from a fractured skull.
The state credited Dow’s persistence with helping bring the case to trial. Knickerbocker was convicted of manslaughter three years ago and sentenced to 12 to 24 years in prison.
But Dow’s frustration, both with Knickerbocker’s sentence and the time it took to convict him, was obvious. “They never did anything about it for a long, long time,” she said. “It was back here in the file and in the closet with the shoes.”
“It was a long battle, but it was worth it,” she added. “Definitely worth it.”
Allwynne Fine of Concord, whose family owned a clothing store on Main Street for 60 years, also waited years for justice and shared her feelings at the press conference.
In 1981, she returned from Maine with lobster for her mother-in- law, Yvonne Fine, who skipped the trip and remained in Concord to care for her sick cat. Allwynne found Yvonne dead in her home. She had been raped and strangled.
Joseph Whittey was convicted of first-degree murder in 2000, after his DNA was found on Yvonne’s pajamas thanks to breakthroughs in forensic science.
“I think it’s wonderful that we’re going to get this kind of help,” Fine said.
The three detectives bring a wealth of experience to the new department. Freitas, in fact, served as a cold case investigator for the Manchester police, although the job was not full time.
“I can tell you from reviewing some of the files that I’m excited about the potential that some of these cases have,” Freitas said.
Gilbert added that simply asking witnesses questions they were asked years ago can lead to an arrest. He said that’s what led to the 2005 arrest of Eric Windhurst, who killed Daniel Paquette 20 years earlier.
“Time was to our benefit,” said Gilbert, who worked on the case. “The bonds and ties people had, things that kept them from speaking the truth back then and telling on each other, they no longer existed. All we had to do was ask them. With any luck, we’ll find a case like that.”
Beaudin and her two sisters, Ann Ring and Janet Young, hope so. They hope the Cold Case Unit can give them closure, like Dow received, after 38 years.
“You can’t ever give up,” Dow said. “If you give up, nobody will care.”
Copyright 2009 Concord Monitor