BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A disturbing recurrence in some Vermont homicide investigations is the perpetrator’s abuse of a corpse. Governor Phil Scott is currently considering a bill that would create increased felony penalties for those accused of that crime. It comes as Vermont this year continues to see another year of elevated homicide rates.
This spring has seen a busy stretch of violent crime for Vermont State Police investigators.
“Unfortunately, we’re kind of on track for what we normally see,” said Vermont State Police Maj. Jeremy Hill.
Since the beginning of this month, police have been involved in three separate homicide investigations in Swanton, Colchester, and Whitingham. That comes on top of two additional cases in Barre and Rutland in April.
“At the beginning of the year — I hate to say it — it was kind of slow, and that has since changed, and we are quickly catching up to again be on par for previous years,” Hill said.
Vermont has seen a drastic rise in the total number of homicide cases in the last three years, with 25 in 2022, 27 in 2023, and 23 last year. That compares to prepandemic numbers that were typically in the teens.
“A lot of our homicides used to be domestic-related — we still have a lot of tragic homicides involving domestics — but this year it seems to be more related to narcotics,” Hill said.
Another factor in a growing number of cases — at least eight since 2021 — includes dismemberment, or offenders trying to dispose of the body.
Penny Shtull, a criminology professor at Norwich University, says there are several motivating factors, including anger, mental illness, or trying to hide evidence. “Most people who do these crimes are doing it because they want to hide, conceal, or destroy evidence, whether to delay the victim being found or to cover their tracks. They’re doing it because they hope they can get away with the crime,” she said.
Shtull says while these cases are hard to track, the act of dismemberment is still considered rare.
As for H.41, it’s likely that Governor Scott will sign it into law on Thursday. That means a new felony for someone who abuses a dead body through dismemberment, burning, or sexual assault would take effect on July 1.
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