As someone who's never believed Michael Nicholau responsible for these murders and that the evidence for his involvement is extraordinarily faulty, it's disheartening to see that his guilt has become, to the internet at least, a foregone conclusion, especially when there's no shortage of suspects. Since it's on my mind and I've been doing some reading, I thought I'd make a list of lesser-known persons of interest:
Paul Oakes: scrapyard worker and local handyman from West Hartford, VT with a criminal history dating back to 1973 when he was arrested for statutory rape. I believe he was named as the suspect "Henry Barker" in the book Shadow of Death, first looked at for the murder of Barbara Agnew. (He worked as a part-time snowplow operator and was clearing roads on the night of Agnew's abduction, which occurred during a blizzard.) Committed suicide in 2010 after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman.
"Richard Bordeau": Clairemont eccentric whose real name I don't know. Suffered from mental disturbances consistent with autism spectrum diagnosis, accused of stalking behavior by several local women. Allegedly owned a knife collection. I don't consider him a serious suspect.
Delbert Tallman/Albert Sargent: Tallman had deep ties to the CT Valley, living in Clairemont for a time. Confessed to the 1984 murder of Heidi Martin in Hartland, VT. At trial, he recanted on the stand. His defense counsel made the case that Tallman, who was mildly retarded, was actually a witness to Martin's murder rather than the perpetrator. Specifically, they accused 45-year-old Albert Sargent, who allegedly confessed to members of his family, had a history of sexual misconduct, and supposedly had inside knowledge of the crime. (Curiously enough, he explained this knowledge as being the result of psychic abilities on his part. There was a suspect in the Lynda Moore murder, which is occasionally listed in this series, who popped up on police radar when he started talking about his own psychic connection to the crime. It's unknown whether Sargent was this man.) Albert Sargent maintained his alibi and was never charged. Tallman was acquitted and later went on to commit numerous sex offenses in Florida.
David Morrison: Former gas station attendant briefly charged in the 1986 cold case murder of golf pro Sarah Hunter in Manchester, NH. Charges were later withdrawn, but Morrison remains in prison for attempted murder/rape/kidnapping. Unlike the other CT Valley killings, Hunter was strangled, rather than stabbed. I believe it unlikely that Morrison was responsible for any of the other murders.
Howard Godfrey: Violent sexual offender and possible serial killer linked to the murder of hiker Patricia Scoville in 1991. Scoville's murder has some parallels of the 1978 murder of Cathy Millican, believed by many to the be the first of the CT River Valley killings. However, I don't see any indication that Godfrey ever used a knife and he was situated in Stowe, which is a bit too far west. He was probably not involved.
Gary Westover and Co.: Westover, a paraplegic and former drug dealer from Grafton, NH confessed on his deathbed in 1997 to involvement with the murder of Barbara Agnew. Westover claimed that he and three friends got high, drove to Vermont, abducted Agnew, killed her in their van, and dumped the body. The names of these men have not been made public.
Claude Moulton/Larry Moulton: Claude Moulton, a local business owner with a long history of domestic violence and statutory rape was accused by his ex-con brother Larry of involvement in the 2004 disappearance of Maura Murray from a roadside in Haverhill, NH. The claim was that Claude killed Maura with a knife and a subsequent search of his home aided by cadaver dogs yielded hits for human remains. Larry later died of cancer. His obituary revealed deep family ties to the Clairemont area.
Some thoughts:
Several of the POI scenarios listed above involve more than one person. The assumption, during the investigation of these murders, was that a single offender was involved. However, in at least two cases, there were eyewitnesses corroborating the involvement of at least two men. Specifically, Bernice Courtemanche was last seen getting into a vehicle with two men, none of whom have ever come forward. Witnesses also reported seeing a woman matching Barbara Agnew's description being forced into a van at a rest stop on the day of her disappearance. (These witnesses, who were later discounted on account of timeline issues, essentially support Gary Westover's story.) Delbert Tallman's initial confession to the murder of Heidi Martin and subsequent accusations against Albert Sargent also beg the question: what, exactly, was the connection between these two alleged sex offenders? Could they, perhaps, have been working in concert? In fact, the only crime in the CT River Valley series where the evidence is emphatic that only one man was involved is the attempted murder of Jane Boroski in Swanzey, NH, and her assault was radically different in that there was no abduction and no attempt to secure the scene/hide the body (the assailant didn't even stick around to make sure Jane was dead). It was sloppy to the point of being the exact opposite of the initial murders in and around Clairemont. My contention is that we're perhaps looking at something akin to the Hillside Stranglings, a case that was only broken once Kenneth Bianchi, the younger, more impulsive partner, "went solo" up in Bellingham, WA and left behind a disorganized, evidence-rich crime scene that was immediately linked back to him.