congenitaldisease: Standing at 5 foot 6 inches and weighing 135 pounds, Danny Croteau was big for a

congenitaldisease: Standing at 5 foot 6 inches and weighing 135 pounds, Danny Croteau was big for a seventh-grader. His parents would describe him as a daydreamer. He often spoke about wanting to go on safari and loved making his siblings laugh. On the 15th of April, 1972, Danny was found floating under the Interstate 291 bridge in the murky waters of Chicopee River. He had been bludgeoned over the head with a heavy object, presumably a rock. The autopsy concluded that he had died of fractures of the skull and lacerations of the brain. The family’s former parish priest, Richard Lavigne, has long been considered a suspect in the slaying. A witness claimed that on the night of the murder, she had spotted Lavigne near the crime scene but was threatened by the then-bishop and district attorney from coming forward. It was never disclosed what the woman supposedly saw but the report alleges a grave abuse of authority and raises many questions. Carl Croteau, Danny’s father, was told by former Hampden County District Attorney, Matthew Ryan Jr. that “he didn’t think he could get 12 jurors to convict a priest.” Lavigne wasn’t publicly named as a suspect until the 1990s after he was convicted of molesting two alter boys. Following his molestation conviction, Danny’s brother, Joseph, filed a suit against Lavigne, charging that he had molested him when he was 13-years-old. In fact, Joseph made a statement alleging the abuse back in 1972 but nothing ever came of it and it was brushed under the rug. At a time and a place when few would believe a priest could molest, never mind kill, a child, no charges were ever brought against Lavigne for the murder of Danny. Lavigne had long been coddled by his superiors in the Springfield Diocese and was stopped from parish to parish where he abused child after child. Over the years, more people can’t forward to say that Lavigne had molested them. Lavigne, who still maintains his innocence, currently lives with his mother in Chicopee. -- source link

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