GUILTY VT - Patricia 'Patty' Scoville, 30, raped & murdered, Stowe, 21 Oct 1991

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=3147151

This was a REALLY big deal when it happened. I am glad they finally made an arrest.

Vermont authorities say they've cracked a cold case that went unsolved for fourteen years. Police announced late Wednesday night they have made an arrest in the murder of Patricia Scoville. Howard Godfrey, of Kirby, will be arraigned Thursday in Lamoille District Court.



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Thats great news bensmom!
http://wcax.static.worldnow.com/images/3147151_BG1.jpg

WONDERFUL news!!

link


HYDE PARK -- The man accused of the 1991 rape and killing of Stowe resident Patricia Scoville plans to take his case to trial, which was tentatively scheduled during a court hearing Monday to begin in October.

Howard Godfrey, 60, of Kirby has been jailed without bail for two years since police said DNA evidence linked him to the Scoville slaying, a crime that went unsolved for 14 years. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated murder.

Prosecutors and Godfrey's new defense attorney -- his fifth court-appointed representative since his March 2005 arrest -- met with a judge Monday in Vermont District Court in Hyde Park to discuss the progress of a case that has lumbered slowly toward trial.

Here are some old links.

VSP

link

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Respectfully,
dark_shadows

Thanks for the update and all the background information. I think my husband and I visited the Stowe area in the early 90's. It's hard to believe that such a horrific crime could occur in an area I felt was like a trip back in time, to a much safer place than a big city like Los Angeles. Just goes to show you...... how naive I am!!

The defense attorney is this killer's 5th defense attorney :bang: Could it be that he is a little hard to get along with or that he wants to run the show or something like that :doh:

Why doesn't he just plead guilty and get it over with. He's 60 years old and he might as well just head for prison and start his sentence. DNA says that he did it so no sense in a trial as far as I can see.

God bless DNA

This is from our news this past friday;

HYDE PARK -- Incriminating forensic data will be allowed as evidence in the murder trial of Howard Godfrey, the man accused of raping and killing Patricia Scoville in 1991 in Stowe, a judge has ruled.

Scoville's slaying prompted the 1998 creation of a statewide databank of DNA profiles of convicted felons. Police and forensic experts say they used the registry to solve the dormant case and arrest Godfrey, 61, of Kirby in 2005. Now that genetic material might become a crucial tool for prosecutors to wield in court.

More at this link Burlington Free Press link


Here is an article from 2006, it is very informative;
Cornell Magazine

July/August, 2006
Sometimes, especially lately, people ask David Scoville about the man who raped and strangled his daughter. If you could get that guy alone in a room, what would you do?
Maybe this is supposed to give Scoville an opportunity to vent some bitterness; maybe those who ask are just genuinely curious. Either way, it doesn't work. David Scoville '61 is a sixty-seven-year old retiree with the mild voice and preternatural patience of a former elementary school teacher, which is what he is. He's not the type to relish the notion of beating the man. "I have no desire to do that," he confirms, polite and a little bemused.
The question was for a long time an abstract one; the perpetrator seemed to exist only as a sample of DNA recovered from the clothing of Patricia Scoville '86, who was twenty-eight when she disappeared on a bicycle ride near Stowe,Vermont, in October 1991. No arrests were made in the case for more than thirteen years. But now Howard Godfrey is sitting in a Vermont correctional facility, awaiting trial for Patty's murder. Godfrey is a thin, weathered man with bristly grey hair, fifty-eight years old, the owner of a window and door company. The fact that he is in a cell is at least in part because of the efforts of Scoville and his wife, Ann Van Order Scoville '61. This might explain the apparent lack of animus toward his daughter's likely killer: in a sense, David Scoville has already exacted a deeper revenge.

Much more at the link at the Cornell Magazine link.

Respectfully,
dark_shadows

Click here for; Jury Selection Begins for 1991 Murder Case

Respectfully,
dark_shadows

Justice for Patricia. It has been a long time in coming.

Godfrey Murder Trial Begins

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7612829&nav=menu183_2

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080329/NEWS02/803290312/1007



Published: Saturday, March 29, 2008
By Adam Silverman
Free Press Staff Writer

The man convicted in January of the 1991 rape and murder of Patricia Scoville of Stowe is scheduled to be sentenced May 23.

Howard Godfrey, 61, of Kirby will receive a term of life in prison with no chance of parole, the mandatory punishment for aggravated murder.

"There's no discretion," Assistant Attorney General Matt Levine said Friday.

A jury required less than three hours of deliberation Jan. 17 to convict Godfrey following a weeklong trial.

Respectfully,
dark_shadows

Godfrey Sentenced for Scoville Murder


Hyde Park, Vermont - May 23, 2008
Howard Godfrey smiled as he awaited sentencing for the rape and murder of Patty Scoville seventeen years ago in Stowe.
The crime was unsolved for over 13 years, until DNA evidence led to Godfrey's arrest.
Patty Scoville's parents helped create the DNA databank that caught their daughter's killer.
Friday, they finally had their say.




Here is the link
http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=8370335

Here is the link for the DNA Data Bank.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8366809

Here is the article from the burlington free press.

http://burlingtonfreepress.com/apps...23/NEWS01/80523024&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Here is an article from my news today;


http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806220310




Assault victim helped solve Scoville case



MONTPELIER -- Karen Kerin helped put a killer in prison for life.

But she lives a sentence of her own, haunted by the aftermath of a brutal attack that ultimately helped police solve a 14-year-old murder case unrelated to her.

More at link.

Respectfully,
dark_shadows

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8370335

May 23, 2008

...Howard Godfrey smiled as he awaited sentencing for the rape and murder of Patty Scoville seventeen years ago in Stowe.

The crime was unsolved for over 13 years, until DNA evidence led to Godfrey's arrest.
...

..."The crime of rape and murder is indeed the worst possible nightmare any parents could face. I sentence you to imprisonment in the custody of the commissioner of corrections for the remainder of your natural life without any possibility of parole," said Vt. District Court Judge Dennis Pearson...

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Rest in Peace Patty.

From December 2013:

http://archive.burlingtonfreepress....und-dead-at-Springfield-correctional-facility

A man convicted in the brutal 1991 rape and murder of a woman in Stowe has been found dead in his cell at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield...

The convict died in the prison’s medical unit, Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said. He did not give a cause but said Godfrey’s death of natural causes was expected.

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