SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican - MassLive [Springfield MA]
October 31, 2023
By Jim Kinney
The Diocese of Springfield acknowledged Tuesday new findings against the late Richard Lavigne as part of a regular updating of its list of credibly accused clergy.
Lavigne died in 2021 as police were planning to charge him with the 1972 murder of altar boy Daniel “Danny” Croteau. Lavigne, a prolific child molester who was kicked out of the priesthood in 2003, told police in a series of deathbed interviews that he took the boy to the area of a boat ramp along the Chicopee River, struck him with a rock, shoved him into the water, and returned later to see his lifeless body, clothed in his Catholic school uniform, floating facedown.