Boy's Death Follows Priest
Alleged Abuse Victims Questioned about a 30-Year-Old Homicide

By Roselyn Tantraphol
Hartford Courant
August 8, 2002

Suspicion has shadowed the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne since a 13-year-old Springfield altar boy was found bludgeoned to death on the banks of the Chicopee River 30 years ago. Now, with seven new sexual abuse lawsuits filed against Lavigne, his name has surfaced once again in connection with the unsolved killing.

Sandra Tessier, whose 43-year-old son, Andre Tessier, is a plaintiff in one of the suits against Lavigne, said she recently got the visit she thought would have come three decades ago, when her family spent a considerable amount of time with the young priest.

"They aren't interested in the molestation at all," she said of her interview with Massachusetts state police. "They're interested in the murder."

Danielle J. Barshak, an attorney whose firm is representing Andre Tessier and six other plaintiffs who have all filed suit since April of this year, said that at least half of the clients have already spoken to police concerning the death of Daniel Croteau.

"We are suggesting that [the clients] speak with the DA's office," Barshak said. "A number of them have spoken with police ... with the expectation that it might be useful in the investigation of the Croteau case."

Danny's parents last saw him in the front yard of their home in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood on the east side of Springfield on April 13, 1972. The next day, a fisherman found his body along the Chicopee River near the Gov. Robinson Bridge, which links the northern edge of Springfield and Chicopee. Investigators said his head had been beaten with a rock.

Lavigne, 61, was never charged in the case and has denied involvement in the killing, although suspicions have followed him as he moved from one Massachusetts parish to another.

He was arrested in 1991 on molestation charges unrelated to those raised in the lawsuits pending in Hampden Superior Court in Springfield. Lavigne pleaded guilty to molesting two boys in Shelburne Falls, Mass., and served a 10-year probation sentence that ended in June. Three years after the arrest, the Diocese of Springfield settled another series of lawsuits out of court for $1.4 million with 17 alleged abuse victims of Lavigne.

The Tessier family knew Lavigne as a young, vibrant priest who captivated parishioners of Springfield's St. Mary's Church with his homilies and his charm. They said Lavigne ate dinner at their house several times a week, and would sometimes stay late talking with them.

Sandra Tessier has declined to discuss what she told investigators, or what a second interview will cover. But she said the investigators are after recollections from the time of the slaying that people might not even know they have.

Investigators have also interviewed her son, Andre Tessier, who also declined to discuss what was said. Another plaintiff, Thomas M. Martin of Springfield, said he has also answered questions and plans on meeting again with investigators.

The Tessiers, who at the time did not know about their son's alleged molestation, said that until recently, they had never been interviewed by police following the 1972 killing.

"Nobody bothered," Sandra Tessier said. "I thought it was surprising then."

Lavigne had also been a close friend of Danny Croteau's family, who attended Mass at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Springfield, where Lavigne had worked before being assigned to St. Mary's Church. Lavigne had gone with Danny's father, Carl, to identify the body. Danny had been an altar boy at St. Catherine's when Lavigne worked there. The Croteaus and Lavigne remained in touch even after Lavigne was transferred to St. Mary's Church.

Lavigne served as a concelebrant in Danny's funeral Mass before emerging as the chief suspect in the case.

"He became the chief suspect only because of the close association he had with the boy," said Edward J. Rojowski, a retired detective captain of the Chicopee Police Department who headed the detective bureau at the time of the killing. Chicopee police worked on the case with state police investigators and the district attorney's office.

Like many plaintiffs in the waves of lawsuits being brought against Catholic clergy around the country, Andre Tessier, a West Hartford resident for 13 years, said he pushed memories of his abuse out of his mind. He said he decided to bring his suit after learning about another man he knew who claimed abuse by Lavigne.

Tessier alleges that Lavigne sexually assaulted him during overnight trips and at the rectory of St. Mary's Church. The lawsuit claims the abuse occurred over a three-year period, but ended "some time after the 1972 murder of altar boy Danny Croteau, when Tessier's father ceased to permit any further association with Lavigne."

Lavigne declined to be interviewed for this story on advice from his lawyers. Although barred from parish ministry in 1991, he has not been defrocked and lives in Chicopee. He is still supported financially by the Diocese of Springfield.

With this renewed interest, family and friends of Danny say they hope advances in DNA technology will be used to help uncover evidence.

Carl and Bunny Croteau, Danny's parents, initially refused to believe that Lavigne, who was often at their house, was involved in the death of their son. Then their other sons, Danny's older brothers, came forward to say Lavigne had molested them.

That was when their opinion of Lavigne changed, and Carl Croteau said he began telling his friends about his new belief.

"That," Tessier said of his alleged abuse by Lavigne, "was the beginning of the end."

Tessier, speaking publicly this week for the first time about his lawsuit, said the deep distrust families close to Lavigne developed after the killing played an important role in stopping the abuse he said he secretly suffered for years.

He described the abuse as constant, alleging that Lavigne would become forceful, grabbing his elbows or shoulders and squeezing to the point of pain.

Tessier, who runs his West Hartford business, Art Framing Shop and Gallery, said coming forward with his accusations has been both emotionally wrenching and a relief.

"He's a creature from hell," Tessier said. "There's nothing spiritual about that man at all."

Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett said the Croteau death is an open investigation, but would not discuss any aspect of the case.

This is not the first time the case has attracted renewed attention. The Hampden County district attorney's office conducted a DNA analysis in the mid-1990s of blood taken from Lavigne and blood evidence found on a drinking straw at the riverbank crime scene. The analysis showed the blood on the straw was not Lavigne's, and Bennett ended that investigation into the case in 1995.

Edward Blake, the forensic scientist based in Richmond, Calif., who conducted the DNA analysis, said that in the seven years since that analysis, DNA technology has made great strides.

"We could probably go back to the DNA prep we made in 1995 and apply state-of-the-art technology and get more genetic information out of it," Blake said. Still, these advances do not change the fact that regardless of whose blood is on the straw, it does not prove that person killed Danny, he said.

The Croteaus said that they believed another DNA test could provide important clues. But they said they could not discuss whether they have asked the district attorney's office to conduct a new analysis.

The Croteaus, who still attend Mass every week, said they maintain the hope they have held for three decades.

"We feel," Bunny Croteau said, "that somebody knew what went on, and when, and it's a matter of getting their conscience up and telling about it."

Sandra Tessier said she hoped the lawsuits would help in the investigation and bring closure for the Croteaus. She also hopes her son's speaking out will help others.

"If one person comes forward because you had spoken out," Sandra Tessier said she told her son, "then you've won, not Lavigne."