In 1986, the sleepy town of Townsend, Massachusetts, was rocked by a series of bizarre events that would haunt its residents for years to come.
Sisters Tina and Karen Bowen began noticing unsettling occurrences inside their own home: furniture moved, milk vanishing without explanation, and cryptic messages smeared on walls in condiments.
Convinced they were dealing with a ghostly presence, they confided in their father, Frank Bowen, who initially dismissed their fears as sibling pranks.
It all changed dramatically on December 8 of that fateful year.
Returning home, the Bowen girls made a chilling discovery: someone had used their bathroom.
Frank’s subsequent search of the house revealed a shocking intruder hiding in a wardrobe — none other than Tina’s 16-year-old classmate, Daniel LaPlante.
Dressed in a Native American-style jacket and face painted, LaPlante wielded a wrench and hatchet, terrorizing the family into a bedroom, as reported by All That’s Interesting (ATI).
Thankfully, Tina managed a daring escape through a window, seeking help from a neighbor who alerted the authorities.
Police arrived promptly but found no trace of LaPlante, leading them to believe he had fled.
Yet, just days later, Frank Bowen returned to gather belongings and spotted LaPlante peering from a bedroom window, detailed by Morbid Knowledge.
Inside, a chilling message scrawled on a family photo confirmed LaPlante’s lingering presence: “I’M STILL HERE. COME FIND ME.”
A thorough search eventually uncovered LaPlante hiding in a cramped cellar cavity, where he had been secretly residing for an extended period.
The backstory of Daniel LaPlante reveals a troubled teen fixated on Tina Bowen, whom he had briefly dated.
Their relationship ended abruptly when rumors of LaPlante facing rape charges surfaced, causing Tina to sever ties, or so she thought.
Exploiting a small crawl space, LaPlante gained illicit entry into the Bowen home, initiating a campaign of psychological torment.
Initially content to observe from the shadows, LaPlante escalated his harassment after witnessing the sisters’ attempts to contact their deceased mother via a ouija board.
According to ATI, he assumed the guise of a malevolent spirit, prolonging the family’s ordeal for nearly a year.
Author Joe Turner, in his book ‘The Boy in the Walls,’ described LaPlante’s transformation from voyeur to tormentor, relishing the fear he instilled.
“Initially, Danny used their home as a hideout to spy on Tina,” Turner explained to theDaily Star in 2022.
“But as time passed, he grew to enjoy terrorizing this family,” Turner continued, recounting bizarre incidents like finding a bathtub filled with urine and scattered pennies across the floor.
LaPlante’s arrest at the Bowen residence swiftly led to his incarceration in a juvenile detention center.
However, his time behind bars proved short-lived when his mother secured his release on a $10,000 bail in October 1987.
Unshackled and awaiting trial, LaPlante embarked on a spree of burglaries across the neighborhood.
His criminal descent reached its nadir on November 16, 1987, when he targeted the Gustafson family home.
The Gustafson household included Priscilla Gustafson, a pregnant nursery school teacher, her husband Andrew, and their two young children, William and Abigail.
Returning to the Gustafson residence armed with a .22 caliber firearm on December 1, 1987, LaPlante encountered Priscilla unexpectedly.
In a horrifying turn, he assaulted and fatally shot her, ATI recounts.
He then proceeded to drown William, whom he had confined in a closet, before luring Abigail into another room and committing the same grim act.
Andrew Gustafson’s return home that evening revealed the devastating scene: his wife murdered and his children tragically drowned.
Recalling the haunting aftermath, Andrew shared with the Los Angeles Times in 1990: “I was too terrified to search for my children, fearing what I might find. It was beyond comprehension. I screamed. I sobbed.”
Forensic evidence swiftly tied LaPlante to the heinous crimes.
Law enforcement recovered the shirt and gloves used during the murders from a nearby wooded area, still damp with incriminating evidence.
LaPlante faced trial for the Gustafson murders in October 1988, resulting in a conviction and three consecutive life sentences.
However, the grim saga did not conclude with his sentencing.
In 2017, LaPlante sought a reduction in his sentence, yet the judge deemed him unrepentant, reaffirming his life imprisonment without parole.
Now 53, LaPlante awaits a distant chance at parole, requiring another seven years before eligibility.
The haunting tale of Daniel LaPlante serves as a chilling reminder of how obsession and darkness can transform ordinary lives into nightmares.