In homicide investigations, the first 48 hours are often considered the most critical. As a rule of thumb, the longer a case lingers without an arrest, the less chance of finding the killer.
Where does that leave the New Hampshire State Police investigation into the murder of 67-year-old William Colao, whose body was discovered inside his Canaan home five weeks ago?
Colao, who lived alone in the 19th century Colonial on Sawyer Hill Road that his late parents purchased more than 50 years ago, suffered multiple stab wounds as well as a fatal gunshot to the head, an autopsy determined. Signs point to Colao being the victim of a burglary or home invasion.
Since issuing a four-paragraph news release on Aug. 18 — the day after Colao’s body was found during a welfare check by Canaan police — state police and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office have said little.
“At this time, the homicide investigation remains active and ongoing,” Michael Garrity, the Attorney General Office’s spokesman, responded via email to my inquiry Thursday. “In order to preserve the integrity of the case, we are unable to comment or release any additional information beyond what has already been made public.”
While short on details, the Aug. 18 news release stated: “There is no known threat to the general public at this time.
I suppose that’s meant to be reassuring. But it would be helpful to know why law enforcement authorities are so confident that the public has nothing to worry about.
The statement, however, adds credence to the theory that investigators don’t feel pressured to wrap up the case ASAP because a suspect is already in custody on charges unrelated to Colao’s death.
WCAX-TV in South Burlington, citing unnamed sources, has reported that police have linked a 39-year-old drifter from Vermont with a lengthy criminal record to the Canaan case.
Joel R. Gouin was arrested for allegedly attempting to rob a convenience store at knifepoint in West Rutland, Vt., at around 11 p.m. on Aug. 18 — roughly 4.5 hours after Colao’s body was discovered. Although authorities aren’t commenting, it appears the welfare check was precipitated by Vermont police finding Colao’s pickup truck unattended in Rutland County earlier that day.
Gouin is currently being held without bail at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland. He also has charges pending against him in Windsor County, stemming from a stolen vehicle last year.
On Feb. 6, 2024, Jeff Acker, owner of HP Roofing in White River Junction, reported a pickup truck missing from his company’s fleet. The 2012 Ford F-250 had been parked overnight outside the company’s headquarters on South Main Street.
Two days later, police in Hardwick, Vt., located the pickup, which had a ladder rack, parked next to a house where Gouin and a female companion were living. Later, while executing a search warrant on the truck, police found jewelry, game cameras and other items that had been reported stolen in the Northeast Kingdom.
In seeking a judge’s permission to search the truck, police identified Gouin and the woman as “subjects of numerous burglaries across several counties.”
Gouin was ultimately charged with theft of the truck — grand larceny — and burglary for allegedly breaking into the HP Roofing building where the keys to company vehicles were kept.
When Acker, the company’s owner, was notified of Gouin’s arrest, he immediately knew who police were talking about. Gouin had worked for HP Roofing “off and on” for a few years, Acker told me when I called him this week.
The police affidavit also mentions a message that Gouin left on Acker’s cellphone after he stopped working for the company in 2022. Gouin told his former boss that he was “homeless, living out of his truck and was out of gas.” Acker sent $100 via Venmo to Gouin and told him “not to worry about paying him back,” the affidavit stated.
When we talked, Acker said he’d forgotten about the money. It wasn’t the first time that Acker, a 1988 Dartmouth graduate who started his company in 2003, had tried to help a current or former member of his roofing crew who was “having a problem, sometimes of their own making,” he said.
Gouin’s next Vermont Superior Court appearance in the case is scheduled for Nov. 6 in Woodstock.
When looking up Gouin on the Vermont Department of Corrections’ offender locator website, I saw that he currently faces 33 criminal charges in four counties. From my reading of court documents, I think it’s fair to say that he’s struggled with substance use over the years. Until his arrest in West Rutland last month, however, the cases didn’t indicate a history of violence.
Still, with dozens of charges pending against him, how is it that he wasn’t locked up until recently?
In Vermont, Gouin was under what is called “24/7 curfew,” a condition of release that is “fairly rare for probationers or those not on home detention status,” DOC spokeswoman Haley Sommer told me in an email. A condition set by a judge, it “essentially means that an individual must remain in their home at all times unless they receive approval from the court to leave,” she added.
DOC records indicate Gouin was on electronic monitoring for “at least some portion of his time in the community, but the court did not set electronic monitoring as a condition for him,” Sommer said.
It speaks to a bigger problem confronting the Vermont criminal justice system. While keeping nonviolent offenders out of prison is a worthy goal, it shouldn’t come at the expense of public safety.
“Conditions of release in Vermont are by and large self-enforcing,” Essex County Attorney Vincent Illuzzi, a former state senator from the Northeast Kingdom, said in an interview. “There is no court or law enforcement oversight. No one is knocking at the door to see if you are abiding by a curfew or no guns, alcohol or drug restrictions.”
“Generally, they come to the attention of law enforcement when the defendant commits a new crime,” he added.
On Tuesday, Marta Colao, William Colao’s only living sibling, and her husband, Jeff Pentland, met with New Hampshire State Police investigators and a representative from the Attorney General’s Office, in Concord. Although they weren’t given the name of a suspect, Colao “came away from (the meeting) feeling a little bit better,” she told me when we talked Wednesday evening. “I have to have trust in what (state police investigators) are doing.”
As police await lab results from forensic evidence collected inside her brother’s home, she sensed that it could be a while before an arrest is made.
Until then, she’ll try to remain patient. At this point, there’s no other choice.