Daniel LaPlante is a different case in true crime stories. Although he killed an entire family, it was not this case that made him famous, but the crimes he committed before that, although no lives were lost in these cases.
Daniel LaPlante was born in 1970, and as you can imagine, had a traumatic childhood. LaPlante suffered sexual and psychological abuse from several different adults. Being his father who applied most of the punishments to him. Physically, emotionally and sexually assaulting him.
His problematic upbringing affected every aspect of his life. He struggled in school, both academically and socially, and was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age. He had few friends, and his classmates described him as scary or weird.
Because of his strange behavior, LaPlante was sent by school officials to a psychiatrist. At this point LaPlante was diagnosed with hyperactivity disorder. This problem could have been easily solved, but the young man began to suffer sexual abuse from his own psychiatrist during sessions.
Evidently, this made things even worse, and before long he began to make small thefts from people’s homes. Soon he was no longer just breaking into houses and stealing their belongings, but also leaving traces of his presence, for the purpose of playing mind games with the owners.
The crime that made Daniel LaPlante famous
In a small town located in Massachusetts in the United States lived the Andrews family, consisting of three members, Annie, Brian, and Jessica. They had no quarrels or disagreements with other people.
In 1986, Annie Andrews, 16 years old at the time, received an anonymous call from a young man named Daniel LaPlante, who informed her that he was studying at the same school as her and had gotten her phone number from one of his friends.
Daniel LaPlante described himself with great features in order to attract Annie. He said he was blond, handsome, athletic, and lived in the same neighborhood. Always acting polite, they talked for some time until he convinced Annie to go on a date.
Daniel LaPlante and Annie Andrews’ first date
The night of the date Daniel went to Annie’s house, when she opened the door she realized that he was totally different from what he had described himself. He was in dirty clothes, not athletic, not handsome and not blond — his hair was dark.
Nevertheless, Annie decided to give Daniel LaPlante a chance. But she quickly regretted it; the boy was asking insistent questions about the death of his mother, who had recently died of cancer. The conversation was one of the worst possible, quite different from the phone calls.
After an hour of conversation, Annie reached the point where she could no longer stand the situation, so she decided to run away from the date, abandoning the boy. But now he knows where she lives.
Annie decides to play Ouija to “talk” to her mother
A conversa muito estranha de Daniel LaPlante despertou saudade em Annie, ela e a irmã decidiram então tentar contato com o espÃrito da mãe através de um tabuleiro Ouija.
However, that same night, Jessica and Annie received several knocks against the walls of their bedroom while they were sleeping. Surprisingly, it appeared that the girls séance was successful. For several nights, the sisters talked to the “spirit” who was knocking against the wall to provide the answers.
As time passed, the objects in the house began to disappear. Items that were placed on the table, the next day were scattered all over the floor. The girls also began to notice that furniture was being moved around.
The girls’ father, who also lived with them, Brian Andrews, believed that it was the girls themselves who were inventing these phenomena in the house. The girls argued that they believed it was a ghost, but Brian did not believe this story, and continued to blame the girls.
The situation got worse, by this time Daniel was already writing messages on the wall with ketchup, and the girls were really scared. Brian continued to discredit the girls, but after a few weeks, after many torments, in a moment of despair the girls fled to the neighbor’s house.
They waited for Brian to return, he entered the house alone and found a lot of mess, and after some investigation, he found a boy dressed with the clothes of his deceased wife. They got into a fight, but the boy managed to get away easily.
Local police were called; they searched the house. An officer found a hidden liner behind a closet built into the wall of Annie Andrews’ bedroom. When the officer opened the hatch, he found Daniel LaPlante curled up inside. The boy was arrested.
Daniel LaPlante’s Murders
Daniel’s sentence was very light, and within a few months he was already on the streets again. Almost immediately after his release, Daniel returned to his life of theft. During one of his robberies, he obtained two guns from a neighbor’s house.
On December 1, 1987, he broke into the Gustafson family home, about a mile from their home. Daniel found in the house a family with three members: a mother and her two children.
There he raped Priscilla Gustafson, 33, and then shot her several times at close range in the head. Afterwards, he drowned Priscilla’s two children in different bathtubs. The husband was spared because he was working – or else, had he been at home, he might have been able to neutralize the threat before the barbarity.
Sentence
It didn’t take long for the authorities to link the Gustafson family murder to Daniel LaPlante. He tried to escape and during his escape committed some minor offenses, but two days later the police found him.
One year after the crime, Daniel LaPlante was sentenced to three life sentences for the murder of the Gustafson family.
Since his arrest, the criminal has shown little remorse for his actions. He is currently in prison, where he will probably spend the rest of his life.
never let him out! he is one sick puppy