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A-4 THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH July 16. 1989V iolentAn Air Force veteran and. for ashort time, a police officer, Vercau-teren spent the last half of his life with little steady work - an outlaw attacking young women and running fromthe police.Court records trace Vercauteren'slife history. Interviews he gave with a series of psychiatrists present details of how he rationalized the violence ofhis actsThey also reveal how the criminal justice system in several states failed to adequately address the exireme anger that he felt drove him to his crimesFour years after Vercauteren’s birth in 1946, his father deserted hismother. The pressure of bringing up three children as a single mother prompted her to give them up Vercauteren’s younger brother -now a Methuen firefighter - and his younger sister were sent to live with friends while he was sent to anorphanage. During the five years he was there, he was sexually abused byolder boys, he said.He left the orphanage to drift through a series of foster homes and. at the age of 12, moved back home with his mother, who had remarried.Unable to get along with his stepfather, Vercauteren was then sent to a boarding school.He fared little better there andeventually took to stealing.I just couldn’t seem to stick to the rules,’’ he told a psychiatrist. Vercauteren’s later crimes seemedto stem from a vehement anger towards women. Much of that anger stemmed from his relationship with his mother, Vercauteren told one ofseveral psychiatrists who treated him throughout the years.“My mother didn't have to abandon me and put me in a boarding school, Vercauteren said. “Of her three chilftdren, I fared the worst - whether she intended it or not. I’ve never forgiven her. I think what she did was convenient for her ”When he was 18, Vercauteren joined the Air Force. He completed his basic training in Texas and was eventually stationed in Alaska. There he met the woman who was to becomehis wife - the 15-year-old daughter of a fellow servicemanThe girl was pregnant after just a few dates.Vercauteren was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1968, attended a police academy and worked for a while as a policeman, records show, but it is not clearwhere he was employed.His son, James Anthony, was born 10 days before his parents were married. Shortly after the wedding, the family moved to Washington, D.C.It was there that his troubles withthe law began.Vercauteren began drinking heavily. His wife and son left to live with her family. Shortly afterwards, on Sept. 10, 1968, Vercauteren was arrested for the first time for forcing a woman - at gunpoint - to perform oral sex on him.Records are unclear as to whetherhe was convicted. However, they show he was committed to the psychiatric ward of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington and later transferred to Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts, a psychiatric hospital.In March 1970, Vercauteren attacked a 13-year-old girl in Lawrence, Mass. He pleaded guilty to indecent assault and battery and was placed on probation with the recommendation that he receive psychiatric treatment. Vercauteren then began seeing a Boston psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Mezer, but stopped after a few visits, saying he could no longer afford treatment.Within six months, he was arrested again. In August 1970, he was charged with an attack on a woman in Milford,Conn.lifehadanironicApril 2,1989, Anchortgt, AlaskaCharged with drunken driving.Tells boss at a trucking finn that he was in trouble with hie law, was heating lor the Virgin Islands and might not be back.Prudhoe BayThe Trail ofFrancis Vercauteren34 Anchorage.X.vvJuneauAugust 1970, Milford, Conn.Attacks a Connecticut woman. Pleads gulty to assault with intent to rape, aggravated assault. Sentenced to five to 10 years in State Prison with minimal therapy. Paroled March 20,1976March 1970, Lawrence, Mass.Commits indecent assault and battery on a 13-year-old girl. Pleads guPty, placed on probation Sees psychiatrist briefly, but slops, saying he can't afford IIAug. 20,1975, Windham, NH.Arlene Boland murdered. Vercauteren arrested in Lawrence, Mass.; Pleads guilty on Sept. 26,1977 to kidnapping and second-degree murder. Sentenced to 21 years to life. Commited to state mental hospital.Sept 15,1978, Concord, N.H.Escapes from hospital, turns self in and is sentenced to an adtitionat1-2 yearsOct 14,1979, Concord, NJf.Escapes a second timeSan FranciscoWashingtonSept. 10,1968, Wash., D.C.First arrest, for forcing a woman to perform oral sex. Briefly hospitalized in Washington, then returns to Massachusetts, near family.Los Angeles1980-1988Vercauteren eludes taw enforcement authorities by moving from state to state and adopting various aliases Reportedly lived at various limes in Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida and Quebec, Can., finally settling in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.Dallas—*I\HoustonPort Richay6May 6,1989, St. Thomas, VJ.Found unconscious outside a bar, the victim of a beating Hospitalized in acomaJanuary 1988, Port Richey, Fla,Woman kidnapped and raped. Police suspect Vercauteren, but the attacker is never caught.MiamiJuly 2,1989Dies from complications fromthe beatingCuba° ’* V.I.teren raped and choked the woman, leaving her for dead.As part of a plea bargain in that case. Vercauteren pleaded guilty to assault with intent to rape and aggravated asssault. A charge of assault with intent to kill was dropped.“I didn’t look at the woman Iof Aug. 14,1976.1 was intent on killing a girl even before I met this girl,” Vercauteren later told Mezer.choked, Vercauteren told a psychiatrist. “I looked up in the air. In my mind, it wasn't me doing it. It was somebody else.He was cruising the area between his brother’s house in Methuen, Mass . and Salem. N.H., in a blue 1972 Dodge Coronet, the same modelWhen she pleaded with him to let her go and told him her father was a police officer, Vercauteren panicked.“I found a baseball bat. he saidfriend of Vercauteren. told police that Vercauteren had confided in him thathe killed Arlene Boland.Later that night. Vercauteren confessed to the murder.afterwards. I hit her with the batof car as Salem’s unmarked policeftThe Connecticut judge ordered Vercauteren committed to the Whiting Forensic Institute in Middletown. Conn., a psychiatric hospital.His assigned therapist was Betty Rashal, an aide with a bachelor’sdegree in sociology who told Vercauteren she never expected to be a therapist.“The girl therapist didn’t help me. Vercauteren told a psychiatrist. She sat there. She didn’t know what to do.cruisers.Vercauteren would use his car and his training as a police officer to help him pull over women as they drove along deserted roads.That night, the first two women he pulled over were spared; one when a truck pulled up nearby, the other when she began talking about religion to him.There was no stopping. I was hitting her. 1 don’t know how many times. I kept swinging and swinging. I stopped because I got exhausted, not because I killed her. I never sensed I wasVercauteren pleaded guilty on Sept. 26. 1977, to kidnapping and second-degree murder and was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison. He was ordered to serve his time inangry before, but I realized I was angry when swinging that bat.“I felt she had gotten me into trouble. If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t have done it. It was her faultthe New Hampshire state mental hospital’s Forensic Unit, a ward for those whose mental illnesses contributed to their crimesThe two psychiatrists who examined Vercauteren before his trialfor being near her car at 2 a.m.Boland’s body was found two days later in the woods next to 1-93 inwrote in their report to the court; “It is clear from the history and examination of Mr. Vercauteren that he hasArlene Boland wasn’t as lucky. Vercauteren met her at about 2:30Windham, N.H.Since no one else was available toa.m. She was standing outside her broken down car less than a mileShe’d admit to me she didn’t knowwhat she was doing.IfOn March 20, 1976, about a year after the therapy sessions fizzled to an end. Vercauteren was paroled.For five months, he lived with a woman and her five children, at-from her family's home.After a brief masquerade as a policeman. Vercauteren forced Boland into his car intending to rape her.do the job. LeBlanc had to videotape the autopsy of the girl who had lived just a few houses down the street from him for most of her life.had a psychiatric problem of some magnitude for many years. What started as sexual obsession has turnedinto a compulsion to sexual assault, which is quite deep-seated and resis-ftLess than a week later, on Aug. 20, a petty thief named Edward Benner, atant to change Indeed, after his sentencing. Vercauteren refused to see any moretempting to support them as a family.“It was a heavy load after getting out of prison.” Vercauteren told a psychiatrist. “I was OK for twomonths, then it got to be too much forme. he said. I got confused I putmy fist through the garage door. I screamed at people. I felt myself going downhill.”Vercauteren then went to live withhis brother and sister-in-law in Massachusetts.By June 1976, psychiatrist Dr. Robert Mezer reported, his condition had deteriorated even more and hebegan looking for victims.“I wandered all over, followingVercauteren told Mezer.ftwomen,“These particular women were mine. They were going to have sex with me.It seemed only natural They weregoing to want to have sex with me. I wouldn’t have to force them.ftArlene Boland was one of threeAccording to LeBlanc, Vercau- women Vercauteren met on the night. crt RtCpsychiatrists.Despite this situation, Vercauteren managed to escape twice.The first time was on Sept. 15,1978. According to LeBlanc, Vercauteren went to Washington, D.C., but later turned himself in, was convicted ofescape and sentenced the following May to an additional 1-2 years Inprison.On Oct. 14, 1979, he escaped again and didn’t return.The official report of the incident said that Vercauteren escaped after he overpowered a guard at the hospital. However, some believe he may have bribed the guard with money from a Social Security disability check.Prompted by Vercauteren’s case and other problems dealing with mentally ill criminals, the state in the early ’80s began to make changes in the way it imprisons such people.Mentally ill criminals were no longer kept in a secured hospital, but were instead confined in a SecurePsychiatric Unit inside the stateprison.Regulations were also changed to forbid inmates from possessing large amounts of money, as Vercauteren had.While he was at large between 1980 and this year, every time LeBlanc heard of a crime that sounded similarto those committed by Vercauteren, he sent off a package with information and mugshots of Vercauteren to the police department involved in the investigation.The end of Vercauteren’s freedomcame almost through a fluke.On April 2, 1989, the man called Bert Mackley was arrested in Anchorage, Alaska, on a drunken drivingcharge.Mackley, who was working for a trucking company in Prudhoe Bay, told his boss he was in trouble with thelaw. was leaving for the Virgin Islands and might not be back.A month later, Mackley was found unconscious outside the St. Thomasbar. His fingerprints matched Vercauteren’s.Initial plans were made to extradite Vercauteren to New Hampshire, but he died on July 2.While LeBlanc’s wish was to seeVercauteren back in New Hampshire, Arlene Boland’s father, Donald, reacted more passively to the news of Vercauteren’s death.“I’m just glad it’s over,” Boland said. No more chasing this guy around.1 would liked to have seen himcome back to serve his time, but Iguess that wasn’t to be ’’riiJULYMON17II1o*vcvCUTStIIIL.483 Amherst St. Rt lOI A Nashua595-7200TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJULYTUE18SENIOR CITIZENS10% DISCOUNTvIIIIILF O R LESS483 Amherst St. Rt. 101A Nashua 595-7200IIIIJULYWED19CUTS$IIIIIIIIIIIIIIJn -1 i i i i i ia
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Nashua Telegraph
Nashua, New Hampshire, US
Sun, Jul 16, 1989
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NH, USA 30 Nov 2022
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