After a 3½-year investigation, two men have been cited and an arrest warrant has been issued for a third in connection with the 2010 Vermont fatal shooting of 78-year-old Pat O’Hagan, who was originally from Chelmsford, Mass., according to a statement from the Vermont State Police.
Richard Fletcher, 27, of Sheffield, and his brother Keith Baird, 33, of Sutton, were cited Thursday on charges of burglary, kidnapping, and first-degree murder of O’Hagan, according to the statement, which was posted to the department website. An arrest warrant has been issued for Michael Norrie, 23, of St. Johnsbury, who is being charged with burglary, kidnapping, and first-degree murder. Baird is also being charged as a habitual offender.
“It was great news for our family,” O’Hagan’s son, Mark, told the Burlington Free Press. He said the family first learned that the men were considered suspects three years ago.
O’Hagan, a grandmother of nine who moved to the tiny Vermont town of Sheffield from North Chelmsford in 1995, was reported missing in September 2010 after she missed a rug-making meeting. Her body was found by bird hunters nearly four weeks later in a wooded area of the town of Wheelock, 10 miles from her house.
She was shot in the head, possibly during a botched home robbery. According to the Burlington Free Press, an affidavit filed by a State Police sergeant says that the three men had used crystal meth and were looking for more on the night of the break-in.
O’Hagan’s disappearance shook the town of about 700, where she helped out on the town’s Historic Commission and Planning board, welcomed new residents, kayaked, and camped.
All three men accused in her killing are imprisoned on other charges. Baird is being held at the Northeast Regional Correctional Center in St. Johnsbury on multiple counts of violations of conditional release, habitual offender, and violations of an abuse prevention order, according to the statement.
Fletcher is serving a sentence for sexual exploitation of a minor, and is being held in a facility in Springfield, according to the release.
Norrie is serving a sentence in federal jail in Pennsylvania on federal gun crimes, according to the release.
Baird and Fletcher will be arraigned Monday at 12:30 p.m., according to the release. The arrest warrant obtained for Norrie will start the process of his extradition back to Vermont, according to the release.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @evanmallen.