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Lorne
Joe ACQUIN
Next day
It remains the largest mass murder in Connecticut
history.
Murders
On Friday, July 22, 1977 residents on Cedar
Hill Drive were awoken from their sleep by the smell of smoke.
Looking out onto the street, they saw the house of their neighbor
Cheryl Beaudoin engulfed in flames. Despite the best efforts of
the fire brigade, the house was gutted. Once inside, firefighters
found charred bodies throughout the residence.
In the kitchen area, they found 29 year old Cheryl
Beaudoin dead on the floor. The bodies of three children were found in a
bedroom, along with another bedroom containing two other children.
Another child's body was found in the master bedroom and two more bodies
were found in the bathroom. Several of the children, as well as Cheryl
Beaudoin, had their hands tied behind their backs. Two of the other
children's feet were tied together. All of the children appeared to have
head wounds.
The victims, aside from Cheryl Beaudoin, were her
seven children: Frederick (aged 12), Sharon Lee (aged 10), Debra Ann (aged
9), Paul (aged 8), Roderick (aged 6), Holly Lyn (aged 5), and Mary Lou (aged
4). The ninth victim was Jennifer Santoro (aged 6), who was a visiting
child of a family friend.
Within 24 hours, police had interviewed more than a
hundred witnesses, including Beaudoin's husband and his foster brother
Lorne J. Acquin who had been playing at the house with the Beaudoin
children the previous night. The following Sunday night, Acquin agreed
to make a statement to police in which he admitted to attacking his
sister-in-law with a tire iron. After attacking her, he turned his
attacks on the children with the same weapon. He then spread petrol
around the house and set it on fire. Later that day, he was charged with
nine counts of murder and one count of arson.
Trial and conviction
Acquin went on trial July 16, 1979. He was sentenced
to 25 years to life on each murder conviction and 20 years for arson.