Daniel LaPlante

Daniel J. LaPlante (born May 16, 1970) is an American convicted murderer serving multiple life sentences for the 1987 murders of Priscilla Gustafson and her two children in Townsend, Massachusetts.

Early life

LaPlante lived with his mother and stepfather. While growing up in Townsend, LaPlante was sexually and psychologically abused by many adults in his life. LaPlante's father was responsible for the majority of the abuse. He also struggled with school. He was diagnosed with dyslexia at an early age, and his classmates called him “creepy and weird”. As a teenager he was referred to a psychiatrist because of his abnormal behavior, his appearance, and his lack of hygiene.

Criminal activities

As a teenager, LaPlante spent his evenings breaking into homes and taking the owners' possessions. He would sometimes move items around in the victims' homes to show that someone had been there without making it bluntly obvious.

In 1986, LaPlante obtained a phone number and address that he thought belonged to one of his previous burglary victims. The house in fact belonged to a family of three, Brian Andrews and his two daughters, Annie and Jessica. The daughters were both around the same age as LaPlante. LaPlante began to stalk the daughters. Annie and Jessica assumed that a friend of theirs gave LaPlante their number. During several phone calls from LaPlante, Annie agreed to go out with him. The date did not go well, and they did not go out on a second date. But LaPlante learned that Annie's mother had recently died of cancer, and LaPlante took great interest in hearing about the death. LaPlante subsequently snuck into the Andrews home, found a crawl space and lived in the walls for two months, tormenting the girls with tapping sounds and mysterious writing on the walls. Eventually, the father encountered LaPlante in Annie's room wearing a dress and wig and carrying a hatchet, with which he attempted to attack Andrews. The police investigated and found LaPlante, who was arrested and charged with several crimes.

Afterwards, LaPlante was placed in a juvenile facility, where he stayed until October 1987. The following month, LaPlante returned to burglary, stealing two handguns from a neighbor's house.

On December 1, 1987, LaPlante entered the Townsend home of Priscilla Gustafson, a nursery school teacher. Gustafson, who was pregnant, was found face-down on her bed, her pillows covered in her blood. LaPlante had raped her and shot her multiple times at point-blank range. LaPlante drowned both of her children in separate bathrooms.

A few towns over from Townsend, LaPlante kidnapped a woman in her car, though the woman was able to escape. LaPlante was discovered hiding in a dumpster two days later. The police took him in and inspected his clothing. They found a hair on his sock that was a match for Abigail Gustafson, Priscilla's daughter. A year later, LaPlante was sentenced to three life sentences for the murders of the Gustafsons.

On March 22, 2017, a re-sentencing hearing for LaPlante was held at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts. LaPlante asked for a reduction in his sentence. At the hearing, it was mentioned that during his first appeal, previous court rulings were cited saying that juveniles convicted of murder should be given a meaningful opportunity to re-engage with society. There was also a new law allowing “juveniles convicted of murder with extreme cruelty and atrocity to ask for parole after they’ve been behind bars for a minimum of 30 years.” The judge, however, gave LaPlante the maximum penalty of 45 years after a forensic psychiatrist evaluated LaPlante and found that he was not remorseful for his crimes.

LaPlante was featured in Season 2, Episode 1 of Investigation Discovery's Your Worst Nightmare series "Bump in the Night."