Union-News (Springfield, MA)



Union-News (Springfield, MA)

December 9, 1988 | | |

Transcript of affidavit in Branch case

Author: STAFFUNION-NEWS (Springfield, Mass.)

Following is the text of Greenfield Police Capt. Joseph P. LaChance's affidavit summarizing events before and after the murder of Sharon Gregory Oct. 24, which established Mark Branch as the chief suspect in the crime.

I am a police officer with the Greenfield Police Department. I have been so employed for over 20 years. My rank is Captain.

On October 24, 1988, at approximately 12:30 p.m., I was notified that the Greenfield Police Department had received information of a death at 138 South Shelburne Road in Greenfield. The report was made by the wife of Greenfield police officer Henry Burns who had learned of the death through the deceased's sister.

Greenfield police officer Jack Neades was sent to 138 South Shelburne Road with another officer. They found the deceased, identified as Sharon Gregory, in the upstairs bathroom at that address. Staff Sergeant Norman Roberts of the Crime Prevention and Control Unit of the Massachusetts State Police attached to the Northwestern District Attorney's Office and the Medical Examiner, Thomas Smith, M.D., were notified and reported to the scene at 138 South Shelburne Road. Later, the Medical Examiner's van with Albert Giknis, M.D. arrived and Trooper Timothy Sicard arrived next.

Preliminary examination of the deceased at the scene showed evidence of multiple stab wounds about the back and the head and that the deceased's throat had been slashed. There was a large amount of blood in the bathroom and outer hall as well as traces of blood on the stairway. The weapon used to inflict the injuries was not found at the scene. The deceased was clothed.

Detective F. Peter Clarke spoke with the deceased's sister, Cheryl. She resided at the same address with the deceased and their parents. She told Detective Clarke that the deceased had recently been concerned about an individual named Mark who Cheryl knew to be a person who hung around with Scott Landry of Maple Street, Greenfield.

The deceased had told Cheryl that she was frightened by the manner in which Mark stared at her. Cheryl said she did not know Mark's last name, but that she had been to his residence. Cheryl and I proceeded pursuant to her directions to Meadow Lane in Greenfield. She pointed out a house which is 112 Meadow Lane as being the house at which Mark lived.

Later, I went to 112 Meadow Lane, a single family home, with Detective Clarke and Trooper Leonard Crossman of C.P.A.C. We went to the door and knocked. The door was answered by Mrs. Branch. Detective Clarke knew Mrs. Branch to be the mother of Mark Branch who Detective Clarke knew from an investigation several years ago.

Mrs. Branch responded that Mark Branch was not at home, but that he did live at that address. She said she had seen Mark Branch that morning at the house at about 10:30 a.m. with Scott Landry. She had then left to go shopping and had not seen Mark Branch since. Prior to 10:30 a.m., Mark Branch had gone to and returned from a meeting with his counselor at the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission.

Mrs. Branch described Mark's motor vehicle. It is a grey Chevrolet Chevette in good shape.

A check with the Registry of Motor Vehicles through the computer link shows a registration to MARK W. BRANCH at 112 Meadow Lane, Greenfield, Massachusetts for a 1983 Chevy Chevette, color grey, with Massachusetts registration number 696-NYA. The vehicle is listed as a 2-door sedan and the vehicle identification number is 1G1ABO8C3DY255433.

At 6:25 p.m., Michael J. Rockwell of 144 South Shelburne Road, Greenfield, which is the residence directly west of the deceased's residence and who is employed by Judd Wire in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, telephoned the Greenfield Police Department. He then came into the Department where he was interviewed by Sgt. Edward Peramba and Trooper Timothy Sicard of C.P.A.C.

Mr. Rockwell told the officers that at 12:00 noon on this date, he had just begun to watch television when he heard the sound of a car door closing. The sound came from the driveway to the east of his house. He looked out his window and observed a dark grey Chevette, possibly 2-door, parked facing into the driveway. The front end of the Chevette was about even with the walk going from the driveway to the front door of the residence at 138 South Shelburne Road. Mr. Rockwell observed a white male approximately 6' tall, approximately 180-195 lbs., with dark hair. Mr. Rockwell said the hair was a "long, military cut." He did not see any facial hair. The man was wearing jean-type pants, a jean-type jacket, both of stone-washed or acid-dyed color. The man was clean-cut. The man had his hands in his pockets and Rockwell watched him walk to the front door of 138 South Shelburne Road. The man was not wearing glasses.

Between about 3 and 5 minutes later, Mr. Rockwell again heard a car door from the direction of the driveway at 138 South Shelburne Road. He looked out the window again and saw the same person seated in the Chevette. He heard the engine start and saw the Chevette back out of the driveway and head west on Shelburne Road. Approximately 30-40 minutes later, Mr. Rockwell again heard a car in the same driveway. Looking out, he saw Cheryl's car pull in. Moments later, he saw police cars arrive.

Today, Trooper Timothy Sicard went to Attorney Robert Carlsen's office in Greenfield. Attorney Carlsen provided him with a photograph of Mark Branch which Scott Landry says accurately shows his appearance now.

The photograph shows Mark Branch in color indoors with dark brown hair, clean-shaven, and without glasses. His weight appears to be about 175-180 lbs. He is seated. He is big-boned, medium build. He has a large jaw. His hair is like a long military cut, parted on the left side of his head. Sideburns are medium length to about the middle of the ear. His eyes are somewhat deep-set. The cheeks appear somewhat pudgy. According to Scott, he does not wear glasses.

Yesterday, October 24, 1988, at about 5:30 p.m., Troopers Sicard and Leonard Crossman met with Scott Landry and his father at the Greenfield Police Department. According to Sicard, Scott Landry identified himself as a close friend of Mark Branch.

According to Trooper Sicard, Scott Landry provided the following information:

Scott spent October 24, 1988, with Mark Branch from about 8:15 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. At 8:15 a.m., Scott Landry picked up Mark Branch at Mark's house in Scott's car to bring him to an 8:30 appointment at Mass. Rehab in Greenfield. Scott saw Mark Branch's grey Chevette at Mark's house at 112 Meadow Lane that morning when he picked Mark up. Mark had said he had no gas and there was an air conditioner in the rear that required repair. Mark declined to drive.

Scott Landry dropped Mark Branch off for his appointment by the Barrett & Baker Stationery store on Main Street. Scott next saw Mark Branch at 9:15 a.m. by Galvin's Liquor Store in Greenfield on the corner of Ames and School Streets. They drove back to Mark Branch's house. They got the air conditioner from the back of Mark's car and put it in Scott's father's truck which Scott had been driving. Both then went in the truck to Scott's house at 15 Maple Street, Greenfield. They arrived between 9:45 and 9:50 a.m.

According to Scott from his interview with Troopers Sicard and Crossman, they went inside to Scott's house and began to record MTV. At 10:07 a.m., Sharon called Scott. Scott answered. She was crying. She asked if Scott had a car. He told her he did not. He asked her if everything was okay and she said that she was not sure. She said she had tried to call her boyfriend, Chris Therrien, at Greenfield High School, but he was not allowed to take her call. Scott told her how to start the car and to call back if it would not start. According to Scott, she never called back.

Mark Branch asked Scott who had called. Scott told him that it had been Sharon Gregory and that she had been unable to start her car. Mark Branch asked why her parents had not brought her to school at Greenfield Community College. Scott told Mark that Sharon's parents were working and not at home.

About 15 minutes later, Mark Branch went into Scott's father's bedroom to make a telephone call. According to Sicard, Scott said he came out a few minutes later. Scott asked him what was up and Mark said only that he had had to make a call. In the next 20 minutes, Mark asked Scott to take him home to get his car to pick up his check at Stop & Shop. Scott took Mark Branch home and left. According to Sicard, he and Crossman went to Stop & Shop during the evening of October 24. They were informed by the manager on duty that Mark Branch was employed there, but had not picked up his pay voucher that day.

According to Sicard, Scott Landry told him that he went home after dropping Mark Branch off and took a nap. About noon on October 24, Peter Janest came to Scott's house and woke him up. He stayed about 5 minutes and left. Scott's girlfriend, Amy Poliatas, arrived about 12:30 p.m.

Scott Landry told Sicard that he received a telephone call from his mother who told him that a girl had committed suicide. He went out to look for Cheryl's boyfriend Peter Janest, but could not find him. Scott went to the high school and met Chris Therrien, Sharon's boyfriend. He told Therrien that one of the twins had committed suicide, but he did not know which one. Therrien and his mother then went to 138 South Shelburne Road where Trooper Sicard met them.

Scott Landry told Trooper Sicard that Mark's blue jacket was in the back of his father's truck when he dropped Mark off at his house. He told Mark to take it, but Mark said he would be by to pick it up later after he picked up his check at Stop & Shop. Mark Branch did not come back while Scott was home.

Scott Landry further told Trooper Sicard that Mark Branch would at times wonder aloud how it would feel to kill someone. Scott told Sicard that Mark religiously tapes and watches horror flicks and smut. He named "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween". Scott said that Mark patterns his own life on characters from these films including "Jason" from "Friday the 13th" and "Freddie Kruger" from "Nightmare on Elm Street". Scott told Sicard that Mark Branch owns 7 hockey masks. Such masks were worn by "Jason" in the movie. According to Scott, Mark does not play hockey. He also has the same kind of combat boots and shirts as are worn by the main characters in some of these horror movies.

Scott Landry told Sicard that he and Mark had hung out together since third or fourth grade. He said Mark had attended a school for troubled kids and that Mark's mother had once told Scott that Mark had attempted suicide. Scott also said Mark had gone to Belmont State Hospital for about a year between about his 16th and 18th birthdays. He also attended a special school in Northampton for young people with mental or emotional difficulties.

Trooper Sicard called Northampton Center for Children and Family Services on Pomeroy Terrace (New Dimension) in Northampton and they confirmed that Mark Branch had been enrolled there and had graduated.

Scott Landry told Trooper Sicard that Sharon and Cheryl Gregory often mocked him and made fun of him in his presence. Within the last week, Mark Branch had said to Scott that these two girls had angered him.

Scott Landry told Sicard that Sharon Gregory had taken photographs of Mark Branch and that Mark had told Scott that he wanted those photographs back.

Detective Peter Skerritt returned to the 138 South Shelburne Road after 11:00 p.m. on October 24. He found two (2) photographs of Mark Branch under a box on top of a desk in the deceased's room.

Detective Clarke interviewed Amy Poliatas on October 24, 1988, in the afternoon. Ms. Poliatas is Scott Landry's girlfriend. She is 18 years of age and a student.

According to Detective Clarke, Ms. Poliatas told him that she knows Mark Branch. She said further that Mark was an admirer of the movie, "Friday the 13th" and of its character Jason.

Ms. Poliatas told Detective Clarke that Scott Landry and Mark Branch would watch violent movies such as "Friday the 13th" at home. Mark talked about living out a fantasy of being "Jason", the character from the series of "Friday the 13th" movies. She also said that Mark had shown her items he had purchased through the mail about Jason from those movies and that he kept these items in his room. These included dolls of Jason, the hockey mask used by Jason, and video tapes of the movies with Jason.

I am familiar both personally and from discussions with Sgt. Peramba with the series of movies beginning with "Friday the 13th." They revolve around a character named Jason. Jason was a person who was himself indestructible. He brutally killed people with knives, axes, swords and similar implements, often causing multiple stab wounds.

Detective Peter Skerritt from the Greenfield Police Department spoke with Thomas Smith, M.D., who conducted the autopsy of the deceased. Dr. Smith said, upon first impression, that the instrument which made the stab wounds in the deceased was likely a single edged knife with a blade width of approximately 1-1 1/2" and a blade length of between 4" and 5". Death resulted from multiple stab wounds numbering about 2 dozen. Detective Skerritt saw the deceased's motor vehicle license which showed a date of birth of 3/26/70.

At 8:20 a.m. on October 25, 1988, I, Joseph LaChance, received a call from Diane Tuller of Avery Road, Buckland, Massachusetts. She is an employee of Crocker Answering Service. She stated that a grey Chevrolet Chevette with Massachusetts Registration plates 696-NYA was parked off the road on Avery Road near the Wilder place.

Officers were dispatched to the area. The car was located and secured while this affidavit was prepared. Thereafter, I received a telephone call from Detective John Zukowski of the Greenfield Police Department. He stated that he had interviewed Francis Wilder of Avery Road, Buckland, Massachusetts. Mr. Wilder said he left his house at 11:45 a.m. on October 24, 1988 and returned at approximately 1:45 p.m. on the same date. When he returned, there was a grey Chevy Chevette parked off Avery Road in Buckland which had not been there at 11:45 a.m. He saw no one near the vehicle.

Police officers have searched the woods near the vehicle, but have not found its operator.

Based upon my observations of the deceased at the scene and the amount of blood between the first floor and the bathroom where she was found, I have cause to believe based upon my many years experience in investigating crimes of violence that the clothing of the deceased's attacker is likely to have the deceased's blood on it. Furthermore, a shoe print was identified in the blood on the bathroom floor.

Detective Clarke spoke with Cheryl Gregory again on October 25, 1988. In August, 1988, Cheryl Gregory was present in Scott Landry's living room with Scott and Mark Branch. Mark had some papers with him and told them it was a psychological profile done on him. Cheryl asked to see it and looked it over. She asked to take it home to read it. Mark said that was okay, but he did not want anyone else to see it and she was to burn it when she finished reading it. After Cheryl took it home, she cut Mark's name out of it.

On Saturday, October 22, 1988, Sharon got a telephone call from Scott Landry asking if Cheryl still had Mark Branch's psychological profile. Sharon went to Cheryl and asked if she had it. Cheryl told her it was on her bedroom floor. Sharon then told Scott Landry that Cheryl still had it. Scott said Mark wanted it back.

Cheryl told Detective Clark that she last recalls having seen the psychological profile on her bedroom floor about 3 days prior to October 24. Detective Clark and Cheryl searched for the document which is an 8 1/2 x 11" document of several pages in length. They were unable to find it in the house where Sharon Gregory was killed.

Also in August, Cheryl had a conversation with Mark who bragged about having 12 different masks that he had sent away for and that last Halloween he had dressed up as Jason and somewhere around the Greenfield Middle School he had jumped out of the bushes with a knife and chased a girl. The girl ran and he said he fell. He told Cheryl that if he had not fallen, he would have stabbed her. He told Cheryl that because he was unsuccessful, he planned on trying the same thing this coming Halloween, 1988.

Cheryl Gregory said she left for school at about 8:45 a.m. on October 24. Both parents had left earlier that morning. Sharon was coming out of the shower when Cheryl left. Cheryl left the front door unlocked.

I am told by Chief McCarthy of the Greenfield Police Department that Scott Landry has stated that Mark Branch collects all sorts of knives.

On October 25, 1988, a search warrant was issued by Greenfield District Court Clerk John Johnson for the Chevy Chevette registered to Mark Branch and located off Avery Road in Buckland. The vehicle was towed to the Massachusetts State Police Barracks in Shelburne where it was searched by police officers and a chemist from the crime laboratory of the Department of Public Safety. During the course of that search, the chemist identified blood in the vehicle in areas including the accelerator and brake pedals, steering wheel, automatic shift lever, emergency brake lever, driver's side outside door handle, an inside handle, the carpeting on the driver's side in the front, and the plastic console housing the shift.

According to Lanny Parrott, the manager at Stop & Shop where Mark Branch is employed in Greenfield, Mr. Branch was scheduled to appear for work at 9:00 a.m. on October 26, 1988. He did not appear for work.

Officer Winn from the Greenfield Police Department went to 112 Meadow Lane, Greenfield, Mass. on October 26, 1988. He describes the structure as follows:

A two story house with a brick front to the first floor including a bay window at the west end of the south side and a white second story with black shutters and with a chimney between the house and an attached 2-car garage on the east end, said chimney being visible from the front; the house being on the south side of the street with a mail box at the end of the paved driveway.

Officer Winn took photographs of the east portion of the front of the house, a copy of which is attached to this affidavit and another copy of which is attached to the search warrant, incorporated herein and therein. The 1988 Greenfield City Directory lists Richard L. and Betty M. Branch at 112 Meadow Lane.

Based on this information, there is probable cause to believe that Mark Branch brutally killed Sharon Gregory with a knife or other sharp instrument and that the killing was modeled on killings in movies such as "Friday the 13th." There is also probable cause to believe that Mark Branch keeps copies of such movies and collects paraphernalia such as hockey masks and boots used by the killers in those movies, as well as a doll of "Jason" from the movie "Friday the 13th."

A search warrant is therefore sought for the premises at 112 Meadow Lane, Greenfield for video tapes, paraphernalia and souvenirs for horror films such as "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" and characters in those films such as "Jason" and "Freddie Kruger", such souvenirs and paraphernalia to include hockey masks, dolls, knives and sharp instruments, and combat boots. Also sought are any documents showing possession or control by Mark Branch of the premises at 112 Meadow Lane.

LENGTH: 90MARK BRANCH; SHARON GREGORY

Copyright, 1988, The Republican Company, Springfield, MA. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.

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