•  CASE STUDIES
   by Leon Podles
• Philip Anthony Magaldi
• Peter Kramer
• Donald Matthew Osgood
• Canon N.
• Clive Lynn
• Edward Donelan
  
•  MURDER CASE STUDIES
   by Leon Podles
• Joseph J. Pilger
• Michael Mack
• John Patrick Kerrigan
• Alfred J. Kunz
• Reynaldo Rivera
• Irene Garza
• Patrick Ryan
• John J. Geoghan
• Ryan Erickson

The Murder of Rev. John J. Geoghan

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Abuse Victim and Murderer

 

Joseph Lee Druce was born as Darrin Ernest Smiledge in Danvers, Massachusetts on September 9, 1965.90In 1999 he changed his name to his maternal; grandmother’s maiden name in prison after he was convicted of his first murder in order to shield his mother from publicity (Franci Robinson, “Court Records Show Druce Was Molested as a Troubled Youth,” Boston Herald, September 25, 2003). On his change of name petition he wrote “Safety and enemy issues. Very important to change identity” (Tom Farmer, “Hatred, Drugs Fueled Killer’s Mental Illness,” Boston Herald, August 26, 2003). His mother Donna Lee had to marry his father Dana Smiledge after she got pregnant. She did not want the child, the delivery was difficult, the marriage was violent, and the father beat his wife (which Darrin witnessed91 V. Murray, “At Trial, Druce’s Mother Yells of Abuse, Emotional Problems,” Worcester Telegram and Telegraph, January 20, 2006.  Dana Smiledge denied he ever beat his wife; see Gary V. Murray, “Druce Testifies about Abused Past,” Worcester Telegram and Telegraph, January 21, 2006.) and then beat Darrin92Sean P. Murphy, “Druce Beaten as Child, Inquiry Finds,” Boston Globe, September 24, 2003. and left the family after seven years. She found it impossible to control Darrin.93Tom Farmer and David Weber, “Druce Killed to ‘Save’ Children,” Boston Herald, August 28, 2003. When he was two he “would bang his head against a window in his bedroom until the glass broke.”94Gary V. Murray, “At Trial, Druce’s Mother Yells of Abuse, Emotional Problems,” Worcester Telegram and Telegraph, January 20, 2006. When he was three or four years old, he banged his head against tables, and when he was five years old he ran away, rowing out alone to sea.95Tom Farmer and David Weber, “Druce Killed to ‘Save’ Children,” Boston Herald, August 28, 2003. She later suspected he may have been sexually abused at his nursery school.96Gary V. Murray, “At Trial, Druce’s Mother Yells of Abuse, Emotional Problems,” Worcester Telegram and Telegraph, January 20, 2006.  Druce, according to one source, was physically abused by a clergyman when he was about eight or nine. The source claimed:”This guy would make him bang his head against the wall or make him rough up other kids to get an ice cream.”97Franci Richardson, “Source Says Druce Was Abused by Clergyman,” Boston Herald, October 25, 2003.

 

Druce was enrolled in Lakeside School in September 1973. There the school psychologist, Mary E, Labella, evaluated him and noted that the mine-year-old Druce “is obsessed with sexuality and indeed has a very accurate detailed knowledge of both sexual behavior and anatomy. He frequently makes all kinds of sexual references to the point that even other youngsters are quite disturbed.”98Franci Robinson, “Court Records Show Druce Was Molested as a Troubled Youth,” Boston Herald, September 25, 2003. Druce was also aggressive, Labella continued: “He is extremely provocative, teases other youngsters and fights frequently.”99Tom Farmer and David Weber, “Drive Killed to ‘Save’ Children,” Boston Herald, August 28, 2003. At the school Druce was put on a regimen of Thorazine and Ritalin.100Fox Butterfield, “Inmate in Priest Killing Has History of Emotional Problems,” New York Times, August 28, 2003. Tom Farmer, Laurel J. Sweet, and Maggie Mulvihill, “Murderer’s Rep as Rat Preceded Long Rap Sheet,” Boston Herald, August 27, 2003. Druce’s IQ tested at 118, but he was not interested in school. Druce said he was raped about once a week by two staff members at this school.101“Inmate Accused in Geoghan Slaying Tells of Abuse,” Boston Globe, January 21, 2006.

 

Even as an adult, Druce was small, 135 lbs and only 5 feet; he was also extremely handsome102Tom Farmer, Laurel J. Sweet, and Maggie Mulvihill, “Murderer’s Rep as Rat Preceded Long Rap Sheet,” Boston Herald, August 27, 2003. and attracted the attention of men who liked small, handsome, sexually precocious boys. According to Druce’s father, to a private investigator, and to court records, Druce was sexually abused by three adult men, one of whom had a religious affiliation, although he was not a clergyman.103Sean P. Murphy, “Druce Beaten as Child, Inquiry Funds,” Boston Globe, September 24, 2003. After leaving the school, when he was thirteen, Druce was befriended by one of the abusers, a twenty-six-year old man in Salem, Massachusetts. The man got Druce “a summer job, taught him to drive, and, at one point, moved him into his parents’ home” because Druce was getting along so badly with his mother, Donna. The man got Druce drunk and molested him.104This came out at the 1988 murder trial; see Franci Richardson, “Court Records Show Druce Was Molested as Troubled Youth,” Boston Herald, September 25, 2003. Druce also described it at the 2006 trial; see Gary V. Murray, “Druce Testifies about Abused Past,” Worcester Telegram and Telegraph, January 21, 2006 and “Inmate Accused in Geoghan Slaying Tells of Abuse,” Boston Globe, January 21, 2006. Druce named his abusers in a poem, but because they have not been named elsewhere, I have not included their names.

 

In 1980 Dr. Howard Abrams warned about Druce: “I remain pessimistic about the possibility or usefulness of further therapy.”105Tom Farmer and David Weber, “Drive Killed to ‘Save’ Children,” Boston Herald, August 28, 2003. Druce embarked upon a criminal career: operating a motor vehicle to endanger, larceny, breaking and entering, forgery, possession of drugs.106Martin Finucane, “Court Records Paint a Frightening Picture of Massachusetts Priest’s Alleged Killer,” AP, August 26, 2003. In 1988 a homosexual, fifty-one-year-old George Rollo, picked up Druce, then twenty-two-years old, and Druce’s friend, Kenneth Tarentino. Rollo made the mistake of touching Druce’s crotch (an action confirmed by the Tarantino107Eric Convey and Franci Richardson, “Nuisance Became a Menace with Murder of Gunman,” Boston Herald, August 25, 2003.). Druce beat Rollo until he was unconscious and stuffed him in the trunk of his own car. Rollo returned to consciousness as Druce was driving around and from the trunk pleaded not to be killed. Druce drove to a wooded area and dragged Rollo into the woods, untied him, and forced him to strip naked. He led Rollo to believe he would be freed, but wrapped a rope around Rollo’s neck, pulling the rope tight and yelling, “You're dead. You deserve to die. You're a faggot. All fags should die.”108David Weber, “Druce’s 1988 Murder Shows Parallels to Ex-priest’s Slaying,” Boston Herald, September 1, 2003; John McElhenny, “Suspect’s ’88 Crime Has Similarities : Victim Was Older, Perceived as Gay,” Boston Globe, August 25, 2003. Druce dumped the corpse off Route 128 in Beverly and spray painted the ground to show where the body was.109Fox Butterfield, “Inmate in Priest Killing Has History of Emotional Problems,” New York Times, August 28, 2003. Druce was arrested the next day while wearing Rollo’s bloody shirt.110Franci Richardson, Laurel J. Sweet, and Eric Convey, “Choked to Death: Suspect Had Long History of Violence,” Boston Herald, August 24, 2003.

 

The psychologist who evaluated Druce for commitment to a psychiatric institution before trial reported that Druce had a “thrill-seeking nature” and “cares very much about the consequences, and the more dangerous, the more negative, the more painful, the more stimulating, the stronger his impulse and the weaker the control.”111Michael S. Rosenwald, “Court Records Show Druce’s Troubled, Deviant Life,” Boston Globe, August 28, 2003. Druce “believes in Satan. Unafraid, laughing as he declares intent to kill himself…Expects to go to Satan and await the arrival of his enemies.”112Tom Farmer, “Hatred, Drugs Fueled Killer’s Mental Illness,” Boston Herald, August 26, 2003. Another psychiatrist concurred; “As [Druce] says of himself, his prime goal in life is to remain on the edge, whether it be taking drugs, flying down [Route] 128 against the traffic on his motorcycle and then in his car, or other forms of thrill-seeking danger.”113Michael S. Rosenwald, “Court Records Show Druce’s Troubled, Deviant Life,” Boston Globe, August 28, 2003. The prospect of punishment would not deter such a person.

 

The detectives who investigated the murder were so convinced that Druce would kill again if he were set free that for the first time in their careers they walked to a church while the jury was deliberating and asked for divine justice.114John McElhenny, “Suspect’s ’88 Crime Has Similarities : Victim Was Older, Perceived as Gay,” Boston Globe, August 25, 2003. Druce was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, theft of a vehicle, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.115Franci Richardson, Laurel J. Sweet, and Eric Convey, “Choked to Death: Suspect Had Long History of Violence,” Boston Herald, August 24, 2003. He was put in various prisons in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, lasting for three years in the maximum security segregation unit at Walpole before being transferred to protective custody at the high security prison, Souza-Baranowski, in Shirley, Massachusetts.116Fox Butterfield, “Prison Policy Put Priest in Unit with His Killer, Experts Say,” New York Times, August 29, 2003.

 

Druce hated Jews and gays, and joined the Aryan Nation, a group of society’s losers whose only badge of superiority in their own minds is their white “Gentile” skin. Druce had time on his hands in the prison. In 1999 he amused himself by sending from his prison cell fake bombs and a letter with his own excrement to former State Attorney Scott Harshbarger117Maggie Mulvihill, ‘Con’s Mail Scare Alarms Police,” Boston Herald, January 23,1999. and in 2002 by sending letters filled with fake anthrax to lawyers and organizations with Jewish sounding names.118Paul Schindler, “Yet Another Victim,” Gay City News, August-September 2003; “Convict Pleads Guilty in Anthrax Hoax,” Boston Globe, August 2, 2002.

 

 

 

 

Footnotes

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