Charles Pierce

Case overview

Charles E. Pierce was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1969 killing of Michelle Wilson, a 13-year-old girl from Boxford. Pierce served a life prison sentence after pleading guilty in June 1980. Pierce later confessed to additional child murders, but police were unable to identify some of the victims he described. Pierce died in prison on February 17, 1999.

Characteristics and conduct

Pierce abducted Michelle Wilson as she rode her bicycle home from a friend’s house and dragged her into his van. He strangled her. Pierce then had sex with her dead body and took her to woods where he bit her, beat her, kicked her in the head, put a 98-pound rock on her head, and covered her with leaves.

Pierce also admitted to sexual conduct with children’s bodies in his later statements to detectives. He described having sex with the dead body of a boy he picked up outside the Strand Theater in Lawrence, and having sex with Janice Pockett’s dead body as well, while allegedly carrying both bodies in his vehicle.

Timeline

• June 1969 — Michelle Wilson was abducted after returning to her Baldpate Road home from a friend’s house.
• Nov. 22, 1969 — Michelle Wilson was returning to her Baldpate Road home when Pierce abducted her in his station wagon.
• Nov. 23, 1969 — Her body was found on Mill Road 19 hours after her bicycle was discovered 1,500 feet from the family home.
• June 1980 — Pierce pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of Michelle Wilson and was sentenced to life at MCI Walpole; he interrupting his trial after his taped confession was played to the jury.
• August 1980 — State police dug an area in Tolland, CT searching for Janice Pockett based on information Charles Pierce had given them; Janice’s body was not recovered.
• February 17, 1999 — Pierce died in prison.
• February 28, 1999 — A report described Pierce’s death in prison and his deathbed confession to police about killings of two more children in Lawrence in the mid- to late 1950s.
• March 2, 1999 — A deathbed confession was discussed in relation to Pierce’s killing of additional children in Lawrence, Mass.

Background

Charles E. Pierce was described as a Haverhill drifter and carnival worker. In the Michelle Wilson case, when Pierce was sentenced in June 1980 he was described as a muscular man, 6' 2" and more than 200 pounds. When detectives later visited him in January as he was ill, he was described as being confined to a wheelchair, covered with a blanket and wearing an oxygen mask, with severe weight loss and visible skin changes.

Pierce was said to have active tuberculosis at the time of an earlier confrontation with the State Police detective captain during the Wilson case. Later he was described as having prostate cancer and as being not expected to live much longer.

Pierce was 77 years old at the time detectives visited him in January at MCI-Shirley. He was later described as cancer-stricken and wheelchair-bound when he asked a corrections officer to bring the police in connection with the deathbed interview.

The offence

Michelle Wilson murder (Boxford, 1969)

Michelle Wilson, a 13-year-old Boxford girl, was abducted as she returned to her Baldpate Road home. Pierce abducted her as she rode her bicycle home from a friend’s house. After abducting her, Pierce dragged her into his van, strangled her, and then had sex with her dead body. He took her to woods where he bit her, beat her, kicked her in the head, put a 98-pound rock on her head, and covered her with leaves.

Her family had moved to Boxford six weeks before her death on Nov. 22, 1969. After her disappearance, her bicycle was discovered 1,500 feet from the family home on Baldpate Road. The discovery of the bicycle triggered a massive search. Her body was found 19 hours later on Mill Road.

Further allegations described by Pierce

In deathbed statements to police, Pierce told detectives that he killed additional children in Lawrence, Mass., in the mid- to late 1950s. He described picking up a young boy outside the Strand Theater in Lawrence, driving up Broadway toward George’s Diner and taking a left. Pierce described burying the boy in a field off West Street that may have been occupied by a Massachusetts Electric Co. building. Pierce also described that he had abducted a girl from Connecticut and buried her in the same field as the boy, and that he claimed to have killed the girl first and then the boy during an eight-month period in the mid-1950s.

Pierce described the burial as two graves about 30 feet apart, each two feet deep, using a spade he kept in his van. He described marking the burial site with pieces of coal.

Pierce also recounted that he abducted a girl in Connecticut, murdered her, and buried her body in the same field about 30 feet from the boy, and that sometime in the eight months prior to that killing he had abducted and buried the girl.

Janice Pockett (connecticut)

Pierce told detectives that he murdered Janice Pockett, a 7-year-old girl from Tolland, Conn. He told police that he buried her body in a field in Lawrence and described the burial details. Police later excavated areas in Tolland, CT searching for Janice Pockett based on information he had given them; Janice’s body was not recovered.

Investigation

A State Police detective captain who arrested Pierce in the Wilson case described a later confrontation while Pierce was in a police van at the crime scene. The captain said that Pierce was suspected in several child murders and had active tuberculosis.

“A big, big moon came out and it was shining into the back seat,” the captain says.
“And I'm trying to get Charlie [Pierce] to tell me where some of the children [he killed] are, saying it would be nice to let the parents know that much. "Charlie said, 'There are so many.' "So I said, 'Well, how about if we start with the ones in Massachusetts?' "Just then, clouds blocked the moon. He turned to me and started spitting on me, so I'd get his TB. And he hit me over the head with his handcuffs and said, 'You no-good [expletive.]' He rambled on, calling me other names. And from then on, he wouldn't say anything more to me or Dougie [Boxford police chief Douglas A. Warren]."

Pierce’s later admissions led detectives and investigators to attempt to identify victims and locate burial sites. Lawrence police described records of missing persons did not go back that far to match Pierce’s accounts. The investigation was affected by Pierce’s reported pattern of confessing and later recanting.

Lawrence Police Detective Capt. Michael S. Molchan said missing persons records did not go back that far, and that retired officers who served in the 1950s could not recall cases matching Pierce’s reports. Police described the confession as leaving “another mystery to solve” and appealed to the public for help with cold-case information.

Lawrence police stated that it was not clear whether Pierce killed the girl in Connecticut and buried her in Lawrence or killed and buried her there, but that he gave enough details of the killing to interest Connecticut investigators.

Police stated that a day or two later Connecticut police went to a location mentioned by Pierce and he said he fabricated the whole thing.

In April 1999, Lawrence police brought cadaver dogs out to a site where Pierce claimed to have buried two children; the dogs did not react. Later that same day, police brought the cadaver dogs to an adjacent area; both dogs reacted.

Police also reported concern about the accuracy of Pierce’s deathbed account. Pierce’s confession included names of a girl from Connecticut and a boy; police described that a Connecticut abduction similar in name to the girl Pierce described had occurred in the early 1970s rather than the 1950s, and Pierce had a history of confessing and recanting.

Arrest

Pierce was arrested for the Michelle Wilson killing 10 years later in a Florida prison, where he was about to begin serving 10 years for sexual assaults on three boys in a Tampa suburb. Florida authorities agreed to let him return to Massachusetts.

Pierce was connected to the Wilson case by statements he made to another inmate and by the medical staff at the Florida prison.

Trial and plea

Pierce pleaded innocent and was committed to the Bridgewater State hospital in Massachusetts for observation after being charged with the murder of Michelle Wilson in November 1979.

During his trial in the Michelle Wilson case, Pierce attempted to have his taped confession thrown out, claiming he had read about the killing in the newspapers. Pierce later pleaded guilty before the case went to a jury.

Pierce pleaded guilty on June 9, 1980, interrupting his trial after his taped confession was played to the jury.

Lawrence’s Boxford Police Chief Gordon Russell said Pierce was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder because he had been diagnosed with cancer and it was assumed he would die in prison. Russell explained that second-degree murder allowed the possibility of parole and that first-degree murder would have made him ineligible for parole.

Sentencing

After pleading guilty in June 1980, Pierce was sentenced to life at MCI Walpole. A docket number was given as Docket #100230-100231.

It was reported that Pierce came up for parole in August 1997, but waived his right to a hearing, being nearly blind and in a wheelchair at the time.

Appeals

No appeals outcome was described in the provided material.

Outcome

Pierce died in prison on February 17, 1999, after making deathbed confessions to police about additional killings.

In the Wilson case, Pierce had been convicted and sentenced to life in June 1980.

Aftermath and related investigations

Lawrence police described that the public was being asked to help solve the mystery of two more children Pierce claimed to have killed in the mid- to late 1950s. Capt. Molchan said police needed old-timers who might remember events and asked callers for information about boys missing from the middle 1950s to the early 1960s.

Michelle Wilson’s bicycle was found 1,500 feet from her family home, which touched off the massive search, and her body was found 19 hours later on Mill Road.

It was described that Pierce’s deathbed tale produced details that were examined by investigators, including the location of a burial field off West Street and the use of cadaver dogs. The dogs’ initial non-reaction at the first site and their reaction at an adjacent area were described.

Pierce’s deathbed statements also prompted attention from Connecticut investigators due to details involving Janice Pockett.

Pierce’s story was described as problematic because he gave vague directions to the field, police said they wanted to put together problematic pieces before proceeding, the timing and names were inconsistent with other missing-person events, and he later recanted.

Police described that after Connecticut police went to a location Pierce mentioned, he told them he fabricated the whole thing.

People mentioned

• Charles E. Pierce — defendant; convicted in the Michelle Wilson case; later provided deathbed statements about additional killings.
• Michelle Wilson — victim in the 1969 Boxford murder; 13 years old.
• Robert Weiner — Essex County first assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case in 1979 and 1980.
• State Police detective captain — the captain who arrested Pierce in the Wilson case and described a confrontation in a back seat of a police van at a crime scene; declined to be named.
• Dougie Boxford police chief Douglas A. Warren — referenced in the captain’s account.
• Michael S. Molchan — involved in investigating Pierce’s deathbed statements.
• State investigator Sergeant Jack Garvin — described the encounter and later provided quotes about Pierce’s conduct during the investigation of deathbed statements.
• Lawrence Police Detective Sgt. Jack Garvin — described by name in relation to after-the-fact commentary and quotations.
• Boxford Police Chief Gordon Russell — commented on why Pierce was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder.
• Janice Pockett — 7-year-old girl from Tolland, Conn., named by Pierce in his deathbed account.
• An unnamed 10- or 11-year-old Lawrence boy — described by Pierce in his account; Pierce would not name him.
• Jim Patten — writer of a February 28, 1999 report.
• Andy Puglisi — 10-year-old referenced in the provided timeline material.
• Wayne W. Chapman — named in the provided timeline material; described in that material as charged, convicted, and sentenced for offenses against children in Lawrence, MA.
• Andrew Barnhart — named in the provided timeline material.
• Melanie Perkins — named in the provided timeline material; described in the main narrative as seeking answers about Andy Puglisi’s disappearance.
• Judith Gaines — sent an overnight letter to Pierce requesting an interview.
• Garvin — Sergeant Jack Garvin, quoted about an oxygen mask and Pierce’s behavior.
• Molchan — Capt. Michael S. Molchan, quoted about Pierce’s statements and about the deathbed requests.
• Gary Thibedeau — named in the provided timeline material as another suspect in Andy’s abduction.
• Al Mintz — named in the provided timeline material; remembered the Chapman case.
• John Day — named in the provided timeline material as counsel who sought a motion to dismiss in connection with Wayne Chapman’s sexually dangerous person proceedings.
• Michael Dukakis — named in the provided timeline material as signing a warrant for extradition of Wayne W. Chapman from RI to MA for rape of two Lawrence boys.
• Michael S. Molchan — named in the February 28, 1999 report and quoted about missing persons records and incoherence.
• Wayne W Chapman — named multiple times within the timeline material related to investigations and proceedings.
• Paula Erickson — named in the provided timeline material as a therapist who worked at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in the 1990s.
• Cynthia McFadden — named in the provided timeline material as the interviewer.
• Nathaniel BarJonah aka David Brown — named in the provided timeline material as arrested in the disappearance of Zachary Ramsay.
• Zachary Ramsay — named in the provided timeline material.
• John Wayne Gacy — named in the provided timeline material as referenced for a cross-check attempt involving Andy Puglisi’s dental records.

Other details

Pierce’s taped confession was played to the jury after the trial began, and Pierce pleaded guilty on June 9, 1980 after his taped confession was played to the jury.

In deathbed interviews, police described Pierce as in and out of it, incoherent at times, and falling asleep during parts of the interview. Police described Pierce as telling detectives he wanted to clear his conscience, and he gave directions to a field that investigators later examined.

Sergeant Jack Garvin was quoted describing Pierce’s behavior with the oxygen mask:

“He threw his oxygen mask at me,” Garvin says.
“Then he pretended to keep falling asleep.”

Garvin also described a statement Pierce made when he refused to talk:

“Good, then you can suffer with me.”

Pierce’s final quoted statement described his refusal and threat related to claiming his body:

“I said I'd claim his body and take it out for the animals to eat. That was my parting shot.”

The provided material also included a lengthy timeline of other child-related cases and proceedings involving Wayne W. Chapman, Andy Puglisi, and later developments concerning other alleged offenders, including Nathaniel BarJonah aka David Brown. These additional events were included as part of the overall scraped material’s timeline but did not change Pierce’s described legal outcome in the Wilson case.