Michael Woodmansee

Background

Michael Woodmansee was a sixteen-year-old junior at South Kingstown High School in Rhode Island in 1975.

He lived with his father Franklin Woodmansee, a police reservist, on Schaeffer Street in the village of Peacedale.

Woodmansee was a large boy and preferred to spend most of his time alone.

He was withdrawn and was described as having been experiencing violent thoughts for some time before the murder.

The offence

In May 1975, Michael Woodmansee murdered Jason Foreman, a five-year-old child who lived nearby in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

On the day Jason Foreman disappeared in May 1975, Jason had been out playing with his older brother and three other boys. After announcing to his playmates that he was going home, Jason ran toward the fire station located at the bottom of the hill. The street Jason lived on was not more than 30 yards from there, but to make it to his house he would have to pass by the house where Woodmansee lived.

Jason’s mother, Joice Foreman, last heard her sons laughter through the open window at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon. Jason never made it home.

Woodmansee later confessed to killing Jason. When police searched Woodmansee’s room, they found Foreman’s skull and several other bones on his dresser. The bones had been picked clean of all flesh and shellacked.

Woodmansee kept a journal. He told police that everything in the journal was purely fiction.

Some later reporting also alleged that Woodmansee stripped the bones and ate Jason’s flesh.

A later allegation described that Jason was stabbed in the heart and that his small body was hidden in a trunk.

Investigation

Jason Foreman’s murder went unsolved until Woodmansee was apprehended in April 1982 for a different crime.

Woodmansee lured a 14-year-old paperboy whose surname was Sherman into his house and plied him with alcohol.

After an unsuccessful attempt to strangle the boy, the boy made it home and told his father, who became enraged, confronted Woodmansee, and then punched him.

Woodmansee’s father, Franklin Woodmansee, saw the police leaving from the Sherman home, waved the officer over, and complained to the police about the attack upon his son.

During interrogation with Woodmansee about the alleged attack upon the Sherman boy, the officers steered the interrogation toward the disappearance of Jason Foreman and ultimately Woodmansee confessed to killing Jason.

Woodmansee had told police that when they searched his room they would find a journal.

When police searched Woodmansee’s room, they found the journal and also found Foreman’s skull and several other bones on his dresser, which had been picked clean of all flesh and shellacked.

Woodmansee also told police that he had fantasized about murder. He said: "It would be easy [to kill someone], easy to get away with it, and some form of fun,''

Arrest and charging

Woodmansee was apprehended in April 1982 for a different crime involving the luring of a 14-year-old paperboy and an attempt to strangle him. During interrogation about that incident, investigators ultimately obtained a confession from Woodmansee to the killing of Jason Foreman.

Trial

Woodmansee pleaded guilty to second degree murder in 1983.

The plea bargain avoided the gruesome facts about the murder being exposed during the trial.

In some reporting, it was stated that Woodmansee pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder on February 24, 1983 in a plea deal with prosecutors to spare the Foreman family the horrific details of Jason’s death.

Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Needham ordered Woodmansee’s journal and all other evidence in the case sealed after sentencing. Needham said the accounts within it were too disturbing for Jason’s family to see.

Sentencing

Woodmansee was sentenced to 40 years in prison as a result of the plea bargain.

Appeals

No appeal details were included.

Outcome

Woodmansee was released from prison on September 11, 2011 after having served 28 years of the 40 year sentence.

The Good Time Law in Rhode Island allowed a prisoner to earn as much as 10 days off his sentence every month for good behavior.

In the 28 years that Woodmansee was incarcerated, he was able to earn back 12 years under the provision.

Aftermath

John Foreman, Jason’s father, stated that he intended to murder Woodmansee after he was released.

A later report described Rhode Island prosecutors and prison officials using Woodmansee’s journal pages to seek involuntary commitment if he was granted early release.

Two court-ordered psychiatrists were to read the journal, conduct face-to-face interviews, and review Woodmansee’s voluminous prison records before making independent recommendations to the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.

Woodmansee’s journal was legally sealed and protected by the courts.

South Kingstown Police Department officials discussed the possibility of Woodmansee’s plans and whether he might return to the community. A spokesman for the South Kingstown Police Department said: ‘We do not know what his plans are or if he is [planning on coming back here], but it is definitely something we plan on discussing,’

The Department of Corrections chief A.T. Wall said Woodmansee was a very compliant prisoner who had only one small infraction during his 28 years in prison and that he shaved a full 12 years off his sentence, making him eligible for release on or before Aug. 12.

Woodmansee was transferred to a Department of Corrections facility in Cranston, Rhode Island, where he was housed in a special protective custody unit with other high-risk inmates. He had a single cell and could interact with other protective custody inmates. He ate together in a separate dining room and had access to the outdoors in a small courtyard.

Woodmansee’s parents were dead, and he had no known relatives in the South Kingstown area.

South Kingstown Police Chief Vincent Vespia said: ‘I have no information that he wants to be released and I have no information that in the unlikely event he is released he would want to come back to this community,’ and: ‘So this is all very premature.’

A later report described a public outcry and protests against Woodmansee’s release.

State Rep. Teresa Tanzi said: ‘Crimes against children are in a category by themselves, and parents like myself look at what he did — and tried to do again to another boy — and we are all asking ourselves what can be done? I can assure you we are looking at every possible angle to protect our community and others from Michael Woodmansee ever being able to offend again. The crime this man committed still haunts our community.’

Peter Schofield, Sr. stated: “They say that time heals wounds, but never completely. And it doesn’t take much to open up that wound,”

Peter Schofield, Sr. said about Woodmansee: "The man had no remorse ... he never said I’m sorry. He just shut up and stood there. And that’s the sad thing."

Schofield said he was called back home to help search for Jason and described seeing high emotions among the family early on.

Schofield stated that good behavior rules allowing Woodmansee’s release did not make sense and asked: “Would you let Hannibal Lecter out of Jail? Would you like to see Charles Manson around again? Would you feel comfortable having Jeffrey Dahmer, this type of sick individual on the loose again? No, nobody would.”

Schofield stated that he did not know how Woodmansee would survive once he got out into the community and said: “I don’t know how he’s going to survive once he gets out into the community,” and: “I just hope he’s smart enough to realize it. I hope people don’t take me out of context here. I’ve tried to be a fair person, but he’s created a lot of harm to my family and I have a lot of ill feeling about him. Personally, I don’t know what I’d do if I saw him.”

South Kingstown Police Chief Vincent Vespia said about Woodmansee returning to South Kingstown: “I have taken the position that he is not welcomed in this community and that as a resident and the police chief, I don’t think it would be safe or prudent for him to be here,”

John Foreman said: “I do intend, if this man is released anywhere in my vicinity, or if I can find [him], I do intend to kill this man.”

John Foreman said: “I got real mad, I got angry. I got upset. I got scared. All of these emotions were going through my head,”

When asked if he regretted his remarks, Foreman said: "That's not the right way to go, but I would probably do it just the same. There are no words for him."

John Foreman also said: “I have been able to visit Jason and his mother, Joice, at their gravesite with only love in my heart for them. But now I'm afraid to visit, now that the terrible memories are back to haunt me and my family,” and: “There is no forgiveness in me, only revenge.”

Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl said: ‘Certainly there would not have been any anticipation of him getting out in 28 years,’ and described the news as "shocking".

Woodmansee was reported to face anger if he returned to Rhode Island, and police said they were preparing for that possibility.

Other details

A later report stated that Woodmansee had served nearly all of his sentence at prisons in Massachusetts for his own protection.

Raven Aubin was described as having been 10 years old when her five-year-old brother Jason Foreman disappeared in 1975. It was stated that Jason’s body was not discovered until 1982, and that he was buried in March 1983, roughly two weeks after Woodmansee pleaded guilty.

A later report also claimed that Jason’s skull and other bones were shellacked as souvenirs and that Woodmansee had boiled body parts to speed up removing flesh from the bones.

A later report stated that Jason Foreman’s mother, Joice Foreman, died in 2000.

A later report stated that Woodmansee was housed in protective custody with other high-risk inmates, had not made his wishes known as of yet, and that the Department of Corrections chief A.T. Wall said involuntary commitment assessments had happened only one other time in Rhode Island that he knew of.