SPRINGFIELD – Upon hearing audio clips from 11 hours of interviews with former priest Richard Lavigne, Phil Croteau said it was “bone-chilling” to hear the voice of a “sociopath.”

Phil Croteau, the brother of the late Danny Croteau, made his comments at a press conference on May 24, at which Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced he was about to move forward with charges on May 21 – the same day Lavigne, a Chicopee resident, died from natural causes in a medical facility in Greenfield at the age of 80.

The body of 13 year-old Springfield resident Danny Croteau was found floating in the Chicopee River on April 15, 1972, in Chicopee. Lavigne, considered a close family friend, was suspected of being involved in the murder but there was not enough evidence to arrest him for the following 49 years.

Gulluni explained on May 21, after a new investigation by his office – which included a full modern forensic analysis of the evidence along with 11 hours of new interview with Lavigne – detectives with the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit were authorized to present the case against Richard Lavigne to a magistrate in order to obtain an arrest warrant for the murder of Danny Croteau.

Gulluni said, “Danny’s parents, Carl and Bernice, told reporters that they just wanted answers. Based on the accumulation of historical evidence, the evidence gained in the last year, and the admissions of Richard Lavigne, I believe we now have those answers. While they didn’t come in time for Danny’s parents to hear them, I hope that the answers provided today are helpful to Danny’s remaining family who have suffered for so long.”

The district attorney noted that over the years Lavigne made “inconsistent and unusual statements.”

One part of the recent investigation was a forensic examination of a letter obtained by investigators in 2004. The typewritten unsigned letter was supposedly sent to Lavigne and spoke of the guilt that Lavigne must have felt.

On March 5, Gulluni hired Dr. Robert Leonard, an expert in forensic linguistics, to conduct an authorship analysis of the letter. On May 21, Leonard said, based upon a review of the materials that had been provided to him, this he believed  “to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, language patterns in the questioned document are consistent with language patterns in the known Lavigne documents to the point that Richard R. Lavigne cannot be excluded as a possible candidate of authorship.’”

This information, combined with the interviews on April 14, 15, 16, 17 and May 4 with Lavigne, and other evidence led Gulluni to seek a warrant.

In the statement of facts assembled for the arrest warrant, details of the interviews conduced by State Police Detective Michale McNally were revealed. According to the document, “During all of the interviews with this officer, Lavigne maintained he did not kill Danny. However, he made several admissions to this officer to indicate that he was the last person to see Danny Croteau alive, brought him to the river’s bank on the night of his death, physically assaulted him there, observed him laying face down in the river, and told no one.

“During the April 16th [2021] interview, Lavigne stated that he brought Danny to the Chicopee River on the night of his death. Danny wandered off, and after waiting there for 20 to 30 minutes, when Danny did not return, Lavigne said he left him there and went home. He stated that he did not report this to the police, nor did he tell Danny’s parents. Lavigne told this officer that he returned to the river’s bank ‘about an hour later’ and saw Danny floating ‘face down’ in the river. He could not recall why he returned to the river’s bank. He said that he knew it was Danny in the river by what he was wearing, but he did not recall what Danny was wearing now, as it was so long ago.

“Lavigne also expressed regret in leaving Danny alone. He followed that it was hard to say if that was the greatest regret of his life. He said that he was alone when he found Danny floating in the river. He said that he watched the body from his car and turned around on the road and went home. He stated that he was ‘heavy hearted’ when he got home. He said he did not alert police or Danny’s parents of what he saw. He said that Danny was a ‘nice little kid’ and ‘kind of dumb, but charming in a way.’ He also said ‘to see him face down in the water was just not something you’d like to keep in mind.’     “Lavigne stated that he never told anyone this. When asked why he had not told anyone, he said, ‘why tell it?’ He then said that, ‘there is truth in a lot of things that is never revealed.’ He also said: “I just think about his mother, she must have been a mess of tears, afterwards, but the father, I didn’t give a damn about, he was a jackass, and the older brother too.”

Lavigne presided over Danny’s Croteau’s funeral.

Lavigne was convicted by a court as a sex offender in 1992 after pleading to two counts, but not relating to this case. The new investigation included statements by other victims indicating Lavigne’s activities. He served no time in jail but was placed on probation.

Lavigne was removed from duties by Bishop John Marshal in 1991, but Lavigne remained a priest until 2003 when the Vatican removed him from the ranks of the clergy.

Bishop William Bryne released the following statement several hours after the district attorney’s press conference: “Today’s news that Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni was prepared to charge Richard Lavigne in the murder of Danny Croteau in 1972 brings sad closure to a tragic event which I know has hung over our faith community for decades. I was angered and sickened to hear Lavigne’s unapologetic admissions in the heinous murder of this innocent child.

“It is incredibly disheartening to learn that a priest, a person ordained to care for God’s people, would have committed such an evil crime and then not taken responsibility for his actions. This is all totally contrary to the teachings that we as Catholics believe in and hold sacred.

“It is also another reminder of our past failures as a Church and a diocese to protect children and young adults from such terrible predators in our midst. Although we have made great strides in improving our child protection efforts, that is little consolation to the victims of Richard Lavigne and the numerous other sexual predator clergy who preyed upon our youth.

“I want to extend my personal and sincerest apology to the Croteau family and know that they will be in my prayers; especially Danny’s loving parents who sadly did not live to see this tragic matter resolved.

“I wish to thank Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni and his staff for their tireless pursuit of the truth in this horrific case.

“I am also mindful that while today’s announcement resolves this case, there may still be many other victims of clergy sexual abuse who have not yet come forward. My message to them is that even if your abuser is deceased, you can still report the abuse you suffered to law enforcement and to the diocese. It is important that you be heard and that we acknowledge your suffering and trauma.

“You can reach out to the diocese via our toll free abuse reporting phone line (800)842-9055 or via email at reportabuse@diospringfield.org.”