True Crime Burlington

26/06/2023

Coming this September.

25/04/2023

It’s time! Go to sevendaysvt.com and nominate Queen City Ghostwalk for Best Guided Tour in the Outdoor Category! You can nominate Thea Lewis for Best Published Author in the Culture category, too! True Crime, Downtown and waterfront ghost tours. Cemeteries. Bus Tours. We’ve been scaring up history for over 20 years!

19/04/2023

The new book, True Crime Stories of Burlington, Vermont by author Thea Lewis is coming in September, and is available for pre-order at Phoenix Books in Essex and Burlington.
Visit the website: https://www.phoenixbooks.biz, stop by in person or call 802-448-3350 today to get reserve your copy.

21/02/2023

https://vtdigger.org/2023/02/21/burlington-police-say-neighbor-killed-rita-curran-solving-a-more-than-50-year-old-cold-case/

At a Tuesday morning press conference, police said advances in DNA testing helped lead them to Curran’s killer, identified as William DeRoos. Curran was found dead in her Burlington apartment on July 20, 1971. The suspect died in California in 1986, according to police.

16/02/2023

Fascinating.

WCAX News has learned there is a major development in Burlington's oldest unsolved murder.

05/11/2022

Old book filled with alphabetized nefariousness.

11/10/2022

2 more this year! Don’t miss it!

15/09/2022

TRUE CRIME TOUR TONIGHT! Tix at sevendaystickets.com
Meanwhile we have another Vermont Cold Case for you:
UNSOLVED:
Patricia Hesse disappeared from her Rutland apartment on 11/9/1981. The case was cold before the search began.
With few clues and investigations by local authorities that were too little, too late, the victim’s sister ended up conducting her own investigation that also proved to be a dead end.
35 years old at the time of her disappearance Patricia Hesse was 5 feet, 1 inch tall, weighed about 110 pounds and had long blond hair and blue eyes.
On Monday, November 9, 1981 she went shopping at the Rutland Mall, buying a $200 fur coat, after which she returned home. Sometime later, her landlady- investigating the smell of something burning, entered Patricia’s apartment and found dinner had been left cooking on the stove. Despite other signs of meal preparation, Patricia was nowhere to be found.
When she still wasn’t located the next morning, her older sister, Pamela, contacted police who informed her Patricia couldn’t be considered "missing" for two more days. When they finally did begin investigating, they found no indication a crime had been committed. The fur coat she had purchased was still hanging in her closet. The only thing missing from the apartment was Patricia.
A few years passed. Pamela, in an article in the Rutland Daily Herald claimed she had investigated her sister’s disappearance herself, was convinced Patricia was murdered, and knew who was responsible. Unfortunately, she realized evidence she had would not stand up in court.
Patricia’s case has received little media attention and no updates have been reported in decades. Her sister Pamela died in an accident in 2005.
Anyone with information about Patricia’s disappearance can submit tips anonymously at vsp.vermont.gov/tipsubmit or by texting VTIPS to 274637 (CRIMES).

12/09/2022

We've got a TRUE CRIME tour on Thursday, and a story of Vermont's first QUADRUPLE MURDER to hold you until then:

Bernard Romprey was 29 in August 1945 when he arrived back in Vermont on an emergency furlough from the Army, after a devastating fire at the home of his father in Essex Center, Vermont. While home, Romprey consulted a physician about what was termed a “neurotic condition”. He was advised to seek the help of Army doctors upon his return to Camp Wheeler in the state of Georgia, help he'd already sought while on base.
The care he didn’t get resulted in the murder of an entire family. The youngest victim was only 4.
In the days after his arrest Romprey behaved in a manner that did seem extremely unstable. He was beside himself, unsure of where he was or what had happened and denied any memory of committing the murders, at one point burying his face in the shirt of one of the officers as he cried. In the end Bernard Romprey was institutionalized at the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury, and released 17 years later. He eventually opened a business in downtown Waterbury and became a contributing member of society, dying in 2007 at the age of 90. The State's attorney who handled the case called it, "...a true case of temporary insanity."

01/06/2022

UNSOLVED:
Jan Rheim, 29 Year Old Male
Body was found in Winooski, Vermont, in the parking area behind the Forest Hills Store on April 19, 1980.
His death was determined a homicide.
Interestingly, a September 1981 news story from the UPI Archives makes a connection. It reads, in part: WILLISTON, Vt. -- With his getaway car disabled and police closing in, a suspected killer, kidnapper and robber placed a .45 caliber automatic to his right temple and sent a bullet through his brain, police said Tuesday.
"There was no way he was going to be taken, that was it," State Police Lt. Ernest Strong said of Michael Peters, whose desperate attempt to elude capture led police on a 100 mph, bullet-punctuated chase Monday night that ended suddenly in a median strip along Interstate 89. Peters, 25, of Burlington, was wanted for kidnapping a couple from Freeport, Maine last week, driving them to Vermont and dropping them off in Richmond Saturday. The couple, although forced to lie in the car's truck at times, was not hurt...Peters was also a suspect in an armed robbery in Burlington last month, and in the shooting death of Jan Rheim, 27, of Winooski, whose body was found along the Winooski River April 19, 1980..."
Contact the VSP if you have information. For Burlington true crime, come to our tour Thursday night! Tickets at Seven Days Tickets.

26/05/2022

UNSOLVED: Essex, Vermont
Wilfred King III, 37, (nickname, "Butch") was discovered missing from his residence in Essex on 10/24/80. He was last seen by his father. Due to an automobile accident that occurred a few years before his disappearance, he needed crutches to stay mobile. The blood-stained crutches were recovered by hunters in a wooded area in Colchester the day he was reported missing. Two weeks later, his burned out Chevy Blazer was found in the Oak Hill gravel pit in Williston. Before his disappearance he was wearing a silver belt buckle with a 1776-1976 design, and an inexpensive wrist watch. Despite numerous interviews and anonymous tips his body was never located. Anyone who might have information after all these years should contact the Vermont State Police. Do you love True Crime? Tickets for our Burlington tour are available at Seven Days Tickets. Don't forget to vote for Queen City Ghostwalk in the Daysies! Best Guided Tour: Outdoor and Recreation Category.

19/05/2022

Did you miss Thea on WCAX this morning? Don't miss our True Crime Burlington tours. Get tickets now at sevendaystickets.com

18/05/2022

Last week on our first True Crime tour of the season we hosted two prison guards from Dannemora. A good omen?
Join us tomorrow night! And don't forget to vote for Queen City Ghostwalk in the Daysies. https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/Seven-Daysies-Ballot/Page #//

12/05/2022

First True Crime tour of the season tonight at 7pm.

01/05/2022

Is your mom a true crime fan? Mother's Day is just around the corner, and we've got a BOGO free ticket deal! https://myjumponit.com/index.php?index_type=promo-detail&h=7236388

29/04/2022

THE DEAL IS ON! Two tickets for the price of one. Don't forget to tag freinds and let them in on the deal. https://myjumponit.com/index.php?index_type=promo-detail&h=7236388

Good for two admissions to Queen City Ghostwalk:Â True Crime Burlington Tour.

28/04/2022

UNSOLVED: Lloyd "Pat" Fitzgerald

Lloyd “Pat” Fitzgerald was last seen on October 2nd, 1972 in Burlington.
The 27 year old electrician and employee of B.E.D (Burlington Electric Department) had worked a wiring job on Burlington's Van Patten Parkway that day, and returning home after work, left his house again sometime after 9pm.
The following day, his Vega station wagon was found parked west of North Avenue in the area of Lakewood Estates.

Five months later, on March 4, 1973, Fitzgerald's body was found in a remote area, a cornfield near the Ethan Allen Homestead situated by the Winooski River. Bound by his feet, he had apparently been dragged to the area. The cause of his death was determined to be a gunshot wound.

His death was ruled a homicide by the Chief Medical Examiner. Although there was significant investigation conducted over the years, the case remains open and unsolved.

06/02/2022

Spring 2022 tickets are up! https://sevendaystickets.com/events/true-crime-burlington-5-12-2022

Indulge your True Crime curiosity on this tour packed with some of Burlington's most grisly tales. Join Thea Lewis, creator of Queen City Ghostwalk and author of Wicked Vermont, on a 90 minute walking tour that reveals some of the Queen City's most infamous murders and misdeeds. Learn about Burlingt...

03/10/2021

This Winooski Bridge drowning story about tattooed waitress Big Bobbie Fuller sounds mighty hinky to us. You?

28/09/2021

Evidence photo. The contents of Ted Bundy's trunk.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/530125/hell-wheels-sordid-history-ted-bundys-vw-beetle

27/09/2021

When we first started doing research our True Crime Burlington tour, we discovered two unsolved murders committed on the same Burlington street but a decade apart.
Rita Curran- a 24 year old Milton Elementary school teacher who lived at 17 Brookes Avenue was murdered in July of 1971. In 1981 Angela Belisle, 35 years old, an elementary school teacher in St. Albans was killed while living near campus at 62 Brookes Avenue.
Belisle was attending UVM in pursuit of her Master's degree. Her body was discovered lying frozen in the snow next to her car on the morning of January 3rd, 1981. At first the fellow who found her, a UVM student, thought she was a mannequin. When he realized otherwise he called police who initially believed her death was the result of a slip and fall. Brushing the snow away from her body they discovered a head wound. Officers searching for evidence scooped up and melted snow from around the body. They found a bullet, but a matching murder weapon was never located.
Her husband, Gerald Belisle was suspected but he had an alibi. A friend and business partner of his, David Harrison, was found dead of an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound in March of that year. No arrests were made. The case is still open.
Want more True Crime stories? Join us Thursday nights this fall. Share with your friends and get your gang together. sevendaystickets.com

23/09/2021

True Crime Thursday nights at 7. See the schedule at sevendaystickets.com.

23/09/2021

COLD CASE: Rita Curran - July, 1971.
Though we may never know who the perpetrator was in this historic case of murder on Brookes Avenue in Burlington, fingers have pointed to the nefarious Ted Bundy who was born at the old Lund Home, previously on Burlington's Shelburne Road just a short walk from where Ms. Curran worked at the (since razed) Colonial Motor Inn. Bundy, who never lived in the city but made a visit or two, denied the crime... small potatoes since he denied many of his murders. This year is the fiftieth anniversary, and BPD is still engaged in trying to solve this crime. If you have any memories or information, let them know.