How Many Victims Did Daniel LaPlante Really Have?
The life of murderer Daniel LaPlante is both disturbing and tragic. After a traumatic childhood that saw him molested by various adults in his life, including his psychiatrist, he bookended his last moments in the real world by raping and murdering a pregnant Priscilla Gustafson and drowning her two children, CBS News reported.
DePlante took the lives of three victims, that much is known for certain. Yet, the strange and tortured life that preceded these crimes reveal that LaPlante tormented other victims in unique ways that likely scarred them for life.
As noted in a blog by freelance author Joe Turner, the young LaPlante would break into homes with the intention of stealing valuables. However, an apparent appetite for psychological torment transformed his twisted hobby into something more sinister. When he was 15 years old, LePlante began to use his burglaries to move around items in the homes of his victims. His penchant for terror continued until he forwent theft altogether and broke into homes with the sole purpose of tormenting the homeowners in their own safe havens.
Daniel LaPlante terrorized a family while hiding in their walls
The frightening mind games that Daniel LaPlante played on his unsuspecting victims would plant the seeds for an even more disturbing crime. From 1986 to 1987, LaPlante executed a plot to pretend to be the deceased mother of two local girls, Annie Andrews and Jessica Andrews. Over the course of weeks, LaPlante broke into the girls' home and hid inside their walls, knocking on them occasionally. Although the girls initially believed that a séance had summoned the spirit of their dead mother, the knocking did not stop, and they eventually concluded that they were the victims of a demonic force.
According to Mamamia, the daughters' father, Brian, eventually found LaPlante in his deceased wife's clothing, makeup, and dress. With a blond wig atop his head and a hatchet in his hand, LaPlante and the father began to fight. LaPlante managed to escape but was later found in the crawlspace of the family's home — a discovery that would lead to his detainment at a juvenile facility and eventual release just two months before he murdered the Gustafsons.