Forty years later, and still no closure

On Sept. 28, 1973, Barbara Gibbons was murdered in her home in Falls Village. Her 18-year-old son, Peter Reilly, confessed to the crime during an eight-hour interrogation by Connecticut State Police. Over the next three years, Reilly was found guilty in court of the murder, then, with the help of friends and supporters from neighbors to journalists to celebrities, was able to appeal the conviction and was finally exonerated. But before that could happen, a one-man special grand jury lambasted the State Police investigation and a report by the State Police, ordered by the governor, Ella Grasso, insisted on Reilly’s guilt. Grasso and the state’s attorney stepped in and that State Police report was withdrawn. Reilly’s exoneration stood.In 2013, when DNA evidence, cell phone tracking and other sophisticated investigation tools are taken for granted, it’s hard to imagine that a confession wrenched out of a confused 18-year-old that went against physical evidence at the scene would have been enough to assign guilt. It was only through concentrated activism on the part of Reilly’s ardent defenders as well as the ethical analysis of some within the justice system that he was released from jail and absolved of any responsibility for his mother’s death.This newspaper’s editor and publisher at the time of the murder and trial, Robert H. Estabrook, used his strong editorial voice to write about the faults of the State Police investigation and to defend Reilly’s innocence. His award-winning editorials, combined with the ongoing reporting of Joseph O’Brien (who in retirement became a columnist for The Winsted Journal) in The Hartford Courant, playwright Arthur Miller’s substantive financial and moral support, and the actions of many others, brought to light the flaws in the case against Reilly. Kent’s Donald S. Connery wrote a book about the case while it was happening, “Guilty Until Proven Innocent,” published first in 1977 and again in 2010. Connery has become a widely recognized expert in police interrogation techniques and abuse as a result of his profound knowledge of and research into Reilly’s case. As an investigator into miscarriages of justice, he has continued to advocate for responsible and accountable questioning and handling of suspects in police custody. Connery wrote an excellent synopsis of the Reilly case and its ramifications on police practices for Sunday’s Hartford Courant opinion page. Read it at www.courant.com. Connery acknowledges that current police methods of investigation are more advanced and responsible than in 1973. He still, however, sees intransigence from the chief state’s attorney’s office relating to admitting shortcomings in any case built by law enforcement. The example he uses is that of Richard Lapointe of Manchester, who was convicted of murdering his wife’s grandmother in 1987 on evidence that has since been widely questioned. (See Chris Powell’s column this week.) Both Connery and Reilly been among those who have worked for a new trial in Lapointe’s case, so far unsuccessfully.Four arrests relating to the 2012 murder of Sharon’s Luke Vitalis happened this September and more information about that case is being released as those charged come up for trial (see story, Page A1). While those accused are, of course, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, justice for Vitalis seems possible, even imminent, when one reads through the description of the careful investigation of the State Police over the past year. This will not bring Vitalis back, but should help his friends and family cope with the loss and fear associated with one’s loved one being murdered.But there remain two unsolved murders in the Northwest Corner, both cold cases but one very cold: The 2004 murder of Sharon’s Floyd Ellis, and the 1973 murder of Barbara Gibbons.