John Jefferson
Left inset: Brian Crossman Jr. (Warren County Jail in New York). Right inset: Erica Crossman and Brian Crossman Sr. (Facebook). Background: The Crossman family home in Pawlet, Vermont (WRGB).
Police say they solved a mysterious triple homicide that happened last Sunday morning in the small Vermont town of Pawlet. It turned out that Brian Crossman Jr., 23, was allegedly the shooter who killed his father Brian Crossman Sr., 46, stepmother, Erica Crossman, 41, and stepbrother, Colin Taft, 13.
“Evidence shows the killings occurred early Sunday morning, Sept. 15, inside the family home on Vermont Route 133 that Crossman Sr. shared with his wife and stepson,” state police wrote in an update Friday.
The defendant, a resident of New York state, had an initial appearance there in Warren County Court on Friday, and faces extradition to Vermont, where he is charged with three counts of aggravated murder.
Police previously said that someone, who they did not identify, led them to the crime scene while covered in blood. Now they claim that it was Crossman Jr.
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He had lived with his mother in the nearby New York state town of Granville, but was staying with his father in Pawlet for the weekend, according to an affidavit obtained by VTDigger. Officers asserted that shortly before 4 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15, Crossman Jr. contacted police and that he claimed he had gone out for a walk hours earlier, only to return to the scene of a triple homicide. Crossman Sr. and new wife Erica Crossman, née Pawlusiak, got married in July. Colin was Erica’s son and Brian Sr.’s stepson.
Crossman Jr., whose clothes were stained with blood, was driving his father’s truck when he met with police Sunday in the parking lot of the Wells Village School, cops reportedly wrote.
Police said they determined that at least two shotguns had been used in the killings, and these had been stored in a “gun room” in the father’s home.
Relatives, including the defendant’s grandmother, said Crossman Jr. had a long history of mental health challenges, officers reportedly wrote. The grandmother attributed these issues to Crossman Jr.’s “troubled relationship” with Crossman Sr., police reportedly wrote. She also said her grandson was “proficient with firearms.”
His father had been elected this year to Pawlet’s select board.
A neighbor told the Bennington Banner that Crossman Sr. had recently taken over the family’s farm.
“He was cleaning it up and working the farm,” the neighbor said. “I think he was just trying to make a new start and trying to run the family farm. And, yeah, this just is, like, the last thing I expected.”
Late Tuesday night, Vermont State Police identified 46-year-old Brian Crossman Sr., his wife 41-year-old Erica (Pawlusiak) Crossman, & her son 13-year-old Colin Taft as the Sunday homicide victims.
STORY HERE: https://t.co/ApsmJGE9VQ pic.twitter.com/maKpzgit0P
— CBS 6 Albany – WRGB (@CBS6Albany) September 18, 2024
Flowers now rest at the seat where Pawlet Select Board member Brian Crossman sat during town meetings.
He and his family were found dead at a home on Rt 133 in Vermont Sunday morning. @CBS6Albany pic.twitter.com/xgGbSSZujh— Briana Supardi (@CBS6Briana) September 17, 2024
Mike Beecher, chairperson of the Pawlet Selectboard, remembered the slain man in comments to New England Cable News, a local, NBC-owned cable news channel based out of Needham, Massachusetts.
“Brian Crossman was a friend and neighbor, a hardworking community member who just this year stepped up to join the Pawlet Selectboard,” he said. “This tragedy that struck him and his family has also hit our community hard, and we are shaken and grieving. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this devastating loss.”
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