"Ghost" in the Wall Killed a Pregnant Mom & Her Two Kids

Frank Bowen dismissed his teenage daughters’ concerns that a ghost lived in their Pepperell, MA, home, attributing it to overactive teenage imaginations. Little did he know, a real ‘ghost’ lurked behind the walls of their home- a teen who would go on to kill three people less than a year later.

Haunted House

In the winter of 1986, teenage sisters Tina and Karen Bowen conducted a seance to contact their deceased mother. Soon, the teens began to notice strange things happening in their home. One day, someone had used the toilet. On another day, the TV station changed. On numerous occasions, items were moved from one spot to another or missing altogether. Bottles of milk were poured on countertops, and strange messages like “marry me” and “come find me” were left around the house.

Tina and Karen were convinced a ghost existed in the house. Their father, Frank, dismissed their claims, blaming overactive imaginations as the cause of the strange things going on in the home. He even thought maybe the girls were playing tricks on each other.

To Frank’s surprise, he discovered the ‘ghost’ hiding in a small wardrobe: 17-year-old Daniel LaPlante. Daniel wore a ninja mask with white face paint covering his face. He held a wrench in one hand and a hatchet in the other.

Daniel ordered the Bowens into a bedroom and then disappeared. Tina snuck out of the window and ran to a neighbor’s house for help. Police investigated the call, but found no one in or around the home.

Two days later, Frank caught Daniel staring out of a bedroom window as he approached the home at 93 Lawrence Street. He called the police, who found Daniel hiding in a small enclosed crawlspace in the bathroom. Daniel was arrested and spent the next year in a juvenile facility.

Who is Daniel LaPlante?

Daniel LaPlante became obsessed with 15-year-old Tina after taking her out on a date earlier in the year. When Tina told friends at school about her date, some informed her that Daniel was facing rape charges. Tina told her father, who forbade her to see him again.

Daniel could not accept rejection.

He entered the Bowen home and made their crawlspace his own. Police estimated he had lived in the crawlspace several weeks by the time they caught him.

Born in May 1970, Daniel had begun a life of crime in his early teens after enduring extreme psychological abuse by his father, and sexual abuse by the psychologist who promised to help him. He committed many petty crimes around the Townsend, MA, areas, most known as a burglar who robbed homes of valuables.

Kids at school described Daniel as “weird” and “odd” and said he was a loner who spent most of his free time alone.

Daniel LePlante Released; The Gustafsons Murdered

In October 1987, Daniel’s mother remortgaged the family’s home to secure $10,000 to bond her son out of jail. He was right back at his criminal ways in no time. He stole two .22 caliber firearms in October, then in November, robbed his next-door neighbors, the Gustafson family: pregnant teacher Priscilla, her husband Andrew, and their two children, William and Abigail.

Less than three weeks later, Daniel returned to the Gustafson home, this time with far more sinister plans in mind.

Rmed with one of the stolen .22 firearms, Daniel broke into the empty Gustafson’s home on the evening of Dec. 1, 1987. He later claimed he did not expect Priscilla to come home, although when he saw her car pull in the driveway, he did not escape. Instead, he confronted Priscilla at the door, pointing the gun in her face.

Daniel ordered Priscilla and her son into a bedroom. He put William inside a closet, tied Priscilla to her bed, gagged her with a dirty sock, and raped her. He then shot her twice in the head.

After drowning William in the bathtub, Daniel heard the front door of the home open. It was Abigail, the Gustafson’s daughter, coming home from school. He lured Abigail into the bathroom, where he proceeded to drown her.

After killing three people, Daniel returned home and attended his niece’s birthday party.

Andrew Gustafson found his wife lying face down on their bed. He ran from the home and called the police. He did not search the home for his children because he was “afraid I would find them dead.”

Evidence Led Police to Daniel LaPlante

Police connected Daniel to the murders fairly quickly. They found the shirt and gloves he wore in the woods behind the Gustafson home. K9 dogs tracked the scent of the shirt to four feet of the LaPlante home.

Laplante was taken in for interrogation, although police lacked enough evidence to make an arrest. The following day after the interrogation, police secured an arrest warrant for LaPlante. By the time officers arrived back at his home, LaPlante was gone.

Daniel was found hiding inside a dumpster on December 3, 1987. He had committed several more burglaries around Pepperell before police captured him.

In 1988, Daniel was convicted of three counts of murder and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. He will be eligible for parole in 2032 after serving 45 years of his sentence.