Region: LaBarre admits to two murders, but pleads insanity

BRENTWOOD — Sheila LaBarre admitted yesterday she killed two men, but said she was criminally insane when she did it.

She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing Kenneth Countie, 24, of Wilmington, Mass., in March 2006 and Michael Deloge, 38, of Somersworth in the fall of 2005. LaBarre, 49, of Epping now faces two counts of first-degree murder.

LaBarre whimpered at times while she answered questions posed by Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau. She waived her right to contest the new first-degree murder charge in the killing of Deloge. She told Nadeau she was mentally stable enough to make the plea for both murders.

"I'm here to tell the truth," LaBarre told Nadeau. "No one, no professional has ever said to me this is your diagnosis, nor have I seen any papers from any forensic psychologist."

The pleas force LaBarre's defense team to prove at trial she was insane at the time of both killings, which were approximately six to eight months apart.

New Hampshire has no legal definition of insanity. A jury will decide whether LaBarre, an Alabama native, is insane or guilty of the two murders.

If LaBarre is found to be insane, Nadeau would hold another hearing to determine whether she should be committed to the state hospital. Commitment to the state hospital would mean LaBarre's status would be reviewed every five years. If LaBarre is found guilty of first-degree murder, she would be sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole.

"We felt from the very beginning she was a sick individual and not responsible for the murders," defense lawyer Jeffrey Denner said outside the courtroom yesterday. "Sheila LaBarre is a deeply, deeply sick individual."

Countie, described by his family as being mentally disabled, moved in with LaBarre in February 2006 after meeting her through a telephone dating service a month earlier. Their first date was on Valentine's Day at the Ashworth Hotel in Hampton. Countie moved in with LaBarre a few days later.

LaBarre beat Countie over a number of days leading up to the murder, prosecutors claim. Epping Wal-Mart employees told police LaBarre steered a battered and scabbed Countie around the store with a wheelchair.

Spattered blood found on the first floor of LaBarre's house suggests Countie was stabbed before LaBarre burned his body and a mattress in her front yard, according to Assistant Attorney General Kirsten Wilson.

Investigators took more than 200 blood spatter swabs throughout the house, Wilson said.

When police confronted an ash-laden LaBarre about Countie's whereabouts, she responded, "He's in that bag. The Wal-Mart (bag)," according to Wilson.

Police found a burning mattress, bone fragments linked to Countie, partially melted knives and other evidence in burn piles outside the home.

Police searched the home and 115-acre property over the next 17 days and found evidence that Deloge met a similar fate.

Dried blood in the upstairs bathroom and bedroom matched a DNA profile supplied by Deloge's mother, Wilson said. The same dried blood was found on LaBarre's winter jacket, Wilson said. Forensic investigators noticed the blood upstairs was covered in dust and could not have been linked to Countie.

Old utility bills belonging to Deloge were found inside a hutch, along with a notebook from LaBarre dated July 2005. Police found a sheathed knife in the hutch with dried blood.

One page in the notebook had a sketch of what appears to be a body, according to a police affidavit.

"Under the sketch were notes that said: 110 lbs. 5'4"; 1) incinerated-burned-ashes flushed scatter; 2) water- 3) Bury c Shovel; 4) private pilot/helicopter/boat; DEATH (which was circled); Torch; 1. incinerate burned," the affidavit said.

Wilson said the notebook also contained the words "fiery furnace, hotel furnace, crematoriums and 4000 degrees Fahrenheit."

State police drained the home's septic tank on March 27. In it they found a bone, a spent shell casing, parts of a cell phone and Deloge's birth certificate.

Assistant Attorney General James Boffetti said prosecutors won't offer a theory as to how Deloge was killed.

Deloge has been missing for nearly three years and was last seen alive while living at LaBarre's home between September and November 2005.

Farmhand Austin Wiggin told police he saw LaBarre beating Deloge before he went missing. Wiggin said he later saw LaBarre burning a mattress in front of her home.

LaBarre asked Wiggin to help bring the burned mattress to the town dump, but then confronted him with the question, "You think I killed him, don't you?" Wilson said.

Countie's family sat in the front row of Courtroom 2, alongside Deloge's mother, Donna Boston. Both mothers cried during the hearing while prosecutors described what they found in LaBarre's home.

Countie's mother, Carolynn Lodge, cried and held a laminated portrait of her son. Both families left the courthouse without comment.

"This is a very, very tough day for Kenneth's mother and his family," said Peter Eleey, lawyer for Countie's family. "They have fond memories of him during his last 24 years and today they had to hear about his last minutes of suffering."

"They're not going to comment on the process at this point," he said. "That's between the state and defendant."

Wilson said LaBarre has not discussed the murder while in the county jail, but she told a number of fellow inmates that Countie committed suicide or died from a drug overdose.

"It's only a misdemeanor to burn a body," LaBarre said, according to Wilson. "I know the law. I'm a notary public."

Photos

Sheila LaBarre admitted yesterday she killed two men, but said she was criminally insane when she did it. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing Kenneth Countie, 24, of Wilmington, Mass., in March 2006, and Michael Deloge, 38, of Somersworth in the fall of 2005. Staff photo