Woman accused of gruesome killing describes her simple life
DOVER | Sheila LaBarre describes herself as someone who led a normal life before police arrived on her doorstep.
"I respect the people of New Hampshire and I have lived a simple life, not the life of a rich woman," she recently wrote in a letter from jail. "Anyone who really knows me, knows that I prefer to go around town in my old work clothes, staying close to my farm doing daily chores, feeding and loving all my animals, and cooking for friends."
"As a Baptist, I have complete faith in God and am always amazed at the power of the Father and Holy One," she adds.
The words bear a stark contrast to the gruesome murder she is accused of carrying out against her 24-year-old boyfriend, Kenneth Countie, who police say was butchered and incinerated on LaBarre's remote 115-acre horse farm in Epping. He had moved to the farm from Wilmington, Mass., in February, after he met LaBarre through a telephone dating service.
LaBarre was arrested April 2 and faces a single count of first-degree murder. Her case is now bound over to Superior Court, where a grand jury will decide whether to indict her. Assistant Attorney General Peter Odom said it could be months before a grand jury hears the case, noting a wide array of evidence must first be examined.
In an April 9 letter from the Strafford County Jail, LaBarre claims she was never given a search warrant when police scoured her property for evidence.
LaBarre says she was approached by three officers on March 25, the day they came to search her home. "Two cars, and perhaps others trespassing (as they clearly were) on my actual land or in my woods or in my trees. They did not have my permission to be on or in any portion of my property. One of them had a large rifle he called a 'Bushwhacker,'" she writes.
"I do know I felt badgered, intimidated and terrified," LaBarre adds. "My main gate was shut by me when I left and I had the uneasy feeling that people were in my woods due to my instinct and the fact that my horses kept staring in the direction of the woods (115 acres more or less to be exact) at someone or at more than one person. They don't behave like that unless people (not animals) are actually trespassing."
The police account of that March 25 visit says they arrived to find LaBarre armed with a loaded .38-caliber handgun and covered in soot and ashes. Fresh burn piles were visible, and that's when police say they asked LaBarre, "Where's Kenny?" and that she replied, pointing to a plastic Wal-Mart bag, "He's in that bag."
Human bone fragments were in the bag, though they have not been identified.
"I am not being portrayed by the police correctly," LaBarre writes. "They did not show me or serve me or 'hand me' a search warrant. I was very sad to see the broken and forever damaged old, family, framed portraits in my attic as well as the mess they left behind. My animals and I were placed in 'shock' by this home intrusion and in my mind illegal entry on my property and illegal search of my home, vehicles, barn, land, and out buildings. They lied to me and falsely claimed that they said they would be there that evening at 5:00 p.m. That's a total lie. I could name the one who actually told the lie, but for now, I'll not; maybe later I'll name him," she stated in the letter.
LaBarre, 47, wrote the letter in response to a request by the newspaper to comment on the case against her and to provide information about her background. She had agreed to an in-person interview at the jail scheduled for April 23 | two days before details of the killing became public | but ultimately declined to meet with a reporter.
Odom has not commented on the claims LaBarre made in her letter to The Eagle-Tribune.
LaBarre's letter makes no mention of Countie or the murder she is accused of committing.
Since LaBarre's arrest, a probate judge has called into question whether she was rightfully awarded the inheritance of her one-time boyfriend, Dr. Wilfred LaBarre.
LaBarre considers the doctor her former common-law husband. Probate Judge John Maher decided April 10 that LaBarre was not the doctor's spouse. She did have a short-lived marriage to another man, according court records.
LaBarre complained in her letter about her legal battle with the state Department of Revenue Administration, which sought a quarter of a million dollars in succession and legacy tax.
"Even though we have an RSA (a law) pertaining to common law marriages, and even though the state itself named me on his certificate as his spouse, the Dept. of Revenue could not care less," she writes. "This law should be changed and New Hampshire should simply have into effect a new law stating that common law marriage is not recognized because the battle to prove it will bankrupt anyone."
The inheritance included real estate holdings in Somersworth, Hampton and Epping. LaBarre has been trying to fight off claims by the late doctor's daughter that her father amended the will to stave off threats by Sheila LaBarre.
LaBarre also faces a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by Countie's parents, Carolyn Lodge of Billerica, Mass., and Kenneth J. Countie, of Tewksbury, Mass.
