Sheila LaBarre: NH Serial Killer, Part 1

Apr 20

Written By Kristen Seavey

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This is the first in a three part series. Click here for part two and part three.

A farmhouse with a dark history is auctioned

John Foote came to the auction intending to take photos for his grandmother, who had lived in the house when she was 12-years-old. He wanted to remind her of forgotten times, when she danced around the 119-acre property and fed her horses—when she lay in the grass on long summer days. But when he arrived, all notions of this kind gesture for his grandmother were immediately forgotten. The property was in shambles, and any photo he might take would only taint her memories.

Epping, a farm-town in New Hampshire of 26.2 square miles, is so small that you would need less than a half-gallon of gas to drive through its European-style buildings. It has picturesque views of vast acres of farmlands and forest, and with only 7,000 residents, if you live there long enough, there is a chance that people will know your name.

Neighbors driving by the estate, who once marveled at the Epping home, were now aghast. The cape-style piece of property was considered a luxury home. The house had a gabled roof with a large chimney right at the center. Views from upstairs windows revealed the vast acres of grass surrounding it. It seemed like a dream home for couples to raise kids and grow crops. Strange, then, that most of the attendees weren’t bidders, but curious onlookers.

Who would buy the ruins of the LaBarre estate?

A wellness check on Kenneth Countie

Sergeant Shawn Gallagher received a panicky call on February 24, 2006 at Epping PD. A voice shook at the end of the line. Carolynn Lodge was worried about her son after he left his home in Wilmington, Massachusetts with an Epping resident, Sheila LaBarre. She described her son as “mentally deficient” and hoped that the sergeant would make sure he was alright—in police parlance, a wellness check. Shawn shook his head. He knew Sheila. He had dealt with her about two dozen times since 1995. He remembered breaking up several domestic disputes with various boyfriends. This would just be another encounter with her.

Carolynn had reported him missing, and after confirming that her son, Kenneth, was listed in the National Crime Information Center database, Shawn and Detective Richard Cote drove their cruiser to Sheila’s home on Red Oak Hill Road to find him. The dirt road opened up to 115-acres of land, including a large home and a barn. A fence, gate, and barbed wire blocked the entrance to the home. A “no trespassing sign” was nailed to a tree with the words “you are being videotaped” written underneath it. Shawn and Richard climbed through and reached the front door, but Sheila wouldn’t open it. Instead, she spoke to them through her window. Shawn asked if Kenneth was inside with her, and she responded with a curt, “no”. The officer asked again, this time emphasizing that he was required to complete a wellness check on Kenneth. Sheila’s answer changed. She finally admitted he was there.

“Can we see Kenneth?” he asked. She refused. She told the officer that Kenneth was naked and taking a warm bath. For a moment, there was silence behind the window. Shawn wasn’t going away. Sheila left, annoyed by how relentless the officers were, and returned with Kenneth, bringing him to the front door for the gentlemen to examine. Kenneth wore nothing but blue jeans. Maybe he actually was in the bath and quickly put them on. Nothing seemed unusual. The young man looked fine to Shawn, and he believed he was there on his own free will. After being asked to leave the farm, Shawn and Richard drove away.

A brief history of Kenneth Countie

Kenneth Countie was a six-foot tall 24-year-old, with prominent eyebrows and a beaming smile.

“I’ve never ever seen him not smiling,” said Kenneth’s mother, adoringly. Even when she was upset with him, she could never stay mad.

Kenneth was an athletic kid. He played baseball and loved attending games with his dad. He enjoyed the smell of fresh-cut grass and salty, warm pretzels, and was energized by the loud chants of the crowd. His drink of choice was grape soda. Kenneth played hockey and benefited because his dad coached the game. Hockey season marked the beginning of autumn—a prelude to Kenneth’s favorite time of year, Christmas. On Thanksgiving Day, he would begin decorating his little cherry-colored tree with colorful lights and tiny ornaments. It lacked greenery but he saw the potential in his Charlie Brown Christmas tree. But he lived for Christmas morning—jumping out of bed at daybreak and running downstairs to tear through the skeins of wrapping paper that were tucked and creased and folded and taped around a host of waiting presents. Even the occasional papercut didn’t slow him down.

Then Carolyn’s little boy grew up. Kenneth was mesmerized by the characters on screen in old Army and Western films. There was something so fascinating about being a hero who saves the day. Kenneth wanted nothing more than to join the army. Carolyn wasn’t ready to let Kenneth leave home and become independent. She was afraid for him. She feared the kind of people he would meet. Despite his mother’s apprehension, as soon as he graduated high school, he enlisted. He started basic training at Fort Benning, GA, but training didn’t last. He couldn’t complete the sit-up portion of basic training. He received a medical discharge and returned home to Billerica, Massachusetts, crushed and downtrodden. He took a job at the car wash where he was described as a “simple, dedicated worker” but struggled with even basic paperwork.

Moving out of his childhood home in January of 2006, at 24, Kenneth was trying his hand at independent living. He moved into a house just a few miles away in Wilmington, Massachusetts with a roommate, Eric Ingram. Even with his new-found freedom, Carolyn continued to check up on Kenneth. She periodically visited him at work and they spoke on the phone daily. Kenneth was doing well. He was responsible. Eric remembered that after long days at work, Kenneth would call the bank to check his balance, and call his carrier to see how many cell-phone minutes he had remaining. He was an “easy-going” roommate who was on top of things.

But underneath his enthusiasm, Kenneth was lonely. Prior to meeting Sheila, he had attempted suicide. He wanted companionship—something more than just his mother’s love.

Who is Sheila LaBarre?

Sheila LaBarre lived on the big farm at the end of the street. She was often seen on the roads in her silver Mercedes, her professionally-dyed, blonde locks moving in the breeze. She was known around the community as erratic, and had a habit of using guns to intimidate. Yet, she could be quite charming, and that seemed to be her key to getting whatever she wanted.

Sheila wasn’t originally from Epping. She adopted her southern charm from her hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama. She even coined her own nickname, “firecracker,” not only because she was a Fourth of July baby, but because it suited her volatile personality.

Sheila grew up in a Baptist family with five siblings: three brothers and two sisters. Her father, Manuel Bailey, worked for the state highway department as an equipment operator and her mother, Ruby Bailey, was a housekeeper. Sheila and her father had issues. He came home belligerently drunk on the weekends from time to time, and could become quite violent. During one incident, he overturned the cast iron stove the family used to heat the home in the winter months and tried to topple the refrigerator. When it proved too heavy, he opened its door and began tossing food across the kitchen. The incident escalated as the family appeared and he started throwing the food at them. They fled to the garage, huddled in the car, locked the doors, and started the engine when their father appeared. He wound up, as though to strike the driver’s side window, but didn’t realize it was already down. As he threw the punch, he toppled half-into the car, completely off balance. His wife and two children fled on foot into a nearby cornfield. As they were escaping, he picked up a can of antifreeze and chunked it at Sheila, who was just 6 at the time, being rushed away from the house by her mother into the night. Sheila covered her face and the can struck her fingers, leaving a scar that would last a lifetime. They hid out in a cornfield on the edge of their property as Manuel stamped around trying to find them. When he gave up, they walked 5 miles in the night to stay with family while their father sobered.

In addition to the physical abuse, Sheila and her sister both said that they had been sexually molested by their father in childhood.

Despite the adversity, at 18, she graduated from Fort Payne High School, and was optimistic about her future. Growing up, the youngest of six, Sheila wanted to stand out somehow, wanted to be a star. She loved singing, prided herself on her looks, and dreamt of being a country musician or a model. People thought she was beautiful, with long, brown locks and a youthful glow. She used her looks to compete in beauty pageants and win over the affections of men.

Suspicious Activity in a Walmart

In March 2006, a week or two after the wellness check for Kenneth, Shawn and Richard, the two cops that went to Sheila’s home, received a call from someone at Walmart who explained there was a person being disruptive inside of the store. The men hopped into their cruiser and drove down to the Epping Walmart. They arrived and found Kenneth Countie inside, but he did not look the same as he did on that Sunday in February.

This time he sat in a wheelchair, hunched over, gashes covering his face and hands. His face was somewhat obscured by a fuzzy black hat. Inside of his shopping basket were two five-gallon yellow diesel containers. His right hand was swollen, and Kenneth could barely move it. Before Shawn and Richard could get a question out, Sheila appeared and loomed behind him. She told the sergeant and the detective that he was fine, that his wounds were just the result of a car accident, nothing to worry about. She told them that Kenneth was sitting in the wheelchair as a “joke”. When Richard began speaking to Kenneth, she abruptly cut him off, and told Kenneth not to talk to the officer. She was loud and her language was off-color. This wasn’t the first time Sheila had caused a scene inside of the store. She had shopped there with Kenneth weeks prior. She claimed that her, quote, “husband”, Kenneth, had been attacked by a woman in the store. She yelled at the employees and threatened to sue.

The officers decided to follow Kenneth and Sheila to her truck parked in front of the store. Kenneth stumbled as he walked. Sheila carried him into her truck, helping him inside. Shawn and Richard watched the couple with despair. Despite the wounds and mistreatment, the two officers didn’t help Kenneth. He was 24-years-old. They hoped that if he was in any real trouble he would tell them.

Sheila’s first marriage, to John Baxter

Sheila had a way with men. They were bewitched by her assertive nature and her captivating looks. There was something classy about the woman in red. She was malleable, coming off as polite and respectful when she needed to, and authoritative and demanding when she wanted something.

Sheila was married three times, plus one quasi-legal, common-law-marriage, but each one lasted only a short time. John Baxter, her first husband, who was 19-years-old when they got married, was a single-father living in Fort Payne, Alabama. Sheila, at 23, may have seemed like she had the potential to be a good mother and wife. The two only dated a month before getting married on New Year's Eve in 1981. John really wanted this marriage to work out. He had already gone through the heartbreak of a divorce, but it only took six weeks for things to take a turn. Sheila immediately regretted marrying into their family. She didn’t like playing the role of mother and wife. Her dream was to be an artist. She resented the two as a result, and took out her anger on his daughter, Wendy. After coming home from his job as a utility lineman, John discovered Wendy was locked up in a room the size of a closet. Sheila was kind enough to give her a pot that she could use as a toilet. If Wendy came out, Sheila would beat her and break her toys. She threatened, “if you ever tell your daddy, I will kill you and your daddy both!”.

Wendy didn’t have to say anything. John figured it out on his own. There was no way he was going to let his little girl be treated this way. According to Kevin Flynn, author of the book, Wicked Intentions, Wendy said that the last thing she remembered about Sheila was her father pushing her out of the way to take Wendy out of the house. John left Sheila six weeks after their marriage, and their divorce was finalized a year later.

Since Sheila was no longer being financially supported by John, she took a job at a fast-food burger joint. She needed something to pay the bills. But it didn’t take long for Sheila to become romantically involved with someone else. She met Ronnie Jennings, a coworker whose mother owned the old-fashioned drive-in. Ronnie was very different from John: he didn’t have any kids and he dated around. He was attractive and tall, with a bit of an edge. After lending Sheila a ride home one evening, she became completely enamored with him. They lived recklessly, skipping work and smoking weed. She wanted Ronnie to be hers, but Ronnie wasn’t interested in marriage. Though he gave most of his attention to Sheila, he still wanted to sleep around. And his lifestyle was audacious: Ronnie had allegedly become involved with an illegal business. Despite his apprehensions, after finalizing her divorce, Sheila convinced Ronnie to commit.

Sheila’s second marriage, to Ronnie Jennings

They got married, and the couple moved to Chattanooga, ready to embark upon their new life together, but Ronnie almost immediately knew he had made a mistake. As soon as they left their wedding ceremony, Sheila began sobbing, saying they should have never gotten married. Sheila had intense mood swings that repeatedly turned violent, the kind that would keep Ronnie up all night, fearing for his life. On one occasion, he was afraid she would kill him with a pair of scissors.

The fear created distance between them. Sheila began an affair with Sam Billiams, her wealthy boss who was a vice president and an heir of the family business she worked for, Billiams & Sons Construction. She found the affair new and exciting. Sheila wanted to be taken care of, and wanted to leave Ronnie for Sam. Sam, too, was married, and told Sheila that he was ready to confront his wife about the affair. But their fantasy evaporated when Sam’s father found out about their secret, ordered his son to put an end it, and fired Sheila in the process. She no longer had her escape or a job.

The couple’s fighting seemed to worsen. Sheila caused a scene at the restaurant Ronnie was working at. He was in the back, cooking up burgers and sipping on a beer. His head nodded to tunes playing from the radio and the sizzling sounds of the meat every time they flipped on the griddle. The scene was ruined when Sheila barged into the kitchen, throwing a tantrum. She screamed that he was cheating on her, but Ronnie seemed unphased. He took a sip of his drink and said he’d sleep with whoever he wanted. “I’ll show you how bad I want out of this marriage”, cried Sheila. She reached for a bottle of red pills from her purse and shook them in front of his face. It looked like a prescription bottle, but he didn’t care, maybe it was just Advil.

Popping the cap off, she swallowed every single one. The pills went down smoothly, and she stormed off. She got into her car, slamming the door and drove away. The roads looked like they came from an abstract painting. Everything seemed to blur together, and Sheila’s eyes were open but she wasn’t awake. She crashed the car and was found unconscious.

Her sister, Lynn, rushed to the hospital to see if she had survived the crash. She watched as a group of medical professionals pumped red bile out Sheila’s stomach. The fragments of pills poured into a bucket. Sheila was alive, but comatose. A day later Sheila was transferred to the hospital at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to be seen by a specialist. She remained in a coma for eight days. When Sheila woke up, she found herself in a psychiatric ward for attempted suicide. Her time spent at Neuro ICU was miserable, and she felt out of place. She was surrounded by people with serious mental illness and Sheila didn’t see herself that way. She called her sister up crying, begging Lynn to get her out of the horrible place. She told her that a staff member tried to rape her and she was forced to defend herself. She also told Lynn about a strange out-of-body experience. She was floating down the hallway and men in white were waiting for her at the end. She reached a blinding light and all was calm. She wasn’t meant to be there yet, and the men sent Sheila back to find her purpose.

After thirty days, Sheila was released from the psychiatric ward. Despite the fact Sheila believed she was in good mental health, her husband disagreed. Ronnie called her “unbalanced”. After a four-year rollercoaster, Ronnie had had enough and called off the marriage.

Sheila’s neighbor recalls Sheila’s dating strategies

Nearly 20 years later, Bruce Allen, Sheila’s neighbor, recalled seeing numerous men on the farm, often under the auspices of being workers. They came and went in a cycle of love-bombing and abuse. She particularly sought out the vulnerable—ones she could control through intimidation and fear.

In 2004, she was accused of stalking her neighbor, Bert Allen, after he refused her offer of an evening of alcohol, drugs, and sex. She followed him into the woods twice and threatened him with her rifle. Fortunately, he was never hurt, but he was left traumatized. Sheila needed to find men who would say yes.

"She told me how she picked out ones she liked and would bring them home," said Bruce, in regards to how she chose men, similar to adopting a dog. Sheila didn’t take the usual dating routes to meet new men. Sheila made attempts to seduce the delivery men that came to her door. She would bat her eyes at them, sometimes wearing nothing but a fur coat. When companies stopped delivering to her home, she would go after the handyman or plumber on a service call. She sought men out at homeless shelters, or off the street. She would dangle the carrot of living on a sprawling idyllic horse farm in the countryside, a welcome respite from austere and crowded government-housing or the brutal living conditions of the homeless who are constantly shuffled between different urban nooks and crannies.

Sheila was a routine visitor of TeleMates, a telephone dating service where callers would create a voicemail describing themselves. Hopeful strangers could leave messages for the singles they liked. Sheila received numerous messages from assertive and persistent men who desired her, but she ignored those messages and waited for the lonesome and desperate. Long nights were spent engaging in phone sex with hopeful strangers, and one of those men was Kenneth Countie.

When Sheila met Kenneth

He was up, late at night, watching television in January of 2006, when a commercial popped up: “the cure to feeling single and alone: TeleMates”. The service would pair him up with a woman to shower him with affection. It was an opportunity to confide in somebody. He called the number and Sheila was on the other end. She chatted him up. They engaged in explicit, sexual conversations. Kenneth was hooked on Sheila, and she on him.

Kenneth and Sheila planned to meet on February 14, 2006, Valentine’s Day. Their first date would be at the Ashworth by the Sea Hotel in Hampton, NH—a small and charming hotel that overlooks the beach. It was a popular background for newlyweds’ photos. Kenneth arrived promptly and sat patiently at the bar. Sheila would arrive any minute. The room was decorated with pink and red hearts; love was in the air. Hours passed waiting at the bar. Kenneth could have left by then and would never have met Sheila, but just as hope was all but extinguished, she arrived. Sheila was a force. She was assertive and charming. Kenneth had hardly spoken to girls, and no girl had been like Sheila. Kenneth listened while Sheila did most of the talking. They hit it off. They left the hotel to have sex in Sheila’s car. She seduced him with the promise of a new life.

He boasted to his brother, Bryan, about his new girlfriend. He told him that Sheila owned her own company and was rich. She drove around in a fancy car and practically lived in a mansion.

Four days after their first date, Kenneth left his home in Wilmington, Massachusetts. He told his roommate that he would only be gone for the weekend. He was worried when Kenneth didn’t come home. It was unusual for Kenneth to leave for so long. His roommate and his brother called him up, asking when he’d be back, but Kenneth couldn’t give them a clear answer. Sheila grabbed the phone from Kenneth and began arguing with the two men. She wanted them to stop calling her new boyfriend. That was the last time his roommate saw him. And on the 21st of February, Kenneth’s next workday at the carwash, he didn’t show.

On the day Kenneth told his roommate he was leaving, Sheila was parked outside of his home. She was ready to take him away from his life in Massachusetts. Sheila promised him a fresh start: a new job, togetherness, bliss, and even a new name, “Adam Olympian LaBarre”. But her promises were just a mirage.

Suspicion raised, Epping PD looking for Kenneth

A month after the initial wellness check, on March 22, Sergeant Shawn Gallagher answered the department’s phone to Kenneth’s panicked mother. Sheila had told her that Kenneth left the farm on his own—that she hadn’t seen him in a few days—but Kenneth was not someone who could take care of himself. He had the mental capacity of a 12-year-old, and if Kenneth were alone, he would have called his family. His mom was alarmed. Shawn called Sheila repeatedly, but there was no answer. He left messages but there was no response.

Two days later, in the middle of the night, Shawn’s phone rang. It was Sheila, assuring him that Kenneth no longer lived with her. After that, Shawn could hear the white noise of a tape recorder, and Sheila’s recorded voice came through the line. It sounded eerily distant and matter of fact, and it began with the strange pronouncement that she was a, quote, “justice of the peace in New Hampshire''. Then there was a pause, and the voice changed, as if it were coming from a larger, hollow space and pointed at someone. Sheila’s voice was then accusatory, and she asked questions about raping children. Shawn had to listen hard, but just over the static, he could make out Kenneth’s soft, muddled voice responding with a “yes” to each of her questions. Sheila listed the names of Kenneth’s family members. Kenneth confessed to raping nieces, step-siblings, and other young relatives. Again, he let out a soft “yes”, when Sheila asked if he molested them. Then, a kind of frightening heaving sound began, like an animal in stress. Sheila could be heard shushing Kenneth like an abusive mother, telling him to cut the act. For a long moment, there was quiet on the tape, except for the white noise. Again, more strange sounds, guttural coughing and gagging, filled the silence. That’s when Sheila began speaking again, in a sing-songy, third-person narration: “Kenneth Countie is now faking that he’s throwing up” she said, followed by, “Kenneth Countie is now faking that he fainted''. Sheila then broke the narration by crying hysterically on the tape, at one point wailing “why” over-and-over again. Then more silence. After that the tape abruptly ended, and Sheila hung up on the officer.

Shawn was disturbed to put it mildly. Nothing about the call made any sense. Why did Sheila call out of the blue like this, waking him at 1:00AM to play a recording of herself implicating Kenneth in a string of sex crimes against his family? Shawn and Richard went back to Sheila’s farm the next evening searching for answers. They were checking to see if Kenneth had actually left her residence.

They arrived to find the gate closed. The sun had already set, and the lights were off in the quiet farmhouse. The detectives spotted a burnt mattress, as well as a separate burn pile, in Sheila’s front yard. A wooden chair faced the burn pits. Shawn shined his flashlight over the burn pile. There, resting in the pile, was a knife handle with a melted blade, tree limb clippers, a burnt chair, but most chilling of all, a piece of bone covered in flesh. It was stomach-turning. If this bone belonged to Kenneth, could he have done something more to stop it? He had seen Kenneth badly beaten inside that Walmart. Could have done something then?

Shawn called for assistance. He knocked on the front door to confront Sheila as a third officer arrived. They began banging on all sides of the house, but still no one answered. Shawn kicked in the front door as Sheila arrived from behind the gate. Again, she insisted that Kenneth wasn’t there, that he had left a while ago. Sheila happily gave the men a tour of her home. They looked around, checking every room for signs of Kenneth. All they found were a pair of his sneakers that she refused to let them take.

The tour was over, and they went outside. This left Richard to ask her about the bone. It could’ve easily been the bone of an animal. She had horses and hundreds of rabbits running around her farm. Agitated, she answered, “Either a rabbit or a pedophile”.

The officers were puzzled by the comment. Shawn asked why the bone would come from a pedophile, but Sheila denied ever making such a remark. She asked the officers to leave and they had no choice but to comply.

The morning after, they obtained a search warrant and returned to Sheila’s farm. On March 25th, Sheila was questioned about Kenneth’s whereabouts. She responded, “in the bag”. Police scoured the burn piles looking for any evidence to examine. Hidden underneath the pile of ash and dirt was a wrinkled Walmart bag, perhaps the one Sheila was referencing. Police also asked if it was possible that she burned Kenneth. She said there was a chance that he might have fallen in the fire.

Sheila Flees New Hampshire

Investigators, though confident they had the right person, did not yet have enough evidence to charge Sheila with the murder of Kenneth. In the meantime, Sheila fled Epping.

On March 26, Sheila watched customers go in and out of a local pet store. She stood in front of her car with three of her rabbits in a box. Sheila seemed to be waiting for a reason to go inside. She waited until a pair of children walked into the store, and she followed them.

Brother and sister, Donald and Amy, walked around the shop looking for a pet to take home. Sheila approached the two with one of her rabbits. The kids were immediately taken in by the fluffy creature, which made Sheila’s pitch easy. She offered them a hundred dollars to take care of her rabbits: Little Satin, Sapphire, and Snookster. Donald and Amy didn’t even hesitate. They asked Sheila to show them the other bunnies, so she guided them out to her car. The children were overjoyed that they would be bringing, not one, but three pets home. Sheila knew it would be a lot for them to carry on their walk home, so she offered the pair a ride.

Pam Paquin was surprised to see her children come home with three rabbits and a new friend. She was initially on guard. She didn’t know this woman who had been driving around with her kids. Sheila introduced herself, explaining that she had given Donald and Amy money to take her rabbits and bought them dinner. Pam relaxed. Sheila seemed generous, and as they talked more, the conversation flowed. Sheila was charming and chatty. Sheila told them stories about her bad relationships and why she had to leave her last boyfriend. The family enjoyed Sheila’s company, and asked her to stay for a while.

The four gathered in the living room to watch TV. Pam put on the evening news.

Sheila panicked and screamed, “Adam!”. The broadcast was on Kenneth Countie. The news anchor spoke of a missing man who had been living on a farm in Epping, owned by one Sheila LaBarre. Pam was suddenly stunned and afraid. Who was this stranger in her home? The anchor continued, saying, although the farm wasn’t yet considered a crime scene, investigators were searching for evidence. Pam asked her about the report. Who was Adam? Sheila avoided the questions and began crying.

Pam asked again.

“I don’t know where he is!” Sheila let out. “And now everyone’s going to think I killed him!”. Sheila admitted to Pam that Adam was her boyfriend, and that he changed his name after he moved in with her because he wanted a fresh start. Sheila told her how sick Adam was—that he was molested by his mom as a kid and was a pedophile himself. After Sheila said she had discovered this, they started having issues, and he packed his stuff and left. Sheila insisted she had nothing to do with Adam’s disappearance, and Pam believed her.

The following day, Pam and Sandra, a friend who was staying at the house, drove Sheila to the law office of an attorney. She was on edge about the Kenneth situation and figured seeking legal help would ease her anxiety. The two friends waited in the car while Sheila met with the lawyer. He walked Sheila through her options, explaining that there was a possibility of bail depending on the murder charge. They wanted $60,000 to take her case. Sheila stormed out of the building, frantic, and in a rush to find a bank. She refused to pay that much for an attorney and began to feel paranoid about her finances. In Sheila’s mind, she was innocent—this was all a setup by the police—and no money-hungry attorney was going to fleece her.

Sheila took out $85,778.21 from the bank: $50,000 in a cashier’s check and the rest in cash. Her hands were shaking as she put the money away. One of the bank tellers had picked up the phone and still on edge, Sheila assumed they were calling the police. Sheila got in the car and told Pam to drive fast. Even though Pam had only known Sheila for a day, she obeyed Sheila’s orders. They headed towards Raymond, New Hampshire. In the car, Sheila began sobbing about her horses. She didn’t know who would take care of them and believed the police would just let them die. She needed to go back to her farm. The women tried to comfort her, saying the police would feed them.

Before returning to Epping, they pulled into a bank looking for a notary. Sheila felt she needed to get her ducks in order if anything were to happen to her in the next few days. She wrote that Sandra would manage and collect rent for her three apartments in Somersworth. While at the bank, Sheila wrote out a bill of sale for the horses to present to Pam.

The three women drove down the winding roads that led to Sheila’s farm. Pam and Sandra had fantasized about what Sheila’s farm looked like from the stories she had told them. They envisioned her horses galloping across fresh-cut grass. The rabbits would hop around in front of the grand home neither Pam nor Sandra could ever afford. They couldn’t wait to reach the top and be welcomed by the iron gates. But this farm was something out of a Tim Burton movie. The home was surrounded by dirt and any visible patches of greenery were yellow. The rabbits hopped around but they were covered in mud and looked unfed. The gate was wonky and covered in yellow tape. This is how Sheila had actually lived.

Sheila watched from the passenger seat as a dozen police officers searched her farm. As she looked, a trailer with her five caramel-colored horses drove slowly past. She shrieked, “Those are my horses!”. Pam got out of the car and ran after the trailer. It stopped and a man stepped out. Pam told the man the horses were hers. The man asked if her name was “Sheila LaBarre,” but Pam shook her head and showed the bill of sale. The man told her she couldn’t have them because the horses had been seized by the police. Pam went back to the car and told Sheila they had to go to the police station in order to retrieve her horses, and Sheila forced Pam and Sandra to go without her.

As soon as the women got back into their car, the man who spoke to Pam called Epping’s Dispatch. He reported the silver car was on its way to the police station and gave the operator the women’s license plate number.

Pam and Sandra dropped Sheila off at a cemetery where she could hide behind tombstones. They figured no one would look for Sheila in the dark and gloomy graveyard.

In the late afternoon of March 28, Pam and Sandra pulled into the parking lot of the police station. NH State Police Trooper (Jill Rockey) and Assistant Attorney General (Peter Odom) had been expecting the two. When Pam and Sandra walked in, Jill and Peter guided the women into Jill’s office. Immediately, Pam asked if she could have her horses back and pulled out the bill of sale. Jill just ignored the request and asked questions about Sheila instead. Pam and Sandra told the officer they dropped Sheila off, but they would never tell her where. Jill and Peter looked at them amused. Peter asked if Sheila thought they would arrest her and explained that they thought she was missing. They just wanted to know if she could help them find Kenneth. Pam and Sandra were surprised by the news. They had been running around all day to help their new friend and she wasn’t in any trouble. Pam inquired about the horses again and Peter looked at the bill of sale. He told Pam that she could have her horses back in a few weeks. Pam and Sandra left the station elated. They could now tell Sheila that she would get her horses back and she wouldn’t be arrested.

Pam and Sandra returned to the cemetery to deliver the good news, but Sheila’s reaction was just the opposite of what they expected. She began hyperventilating and asked for Pam’s keys. She demanded they get in the car. Sheila drove faster than the speed limit, pushing hard on the accelerator while driving through gravel roads. She was in a hurry to get out of Epping, and told the women the police were trying to trick her. Sheila swerved down Route 27. Pam and Sandra were confused and frightened by Sheila’s behavior because they expected she would agree to meet with the police since she wasn’t going to be arrested.

Sheila thought she was in the clear, but a car pulled in front of them, moving slowly. Another car came behind and boxed them in, forcing Sheila to pull over. Two officers stepped out of each car; they had been tracking them. Sheila stepped out and the officers searched her body. They found nothing on her and decided to bring her back to the station for questioning. Sheila was there for seven hours and was interrogated about Kenneth Countie, but she didn’t admit to anything. Without a confession and no evidence against her, the officers had to let her go until they found something that linked her with Kenneth’s disappearance.

On April 1, 2006, five days after Sheila was released, she walked by a newspaper stand. On the front page of the paper was her face framed by her blonde hair. Her eyes smudged with eyeliner and a smirk on her face. It was her DMV photo, one of the more recent pictures of her. The headline above the photo read: “Woman wanted in killing, burning”.

There was now enough evidence to issue an arrest warrant and Sheila was on the run again.

Click here for part two and part three.

This text has been adapted from the Murder, She Told podcast episode, NH Serial Killer: Sheila LaBarre, Part 1. To hear the full story, find Murder, She Told on your favorite podcast platform.

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Kenneth Countie (left), his mom, Carolynn Lodge (right)

Kenneth Countie (center), Carolynn Lodge (right)

Carolynn Lodge (left), Kenneth Countie, right

Kenneth Countie, 3/17/2006, Walmart, last known photo

Sources For This Episode

Newspaper articles

Various articles from Bangor Daily News, New Hampshire Union Leader, Portsmouth Herald, Rutland Daily Herald, The Bennington Banner, The Boston Globe, and The Brattleboro Reformer, here.

Written by various authors including Adam Leech, Clare Trapasso, Clynton Namuo, David Tirrell-Wysocki, Elizabeth Dinan, Emily Aronson, Garry Rayno, Gina Carbone, James Kimble, Jason Schreiber, Karen Dandurant, Kathleen Burge, Kathryn Marchocki, Lara Bricker, Mark Hayward, Nancy West, Russ Choma, Sally Jacobs, Scott Brooks, Toby Henry, and Trent Spiner.

Books

Wicked Intentions, Kevin Flynn, published 2008 by New Horizon Press

Online articles

'Obituary of Wildred Joseph LaBarre' (Lane Memorial Library (Hampton, NH)), 12/7/2000, no author credited

'Murder Suspect Found in Revere' (The Sun (Westford, MA)), 4/3/2006, by Matt Murphy

'Kenneth M. Countie (obituary)' (Legacy.com), 4/6/2006, no author credited

'Michael Deloge (obituary)' (Legacy.com), 3/1/2008, no author credited

'Murderer Sheila LaBarre's farm auctioned for 600K' (Seacoast Online (Portsmouth, NH)), 5/28/2009, by Lara Bricker

'State of New Hampshire vs. Sheila K. LaBarre' (Justia US Law (Mountainview, CA)), 1/13/2010, no author credited

'Mystery toes may be the sole link…' (Daily News (New York, NY)), 7/5/2012, by Larry McShane

'The Unidentified Toes' (The Sheila LaBarre Murder Case), 12/3/2012, by Steven Robert

'An Obsession with Pedophiles' (The Sheila LaBarre Murder Case ), 12/3/2012, by Steven Robert