Daniel 'The Boy in the Walls' LaPlante: The Bowen Family Taunting and Gustafson Family Murders

Lucid Lab Podcast

This week, Jessica brings us the disturbing case of Daniel LaPlante, a troubled teenager whose crimes shocked New England in the late 1980s. We'll delve into LaPlante's bizarre stalking and terrorizing of the Bowen family in 1986, where he hid inside their home for months on and off, leaving eerie messages and playing mind games that pushed them to the brink of sanity.

Then we'll examine how LaPlante's criminal behavior escalated horrifically in 1987, culminating in the brutal triple homicide of Priscilla Gustafson and her two young children in Townsend, Massachusetts. How did a seemingly routine burglary turn into a nightmare of rape and murder that devastated a family and community? Daniel was not a normal teenager. He is the epitome of evil.

This case is riddled with misinformation - we hope to clear up some details in this episode that made this story an urban legend.

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Sources:

Allan, L. (2023, June 22). Daniel LaPlante Terrorized A Family While Living In The Walls Of Their House. https://www.ranker.com/list/danny-laplante-facts/laura-allan

Andrew Gustafson Obituary. (2014, May 31). https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/fitchburg/name/andrew-gustafson-obituary?id=18545173

Kennedy, D. (2020, May 20). Man Who Found Slain Family Learns to Rebuild His Life From Tragedy. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-20-mn-297-story.html

Patmore, N. & Silverman, L. (2022, October 4). The Chilling Case Of Daniel LaPlante, The 17-Year-Old Who Raped And Murdered A Pregnant Mom — Then Drowned Her Two Kids. https://allthatsinteresting.com/daniel-laplante#:~:text=The%20evening%20after%20the%20Gustafson%20murders%2C%20LaPlante%20was,arrested%20on%20the%20evening%20of%20Dec.%203%2C%201987.

Wood, A. (2024, February 23). Episode 59 | Stranger Than Fiction: The Truth About The Crimes of Daniel LaPlante, Townsend, Massachusetts, with author Joe Turner (crimeofthetruestkind.com)

Young, M. (2018, April 21). Devonte Hart's mother: tracing her life from the Midwest to her drive off the California cliff. Devonte Hart's mother: tracing her life from the Midwest to her drive off the California cliff - oregonlive.com