Posted on 02/01/2008 5:53:09 AM PST by KeyLargo
Time served, sex offender who killed 6-year-old girl has come to live in Derry
By PAT GROSSMITH AND NANCY WEST New Hampshire Union Leader
DERRY – A man who strangled, then sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl and stuffed her body into a storm drain in 1981 is living near the Derry Montessori School, a park and the public library.
Douglas Allen Simmons, 47, moved into 71 East Broadway, Apt. 3, Derry, over the weekend, according to police. Yesterday, his name and photo were posted on New Hampshire's child sex offender Web site.
Simmons was a 20-year-old sailor when he lured freckle-faced Michelle Spencer, 6, into his apartment July 19, 1981, and murdered her in Norwich, Conn., according to The Hartford Courant account of his sentencing. Simmons lived with his wife in the same building as Michelle.
Simmons strangled Michelle with a paint-speckled gray telephone cord, then sexually abused her and disposed of her body in a sewer drain near her home, according to the newspaper.
Michelle was last seen playing in her front yard wearing green shorts and a red T-shirt with a "Wonder Woman" emblem on it.
At Simmons' sentencing, a prosecutor said Simmons hit the child's hand when she reached for his stereo and, when she began to cry, covered her mouth with his hand to quiet her. She collapsed to the floor. Simmons grabbed a telephone cord, wrapped it around her neck and strangled her, The Hartford Courant reported.
The 6-year-old lived in the same building as Douglas Allen Simmons in Norwich, Conn. On July 19, 1981, he strangled her with a telephone cord, sexually abused her and disposed of her body in a sewer drain, according to the Hartford Courant.
The prosecutor said Simmons then molested the girl before putting her body in a cardboard box and dumping it in a storm drain, the newspaper reported. Simmons, a Michigan native, was a fireman's apprentice aboard the USS Fulton in New London, Conn., and had just returned home from drinking with friends.
Amid controversy, Simmons was released on probation in 2003 in Connecticut after Michigan officials scuttled his attempt to move there to be near his mother, Jacqueline Dean, of Grand Rapids.
"The facts of the case suggest that Mr. Simmons is a serious predator who will likely commit similar crimes if released," Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm said at the time. A judge ordered Simmons to complete probation in Connecticut.
Simmons' mother spoke briefly with the New Hampshire Union Leader yesterday.
"He served his time. He's doing fine. He's been out of prison over five years," Jacqueline Dean said. "He just wants to live his life." Asked whether Simmons has friends in New Hampshire, Dean said she believes he does.
Simmons is free to live wherever he wants because his sentence and probation are completed; in New Hampshire, he is required to register for the child sex offender list. He came into the Derry police station Monday and registered, police said. There is no mention of his murder conviction on the New Hampshire state police site.
Simmons was never charged with sexual assault, but later admitted it. And there were errors in his original sentence when he pleaded guilty, according to Connecticut officials.
Philip Fazzino, of the New London, Conn., state's attorneys office, said the state erroneously added probation to Simmons' murder sentence, so he was brought back to court in 2003 and re-sentenced on a new indictment of second-degree kidnapping in connection with Michelle's murder.
Simmons essentially ended up with a 35-year sentence and five years probation, but earned time off for good behavior because of laws in effect when he was sentenced, Fazzino said. Simmons served about 22 years in prison and completed probation.
Yesterday, people in Derry remained on edge.
Cheryl Lynch, director of the Derry Public Library, said security at the library is already tight. "We're vigilant every day," Lynch said. "We ask the patrons to be aware of their surroundings."
Union Leader Correspondent Adam Benson contributed to this report.
Sure would be a shame if something happened to him.
He should have been executed.
Anyone else find it strikingly insane that the enemy Democrat Party, in particular, and all leftists in general, fully support executing the unborn, while railing against the death penalty?
Yet their constant montra is "do it for the children".
Thanks very much for the link, Hoodlum91. Looking at it in my area I recognize a person that used to work where I work, AND 2 people (students at the time) I remember when I was substitute teaching back in the early-mid 90’s. (I have only looked at a couple of the multiple pages of offenders in my area. WOW!
Thanks for posting this article, Key Largo.
Be Aware BUMP!
Our government education is based upon the survival of the fittest.... and their methodology has filtered right down to the dregs of all society.
Did you look at the others in town? You may have another that lives closer.
I agree that the ‘sex offender’ registry is too broad and almost silly with who gets put on it.....
Like you said, a 20 y/o with a 15 y/o gf will get lumped in, as well as a guy who pees in public, gets drug and passes out on a park bench with his pants down etc. They aren’t a threat.
The guys who seek out children to molest and often murder are the threats.
Mega Ditto! He murdered the most innocent of human beings — a six year old girl. He should have been hanged, drawn and quartered! If I were related to the victim, I would think seriously about complete justice for her.
Yes I did!
Thanks for the link! HE is the closest one and the most violent one too.
They hate the children, otherwise, they’d be trying to protect them; either from abortion, infanticide, or predators like this piece of refuse.
I actually wrote that term and then decided not to put it in my comment because I didn’t want to detract from my point about him being a murderer, but you’re absolutely right. There’s something really wrong about this entire case.
Relax; it isn't like he killed a government employee or something.
I thought these guys weren’t allowed to live within a certain distance of places children use, like parks and schools.
The fact that they picked places that provide them with the easiest access to kids, shows that they haven’t changed. They’re still interested in kids and will do it again. Otherwise, they would have made an effort to deliberately avoid the area instead of deliberately picking the area.
It wasn’t like they didn’t realize those places were there when they moved in. They knew and chose to live there anyway.
Absolutely.
We’re diluting the language and law in so many ways that it is very difficult to discriminate in a meaningful manner.
I’m going to eliminate any examples from this post - they are myriad.
I agree. They do the same thing when they put out Amber Alerts for children taken by a non-custodial parent. Most people have trouble getting excited about inter-family squabbles.
“He just wants to live his life.”
The child that was brutally murdered just wanted to live her life, I’m sure. This monster does not deserve to live at all. This is sickening.
I think I’m going to be sick...
I’m with you. In a just world, predators like this would be taken forthwith from the bar of justice to a place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until dead, dead, dead.
As things stand, however, there is no way I trust the cops, prosecutors, and others in our so-called criminal justice system with the power of life and death. DNA testing alone is proof enough that capital punishment is immoral under our current system. It’s just too easy for the state to kill an innocent man.
That being said: justice must be served. If Caesar cannot render justice when justice is due, then justice must be served by the aggrieved. It is up to the family of this girl to obtain justice now; Caesar has washed his hands of the matter. The father of this poor little girl should hunt this guy down and kill him, then peacefully surrender to the police and allow a jury to determine if his actions were justified.
If my kid is ever victimized by a predator, God forbid, the predator had better hope the cops get to him before I do, because he is a dead man if I catch him. I would dispatch such a person into eternity without batting an eye, and then call the cops on myself.
God help us all.
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