On the night of Friday, September 1, 2023, a relative checking on the family at a home on Vermont Route 8A in Whitingham found the bodies of 79-year-old Lucy Garvin and her 52-year-old son Michael Garvin. Vermont State Police described both deaths as suspicious and the scene as a double homicide.

Investigators learned Michael Garvin’s 2001 Dodge Ram pickup was missing from the property. Brattleboro police located the truck that same night during a traffic stop and detained 54-year-old Christopher Ellis, who had been living with the Garvins since April. According to court documents, Ellis confessed to shooting Michael in the living room, shooting Lucy once in the bathroom, then returning to fatally shoot Michael several more times before taking the pickup.

Ellis was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent; the victims’ bodies were sent to the Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington for autopsies. Does anyone have information about Lucy Garvin, her son, or who might have known about Ellis living with them?