Episode Fifteen | Shaun Ouillette: Forever Fourteen, Canton, Massachusetts (part one)
- Anngelle Wood
- Apr 9, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 20
Episode 15, part one
Episode 16, part two
In the fall of 1986, Shaun Ouillette was the new kid at Canton High in Canton, Massachusetts. The friendly, easy going, and helpful 14-year-old freshman had moved from the coastal town of Hull, 30 miles away, and didn't have many pals around. Hoping to strike up a new friendship, he jumped at the chance to hang out when a classmate invited him to come over after school on Wednesday, November 19.
A winter storm moved in and blanketed the town with snow, cancelling school that day. But Shaun was determined, and the next day, November 20, he went to his classmates house to check out some fireworks and hang out.
What almost everyone else didn't know is that Shaun was the target of this classmate's murder plan. Rod Matthews had chose Shaun, the new kid, just to see what it felt like to kill. The details of the planning and execution of this crime are stunning for any perpetrator, but knowing that this act was planned out by another 14-year-old is beyond disturbing. Hear Shaun's story, in two parts.
SOURCES:
Dead of Winter: The Empty Chair - Jeanne Quinn, Shaun Ouillette - Discovery ID
SNL Dunkin Skit
Niche.com has Randolph at #4 for 2021
https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/search/most-diverse-places/s/massachusetts
The 25 Most diverse towns in Mass 2019
Canton Citizen - Reincarnation? November 26, 2014 https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/2014/11/26/jeanne-quinn-ghost-inside
AP News - Cash and Peterson testify
LA TIMES - Youngest convict
March 11, 1988
Freedom mag - Ritalin and school
LA Times - Poorly written LA Times article https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-15-ca-7108-story.html
Canton Citizen - Matthews 2016 Parole request
WBUR COVERAGE - Matthews 2016 Parole Hearing
March 29, 2016
New York Times - Murder For Thrill Described At Trial
March 4, 1988
Boston Globe - Killer Wants To Go Free March 29, 2016
Boston Herald - Killer Hasn’t Changed
March 30. 2016
Canton Citizen - A Mother’s Nightmare: Jeanne Quinn’s story
Oct 10, 2012
https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/2012/10/10/matthews-parole-hearing
Washington Post - Matthews Gets Life
March 11, 1988
Matthews Affidavit https://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/supreme-court/volumes/406/406mass380.html Freedom magazine - The Fatal Flaw A deadly incursion into America’s educational system two decades ago spawned a tragic murder https://www.freedommag.org/english/vol36i1/page03.htm
New York Times - Murder for Thrill Described at a Trial March 1988 https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/04/us/murder-for-thrill-described-at-a-trial.html
WGBH - Should Rod Go Free? https://www.wgbh.org/news/2016/03/30/local-news/rod-mathews-should-teen-killer-now-43-go-free-or-remain-prison
ARCHIVES
Boston Globe - Why Did Rod Kill Shaun? ''this Murder Was So Preventable,'' Says Thomas Ouillette, The Victim's Father. By Daniel Golden, May 22, 1988
Matthews Moved To Danvers Mental Hospital
Matthews Pleads innocent
Shaun Ouillette’s family testifies at parole hearing 2016 https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/1776481673/F4393901D0D34FB5PQ/15?accountid=9675
First parole request - 2001
Don't release a psychopathic killer
Kenneth Berkowitz, April 24, 2016
Rod Matthews has earned a second chance - break down of supreme court ruling on juveniles
James Alan Fox, Boston Globe, April 24, 2016
Appeal rejected for youth killer
Boston Globe, June 2, 1995
Missing Canton Youth Apparently Murdered Boston Globe, December 12, 1986 https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/294311348/643C94F4B2F540E3PQ/1?accountid=9675
Attorneys for Matthews want to implicate other boys
Boston Globe, John Ellement, April 20, 1996 https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/290786222/376230F51CEE4186PQ/19?accountid=9675
Revisiting A Tragedy Of Youth Boston Globe, Beverly Beckham, 13 May 2007 https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/405057152/124303E5E0B74639PQ/19?accountid=9675
