top of page

Episode Fifteen | Shaun Ouillette: Forever Fourteen, Canton, Massachusetts (part one)



In the fall of 1986, Shaun Ouillette was the new kid at Canton High in Canton, Massachusetts. The friendly, easy going 14 year old freshman had been having trouble making friends in his new school. Hoping to strike up a new friendship, he took the bus after school on November 20 to another 14 year old's house to buy some fireworks and hang out. What almost everyone else didn't know is that Shaun was the target of Rod Matthews' murder plan to "see what it feels like". The details of the planning and execution of are stunning, knowing that 14 year old kids are involved. Listen + Subscribe + Rate + Review everywhere you listen to podcasts Follow Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | TikTok Music by Joe "onlyone" Kowalski and Andrew King appears in this episode


Support the show at buymeacoffee.com/truestkind


More at Crime of the Truest Kind Photo Gallery






SOURCES:

Dead of Winter: The Empty Chair - Jeanne Quinn, Shaun Ouillette - Discovery ID

https://www.monstersandcritics.com/tv/true-crime/dead-of-winter-features-murder-of-massachusetts-teen-shaun-ouillette


Faces of Death https://www.ihorror.com/secrets-faces-of-death-finally-revealed


SNL Dunkin Skit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSvNhxKJJyU


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

https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/08/diversity-in-massachusetts-the-25-most-diverse-towns-and-cities-of-2019.html


Canton Citizen - Reincarnation? November 26, 2014 https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/2014/11/26/jeanne-quinn-ghost-inside


AP News - Cash and Peterson testify

https://apnews.com/article/1d92155fe6e11a2b6137c6a13ee7319d


LA TIMES - Youngest convict March 11, 1988

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-11-mn-1345-story.html


Freedom mag - Ritalin and school

https://www.freedommag.org/english/vol36i1/page04.htm


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

https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/2016/03/18/matthews-parole


WBUR COVERAGE - Matthews 2016 Parole Hearing March 29, 2016

https://www.wbur.org/all-things-considered/2016/03/29/rod-matthews-parole


New York Times - Murder For Thrill Described At Trial March 4, 1988

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/04/us/murder-for-thrill-described-at-a-trial.html


Boston Globe - Killer Wants To Go Free March 29, 2016

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/29/rod-matthews-expected-ask-for-freedom-state-parole-board-hearing/SoP6vf2fzoj5L3V3zhfzZP/story.html


Boston Herald - Killer Hasn’t Changed March 30. 2016

https://www.bostonherald.com/2016/03/30/gelzinis-killer-hasnt-changed-neither-have-the-victims

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

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/03/11/youth-15-sentenced-to-life-for-murdering-classmate/6549f5c4-22ae-4c58-bdf2-d31c7eebdc09


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

Https://Search-proquest-com.Ezproxy.Bpl.Org/Bostonglobe/Docview/294476523/C2f7f903ab984b63pq/3?Accountid=9675


Matthews Moved To Danvers Mental Hospital

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/294412680/fulltext/C5532B42FA0C4649PQ/14?accountid=9675

Matthews Pleads innocent

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/294325359/7DE21F756B884D76PQ/7?accountid=9675


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

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/405428570/9B63911CFB914181PQ/17?accountid=9675


Don't release a psychopathic killer Kenneth Berkowitz, April 24, 2016

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/1783734090/3F8DF46F48AF4F74PQ/4?accountid=9675


Rod Matthews has earned a second chance - break down of supreme court ruling on juveniles James Alan Fox, Boston Globe, April 24, 2016

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/1783734018/3F8DF46F48AF4F74PQ/3?accountid=9675


Appeal rejected for youth killer Boston Globe, June 2, 1995

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.bpl.org/bostonglobe/docview/290743245/376230F51CEE4186PQ/20?accountid=9675


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

bottom of page