On the way to court

By Scott Monroe

It's Friday morning and I'm getting ready to drive 15 minutes north to Lamoille District Court in Hyde Park.
Almost 17 years have led up to this moment.
At 10 a.m., the sentencing will begin for Howard Godfrey, convicted by a jury in January of raping and murdering Patricia Scoville in Stowe. The conviction for aggravated murder carries an automatic sentence of life in prison. This morning's proceeding, therefore, is the end of the court process, the final chapter for Patricia's parents, David and Ann, in finding their daughter's killer and bringing him to justice.
Godfrey, 61, will begin serving his life sentence today.
Scoville, 28, was killed in the Moss Glen Falls area of Stowe in 1991; her body was found buried under leaves and dead tree limbs. She died of asphyxiation, or deprivation of air, an autopsy showed.
The killing had a big impact on Stowe - and on me.
I began writing about the Scoville case in 2005, when DNA evidence linked Godfrey to the crime. The key clue that had been left behind was male semen on Scoville's body.
This is the first murder case I've written about, the first time I've
covered a murder trial. A lot of what I saw during the trial stirred my emotions: the shoes and clothes found with Scoville's body, wrapped in plastic evidence bags; the water bottle that was found in the woods; the video of authorities uncovering her body. And the maps.
They especially struck me, as prosecutors showed maps of Stowe to the jury: the village, Mountain Road, Moss Glen Falls, landmarks along the way. I knew all the roads and landmarks. I could clearly picture Patricia Scoville on her bicycle, riding through. It's hard to believe such a vicious crime could happen here, in Stowe.
But it did.
Yesterday (Thursday), David and Ann Scoville were honored at the Statehouse. Vermont officials dedicated the Patricia Scoville Memorial CODIS Laboratory, in honor of David and Ann's tireless efforts to get Vermont a DNA database in 1998.
The dedication was also attended by many Stowe residents and officials, including Bruce Merriam, Ken Libby, Neil Van Dyke and others who were there in 1991 when a missing-person case became a murder investigation.
David and Ann will be at the sentencing hearing this morning. So will family, friends, and local law-enforcement officers who worked over the years to find the killer.
Family may choose to speak publicly to Godfrey, and Godfrey - if he wants - may speak publicly before he's led away to a lifetime behind bars.

Back from court

The hearing started shortly after 10 this morning in Lamoille District Court in Hyde Park. David and Ann were there, with about a dozen other family members.
Howard Godfrey wore a blue dress shirt and jeans.
Assistant Attorney General Cindy Maguire spoke first, calling the crime the“most heinous act one can commit.”
“And while a sentence of life in prison gives some comfort to the family and community ... it does not give the family full closure, because such a horrific act could never have closure at the end.”
There were three speakers:
First was Lynn Lenihan; she was 8 years old when Patty was born, so they grew up more like sisters than aunt and niece. “She will always be that spirited young woman to those who knew her,” Lenihan said. She hopes Godfrey will feel pain when his life is over, a pain that will “multiply on itself for all of eternity.” Ann Scoville said, “Even now, after all this time, I have to shake my head in disbelief.” During the trial, “there were times I felt as though I were looking in on a TV drama,” but what struck her was that “the person who brought us here was missing.”
She said Scoville, her first-born daughter, would have turned 45 June 3, only 11 days from now. “As I celebrated Mother's Day with my own mother, who is 93, I couldn't help but think of what could have been.”
The question that haunts Ann Scoville is “Why?”
“Why our Patty?” she said. “Again, my question to Mr. Godfrey is why?” She hopes that question will haunt Godfrey in prison, “that he remember the anguish of this mother and ask himself, why?”
David Scoville described his “little girl, my first-born, my honor student, my cheerleader, my Cornell graduate ...”
But, “she was doomed to remain alive to me only in my memories. ... There was nothing any of us could do to bring her back. Our memories were our only connection, and still are.”
To Godfrey: “That was my little girl you raped and murdered.”
He hopes his memories of Patty “have the power to overshadow the events of 1991” and he “hopes she also rests more easily.”
Godfrey appeared upset during the three speeches, though he did not actually cry. His attorney, Kerry DeWolfe, told the judge that he “continues to maintain his innocence.” Asked by the judge if he wanted to address the court, Godfrey replied, “No, your honor.”
At the end, Judge Dennis Pearson sentenced Godfrey, and seemed somewhat emotional himself. He said Godfrey had committed “the most serious and awful crime acknowledged by our society” and the “worst possible nightmare any parent can face.” The Scovilles, he said, deserve praise for their “superhuman ability to arouse themselves from that nightmare. ...”
The hearing ended at 10:50 a.m. It had lasted about a half-hour.
Outside the courthouse, David thanked reporters (me included) for keeping
Patty’s story alive these last 16 and a half years.
“Patty finally had her day in court,” David said.