Grisly new details in Pawlet triple homicide

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) — 2733 Vermont Route 133. Terrible things happened there. The Rutland County State’s Attorney’s Office says, just before 4 a.m. on September 15, Brian Crossman Jr. called police to tell them he found his father, stepmother, and stepbrother shot to death inside their home. 

Court records show police met the junior Crossman at a nearby school, finding him with blood-like stains on his clothes. Other officers went to the house where they discovered a dead man at the front door and a semi-automatic pistol on the floor inside the doorway. 

That deceased man was Crossman Jr.'s father, Brian Crossman Sr., 46, a Pawlet Select Board member. He was dead from a gunshot wound to the head and chest. Crossman’s stepmother, Erica (Pawlusiak) Crossman, 41, was also inside, found naked and dead from being shot in the head. The couple had only been married for under three months. Crossman Jr.'s stepbrother, Colin Taft, 13, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds. 

Police interviews with Crossman Jr.’s grandmother revealed that he was only staying at the house for the weekend. He lives in Granville. The affidavit states that Crossman Jr. claimed he went for a walk around midnight, discovering the bodies upon returning home three hours later.

Vermont State Police revealed a plethora of evidence against the suspect. The affidavit contains a photo of Crossman Jr's clothes covered in what appears to be blood. Family details about his mental health are also being used as evidence.  According to the affidavit, the family was advised Crossman Jr. possibly had schizophrenia, displaying troubling behavior since the age of three, including pointing a rifle at a father and his friend suggesting he’d kill the father. 

The suspect's cell phone internet search history revealed multiple searches about serial killers and unsolved murders. Eventually, Crossman Jr. was arrested on three counts of aggravated murder.

Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan broke down the charges. “Under Vermont law, aggravated murder is a first or second-degree murder committed at the time of an aggravating factor. One of the potential aggravating factors and the one that was charged here is that the murder was committed at the time of another murder,” said Sullivan.

Crossman Jr. was arrested in Glens Falls and arraigned on Friday in Warren County court, then remanded to their jail. He will later be extradited to Vermont after the court receives the paperwork. The date for that is still pending. The defendant is due in Washington County Court on Thursday for firearms charges. Crossman Jr. is also due back in Warren County court on October 21.