US News

Vermont town official found murdered alongside wife and teen son after blood-covered relative called cops

A Vermont town official and his new wife and stepson have been found shot dead in their rural farmhouse near the New York border — with a relative in blood-covered clothes calling cops to the triple-murder scene, according to local reports.

Brian Crossman, 46, was found dead Sunday alongside wife Erica, 41, and her 13-year-old son Colin Taft in the home they shared in Tawlett, where Crossman had recently been elected to the Select Board, the local Bennington Banner said.

The local official died from shots to the head and torso, his wife from at least one to the head and her teen from “multiple gunshot wounds,” the Vermont State Police said.

Brian Crossman, 46, and his new wife Erica, 41, were found dead on Sunday.
Brian Crossman, 46, and his new wife Erica, 41, were found dead on Sunday. Erica Crossman/Facebook

“All three deaths were ruled homicides,” police said.

The caller waited for cops at a nearby school, where he was found in blood-covered clothing — and then led them to the gruesome blood scene, the outlet said.

However, state police told The Post Wednesday that there had been no arrests in the ongoing case. A spokesperson also did not confirm if there was a person of interest or if a relative was found covered in blood.

Crossman was also a lineman for Green Mountain Power as well as the new Select Board member in Pawlet, a small town of about 1,400 people near the New York State border.

He and Erica were married in June, and had recently taken over the picturesque white farmhouse — which had been in the family for generations — from his sister, relatives said.

“That house is like my great grandfather[s], so everybody congregated there. There were five brothers, so it’s a big family,” one neighbor and relative told the Bennington Banner.

“He was cleaning it up and working the farm. I think he was just trying to make a new start and trying to run the family farm. And, yeah, this just is, like, the last thing I expected,” the loved one lamented.

The Pawlet Selectboard meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening went ahead as planned, with flowers placed at Crossman’s regular seat, NECN reported.

A small white farmhouse.
The family of three was slain in their historic farmhouse in rural Pawlet. WPTZ

“Brian Crossman was a friend and neighbor, a hardworking community member who just this year stepped up to join the Pawlet Selectboard,” chairperson Mike Beecher said of the colleague slated to serve a one-year term through March 2025.

“This tragedy that struck him and his family has also hit our community hard, and we are shaken and grieving. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this devastating loss,” Beecher added.

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