Guildhall Archives - Newport Dispatch

Man sentenced for 2008 Guildhall murder dies of apparent suicide in prison

Published on September 4, 2019 in Guildhall/Newport/News by Dispatch Media

NEWPORT — A 39-year-old inmate serving time in a Mississippi prison for killing a Guildhall woman back in 2008, has died of an apparent suicide.

The Vermont Department of Corrections says Christopher Chase, also of Guildhall, was pronounced dead early Monday morning.

He was serving a 20 year-to-life sentence after he pled guilty to shooting his girlfriend Sara Bragdon in the back of the head as she was sleeping.

After the shooting, Chase fled and was arrested on August 25, 2008, in Rochester, New York.

Police traced his location based on where his cell phone was located.

According to reports, Chase’s cause of death appears to be suicide by hanging.

He was assigned to the general population unit at the time, and officials say they will conduct an administrative and clinical review of his death.

Published on July 28, 2017July 28, 2017 in Essex County/Guildhall/Newport/News by Dispatch Media

GUILDHALL — A man from Guildhall was tragically killed on Thursday after being crushed by the body of a dump truck.

The victim has been identified by police as 73-year-old Richard Martin.

Police say they received a call at approximately 1:34 p.m. regarding a male discovered deceased at the Martin Farm.

Detectives with the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation responded to investigate.

Detectives say that Martin was working on a dump truck in the yard of the farm with the dump body in the up position.

While working on the truck the dump body fell, crushing his stomach area and back between the frame and bottom of the dump body.

A worker on the farm says he saw Martin 15 minutes prior to the accident walking around the truck.

When the worker noticed the dump body had fallen onto Martin he immediately called 911 and used an excavator to lift the dump body off Martin.

He was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The cause of death was determined to be accidental.