After years of waiting for authorities, a mother seeks justice for her son's homicide

Danielle Vaughan remembers when authorities and media outlets put the search for information about Harmony Montgomery front and center. The intensity of the campaign gave her hope for her own pursuit of justice in her 5-year-old son's unsolved homicide three years ago.

“There wasn’t anywhere I could go in Manchester and not see Harmony’s face,” Vaughan said. “That, that really brought me out of a hole.” 

At the time, Vaughan felt like she “was fighting a battle alone.” But seeing the reach and the potency of public solidarity in getting answers for that family, she said, “That gave me the faith to fight.”

After three years of waiting for someone to be held accountable for the homicide of her 5-year-old son, Vaughan began acting on that faith — and after three years of feeling voiceless, strangers who don’t know her and never knew her son have begun to echo her call for justice.

On Christmas Eve 2019, more than two years after Dennis Vaughan Jr. and his siblings were placed in the custody of Vaughan’s mother, Sherry Connor, police found Dennis dead in Connor’s Blueberry Lane apartment. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide from blunt force trauma to the head and neck. 

There have been no arrests associated with the case, and the attorney general’s investigation is ongoing.

In the three years since 5-year-old “Boo” was killed, his mother has longed for justice, for someone to be held accountable. 

“I really thought that there was going to be justice for my son, especially after the autopsy came out,” she said. “I thought there was going to be an arrest made, because it was finally out and black and white, that my son was murdered.”

A year passed. Then two. Faced with a three-year statute of limitations, Vaughan filed a lawsuit against the Division for Children, Youth, and Families in December 2022.

The suit outlines more than 25 reports of suspected physical abuse and neglect of the Vaughan children submitted by teachers, nurses, social workers, law enforcement, neighbors and anonymous sources throughout their time in Connor’s care. It charges that DCYF not only failed to follow many of its own policies in investigating reports concerning the Vaughan children, but that its negligence in leaving the Vaughan children in Connor’s care led to Dennis’ death.

“It doesn't make me happy doing the lawsuit,” Vaughan said. “It's not like I can demand for these caseworkers to be fired and demand for change within the system. I sadly can't do that. ... What I would pray and hope for would be that the system changes within itself to protect children better.” It was, she continued, a last resort: “I had no other option.”

Before her filing, feeling like her son’s case had been “placed on the back burner,” Vaughan reached out to Laconia Police Chief Matthew Canfield and other investigators as well as Gov. Chris Sununu and District 4 Executive Councilor Ted Gatsas, who had previously pushed statements about the need for DCYF reform.

Armed with the hope that a louder call for action might turn up more evidence or give urgency to authorities, as it had for other families, Vaughan also reached out to local communities, putting up signs in Manchester and Laconia. The response she’s gotten from citizens has been encouraging, even if that of officials has fallen flat.

“They've made comments on all these children, but never once spoken on my son. Never once looked me in the face and said, 'Danielle, we're going to get justice for your son.' No one's ever done that for me or my family,” she said. “Why is Dennis's case so different than all these other children?”

Anna Cannard, who saw the signs Vaughan put up across Laconia, wondered the same thing.

Cannard Googled Dennis’ name after seeing a “Justice for ‘Boo’” sign on Blueberry Lane. She remembered seeing police there in 2019 and was surprised to learn that no one had been charged. 

“I feel like normally when there's news of a child dying, it's big news. Like everyone's talking about it,” Cannard said. “But there was really none of that with Dennis.”

Cannard, who has helped run several social media awareness campaigns for missing or deceased children, reached out to Vaughan and offered her support. The “Justice for Dennis ‘Boo’ Vaughan Jr.” Facebook page they created together has been shared not only on Cannard’s network of pages but on similar pages for other New Hampshire children, such as Elijah Lewis, and across Laconia community pages. 

Helping to make and distribute lawn signs, Cannard found a city who shared her solidarity.

“The community of Laconia has been waiting to see some kind of closure with this,” Cannard said. “They haven't forgotten.” 

Judy Anderson, who worked for DCYF for nearly 25 years, has been incensed by Dennis’ death since she first heard about it in 2019. After connecting with Vaughan a few weeks ago, she started a GoFundMe aimed at sponsoring a “Justice for Dennis” billboard.

Anderson has tapped her connections with the state to push for DCYF reform before, and she hopes the renewed public awareness campaign for Dennis will bring urgency to the investigation.

“You just never know when a person in power or influence could stir the pot and cause this [case] to get the attention it needs,” Anderson said. “I don't know who that instrumental person will be, but I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival.”

In keeping with other state officials, Sununu said in an interview he’s very limited in what he can say about this case because of the ongoing lawsuit. 

“She has every reason to be frustrated,” Sununu said. “We unfortunately have lost kids in this state and some of them are very public. Some of them are more private, but every one is absolutely devastating.”

Sununu said he was aware Vaughan had reached out “a couple of months ago” and that he had sent her condolences. “We feel terrible about that whole situation,” he continued, “But I am not sure where the lawsuit is and there's just very little I can say and do because of that.”

Sununu called for reform in DCYF and review of how Harmony Montgomery’s case was handled. Probed about whether he’d do the same in this case earlier this week, the governor deflected. 

When asked about why the Laconia Police Department hadn’t made more calls for tips and information on the case, as the Manchester Police Department had during the state’s Harmony Montgomery investigation, Canfield said that “I'm not sure there's additional information that the public may have.”

“Whether there's enough probable cause or enough evidence to bring a case that would more likely than not result in a guilty conviction, that lies with the Attorney General's Office,” Canfield said, “and we’re held to that standard.” But, Canfield added, “keeping his memory alive is a good thing.”

“It rests on my mind every single day,” he said. “We have not forgotten about this case. It does remain a priority and it's a collaborative effort with the Attorney General's Office.”

The ongoing nature of both the lawsuit and the investigation may limit what officials can say when pressed about the case, but the support she has received in the last month, Vaughan said, has been overwhelming. 

“I mean, it's almost a little hard to accept,” she said. “That these perfect strangers can care so much when my own justice system isn't.” 

Authorities are quick to point out that every case is different and has a different investigative approach. What has been shared by other families who lost their children in violent murders, Vaughan said, is that the public compassion shown by officials and authorities helped bring them justice. For “Boo” not to get similar spotlight, she said, hurts.

It’s not the public’s, or the media’s, responsibility to bring justice for Dennis, Vaughan emphasized.

“It's on the Attorney General's Office and the investigators,” she said. “But right now I'm relying on people to say his name to make the attorney general and the governor, all these people behind his case, hear his name. Repeatedly.”