Sherry Connor, indicted in grandson's 2019 Christmas Eve homicide, denied bail

LACONIA — Sherry Connor, the woman accused of causing the death of her 5-year-old grandson in 2019, will be held at Belknap County Jail as she awaits her trial, a judge ruled in her first court appearance since being arrested on Friday.

Connor, 61, had custody of Dennis "Boo" Vaughan Jr., as well as three other grandchildren, when she was living on Blueberry Lane in Laconia in 2019. Vaughan was found dead on Christmas Eve of that year, and the state’s medical examiner concluded his death was a homicide, and his life was cut short due to blunt force trauma delivered to his head and neck.

As a result of Vaughan’s death, Connor has been indicted for several crimes including manslaughter, negligent homicide, assault and witness tampering.

Justin Littlefield, Connor’s attorney, said during a bail hearing at Belknap County Superior Court on Monday afternoon she denies the charges. He also argued she be released on personal recognizance bail, noting she lives alone and could be barred from interacting with any children as she waits for her trial.

However, Judge Mark Attorri, who is overseeing the case, was persuaded by Belknap County Attorney Keith Cormier, who argued the seriousness of the allegations amounted to “clear and convincing evidence that she is a danger to herself and others,” and she should continue to be held in custody.

When Vaughan’s body was removed from Connor’s home on Dec. 24, 2019, Cormier told Attorri, he “had more than 60 abrasions and contusions on his body,” as the medical examiner’s report contained, and most of the bruising “was new or fresh,” meaning it had been delivered very recently before his death.

Cormier, in supporting the state’s recommendation Connor be held without bail, described a theory of Vaughan’s life in Connor’s care that involved severe abuse, not just of him, but also of the other children living with her. The evidence Cormier presented was largely gained through interviews of the other children who lived in the apartment where Vaughan died.

“The three children who are still alive have painted a very dark picture of what went on,” Cormier said, summarizing their accounts as something that “can aptly be described as torture.”

Cormier alleged Connor routinely utilized extreme punishments that included applying hot sauce to the male children's genitals, striking them with a back scratcher or a device that looked like a blowtorch, making them continuously run up and down stairs, forcing them to take cold baths and holding their heads under water, and depriving them of food and water.

When they went out of the house, Cormier continued, the children would be required to wear long-sleeved shirts in order to conceal their bruises. At one point, Cormier said, Vaughan removed a sweatshirt while in view of an educator, and the teacher reported seeing bruises everywhere she could see skin.

Some of the descriptions of abuse provided by the children were corroborated, Cormier said, by two adult witnesses. A man who lived in the apartment for a period, who said he left due to the abuse he saw, described how the children were forced to run up and down the stairs, and Connor would strike the children if they stopped. He also said he saw her “stomp” on Vaughan, Cormier said. A woman said Connor liked to straddle the children and press a pillow over their faces, a punishment she favored because it left no marks.

On the days leading up to Vaughan’s death, Cormier said, Connor became angry with Vaughan because he left clothing on his floor. According to interviews with the other children, Connor exacted punishment by forcing him to wear all the clothing he hadn’t put away while he ran in place in the kitchen area. He ran until he could no longer stay on his feet, Cormier said. “The defendant got mad and proceeded to kick and strike [Vaughan], she used a broom to strike [Vaughan] until the broom broke,” Cormier said. After the broom broke, she stomped on him and told him to get up. When he couldn’t, she covered him with a blanket.

The next day, Vaughan was unable to control his bodily functions, Cormier told Attorri. He was unable to eat or swallow water, he began to run a high temperature, and when he started to hallucinate, “The defendant said the devil was coming to take him away,” Cormier said. “During this time, the defendant did not seek any medical treatment for [Vaughan], and [Vaughan] passed several hours later.”

Littlefield, who said he hadn’t seen or heard these allegations prior to the hearing, told the court “we’re essentially operating in the dark, and they’re proposing to hold Ms. Connor.”

Littlefield asked the judge to grant personal recognizance bail, noting she doesn’t currently have contact with any children and would agree to a restriction against such, and she lives by herself in Epsom.

“She’s local, she’s not trying to run, she’s been around the whole time,” Littlefield said, adding his client has recently been diagnosed with cancer. He also noted the allegations date back to 2019.

“We’ve had five years lapse without any other incidents or concerns,” Littlefield said. If the state is so concerned about Connor, he said, “it is unclear to me as to why we’ve waited five years to bring" the charges.

“The allegations in front of the court are just allegations,” Littlefield said. “I don’t believe there is convincing evidence that she is a danger.”

Attorri said he was persuaded by “the kind of cruelty described” to order Connor confined for the time being. “I think that establishes dangerousness clearly and convincingly.”

Connor is next due in court on Friday, Oct. 11, for a dispositional conference.

After the hearing Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield said Connor’s arrest was the result of a “collaborative effort” that included the city’s detectives, state police and investigators from the Office of the Attorney General. “It was a very detailed and labor intensive investigation,” Canfield said. “I appreciate the Laconia community for keeping this out there to bring justice for little Dennis Vaughan.”

Vaughan, as well as the other children who lived with him, had been placed in Connor’s custody by the state. Vaughan’s mother, Danielle Vaughan, who was in attendance at the hearing and appeared distraught during the descriptions of the alleged abuse her late son endured, declined to comment immediately afterward.

In previous interviews, Danielle said her son’s death has highlighted the need for reform in the state’s Division for Children, Youth and Families. In a suit she brought against that state agency, she cited more than 25 reports of suspected abuse and neglect brought against Connor by various sources.

“It doesn't make me happy doing the lawsuit,” Vaughan said in an interview published on March 10, 2023. “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.”