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Darlene's entire family hated Frank passionately. Apparently on one
occasion he badly beat up Tommy Edwards, Darlene's teenage son, and
the boy was sent to live with Darlene's parents. Becky Edwards,
Darlene's younger child, was bitter that her brother was sent away
and she was left behind.
Skip, Frank's younger brother by nine years, was living about a mile
away with his sister and brother-in-law, Naomi "Didi" Baker
and Larry Baker. Skip was unemployed, but collected $650 a month
disability from a car accident in 1983, wherein he'd suffered brain
damage and had been in a coma for several weeks. Skip, too, had a
drinking and drug problem. At the time of the explosion, Skip was
dating Elizabeth Harrigan, who said Skip was asleep beside her the
night of the explosion. She also said Skip had knocked her front
teeth out once.
Also living in the neighborhood was Bryan Sheppard, the 18-year-old
nephew of Frank and Skip Sheppard. Bryan's best friend was Richard
Brown, another 18-year-old who lived a few blocks down the street
from Darlene. Both Bryan and Brown claimed they were at their homes
asleep at the time of the explosion.
In the days after the explosion, Darlene began telling people she had
seen a black pickup truck resembling Richard Brown's go racing by her
house shortly after the first explosion.
This rumor got back to the police and on Dec. 8, 1988, whereupon the
police arrested Frank and Darlene and took them to police
headquarters to question them about what they knew.
Darlene told the police that she and Frank had been at Larry and Didi
Baker's earlier in the evening. She'd left because Frank was drinking
too much, and Frank had come home later. They went to bed. She got up
briefly during the night and saw that Frank was sleeping on the
living room divan in his shorts. She was later awakened by the first
explosion, she said.
She said as she looked out the window she saw a black truck
resembling Richard Brown's go by. Then she said she saw a
maroon-over-white vehicle drive southbound on Brooklyn -- and that
this vehicle looked like one owned by Chuck Jennings (a friend of
Richard Brown).
The police began to hassle Richard Brown -- questioning him
repeatedly. It didn't take Brown long to figure out that Darlene was
the source of his problems with the police. At one point, when Brown
was told Darlene had said she saw him at QuikTrip, he commented
bitterly, "How the fuck can she see me in two places at once."
At one point -- after the police began putting heat on Brown -- Brown
and Frank Sheppard got into a fight and the police were called.
In many ways Marlborough is like a small town -- people gossip and
rumors spread like wildfire. Frank and Skip were arguably the most
notorious characters in Marlborough for a long time. People would get
nervous when they came into a bar and started drinking, because
trouble was apt to follow. Some bar owners would order them out as
soon as they showed any sign of getting tipsy.
Frank is somewhat handsome and intelligent. Those who know him well
say he is a Jekyll and Hyde -- a pretty decent guy when he's sober
and a loud-mouthed lout when he's not. Skip is quieter and people say
Frank is the only one Skip really listens to. Because of several bad
car wrecks, and a lot of fights, Skip, a large man, has a battered,
scarred look that tends to frighten people.
Next: "Railroaded," Part II of The Firefighters Case |
