Dennis Vaughan was killed five years ago. Monday, his grandmother was denied bail in his death.

Sherry Connor

Sherry Connor

Sherry Connor, 61, of Epsom, is led from the Belknap County Superior Court in handcuffs Monday after a judge denied her bail on charges alleging she killed her grandson in 2019 and physically abused his siblings.

Sherry Connor, 61, of Epsom, is led from the Belknap County Superior Court in handcuffs Monday after a judge denied her bail on charges alleging she killed her grandson in 2019 and physically abused his siblings. ANNMARIE TIMMINS—New Hampshire Bulletin

By ANNMARIE TIMMINS

New Hampshire Bulletin

Published: 08-20-2024 10:21 AM

Five years after the homicide of 5-year-old Dennis Vaughan Jr., a judge ordered his grandmother held without bail Monday in connection with his death, and on charges that she physically assaulted his three siblings and urged them to lie about it.

Sherry Connor, 61, of Epsom, was arrested Friday on 12 charges in connection with the death of Vaughan on Christmas Eve 2019 and her alleged abuse of him and his siblings in the two years prior.

In asking that Connor be held without bail during her arraignment Monday, Belknap County Attorney Keith Cormier told a judge that Connor had tortured Vaughan and the other children, whom she had custody of between June 2017 and Vaughan’s death.

Connor slapped and kicked the children; put hot sauce on their genitals; held their heads under water during baths; smothered them with pillows; and regularly denied them food, Cormier told superior court Judge Mark Attorri. Cormier also described the alleged abuse Connor inflicted on Vaughan in the “hours and minutes” before his death.

Connor made Vaughan run in place for leaving clothes on the floor, he said. After the boy fell to the floor, Connor kicked him, beat him on the head and neck with a broomstick until the handle broke, and then stomped on him, he said. 

When Vaughan was unable to get up, Connor covered him with a blanket and left him on the floor for about two hours. Later that day, she did not seek medical help when the boy lost control of his bladder and bowels; spiked a 104-degree fever; was unable to eat or drink; and began hallucinating, Cormier told the judge. At one point, Vaughan thought a white plastic bag was a Christmas present.

Instead, Connor told her grandson the devil was coming to take him away, Cormier said.

Vaughan’s mother, Danielle, was in the courtroom and wiped away tears as Cormier spoke. She lost custody of her four children in 2017 over concerns about drug use and domestic violence in the home, according to a lawsuit she brought against the state last year.

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She regained custody of her three children after Vaughan’s death.

Connor did not speak during her arraignment. Her public defender, Justin Littlefield, asked Attorri to release her on bail, saying Connor has no prior criminal record, is dealing with cancer, and is worried about her dog, which has been home alone since her arrest Friday. Attorri denied the bail request.

Connor told the Bulletin in March 2023 that Vaughan had died of natural causes, even after the Bulletin showed her a death certificate that ruled his death a homicide. 

​​“That is bull—-,” Connor wrote in an interview conducted via the Facebook messaging app, the only way she agreed to answer questions. “Do you honestly believe if he was hurt like that, they wouldn’t have arrested me?”

Connor said during that interview that she had never assaulted Vaughan or his siblings.

The Bulletin interviewed her as part of its investigation into the handling of Vaughan’s death because his case had not received the attention given to the recent homicides of three other New Hampshire children: Harmony Montgomery and Jaevion Riley, both 7, and Elijah Lewis, 5.

At the time, it had been two years since the Attorney General’s Office had asked the public for tips in the case. A review of the Laconia Police Department’s Twitter and Facebook feeds did not include posts about the homicide or a request for information from the public. 

And Gov. Chris Sununu was not drawing attention to the case as he was to the three other homicides. Danielle Vaughan and a Concord woman hung “Justice for Boo” signs in Laconia last year and started a Facebook page to bring attention to the lack of an arrest.

Danielle Vaughan’s lawsuit also raised questions and concerns about why the Department of Health and Human Services had agreed to place the children with Connor and did not remove them after school officials and neighbors reported alleged abuse.

In arguing for bail Monday, Littlefield cited the amount of time that has passed since Vaughan’s homicide.

“I’m unsure, even to this point, what the delay has been and why it’s all of a sudden come out now,” Littlefield said. “But I would argue, at least in part, that it shows that there is not convincing evidence that she is a danger as we’ve had five years elapse without any further incidents or concerns.”

The Attorney General’s Office told the Bulletin in March 2023 that it had put significant work into the investigation but declined to offer details or say why it had not brought charges. It sought a grand jury subpoena for the Bulletin’s interview with Connor after the story was published.

Monday, Christopher Bond, general counsel for the office, said in an email that a trial on the county charges would not preclude more serious charges from its office, which could include first- or second-degree murder. A conviction on either charge can lead to a life sentence, with a possibility of parole for only the latter. 

When asked if the office had concluded there was insufficient evidence for more serious murder charges, Bond said, “Our office only brings charges when we are in possession of proof beyond a reasonable doubt of all elements of the charged offense.” 

He said his office has been in communication with the Belknap County Attorney’s Office during the investigation. 

Connor faces less time if convicted of the charges brought against her Friday. 

She is charged with negligent homicide as well as first- and second-degree assault for Vaughan’s death. The first-degree assault charge carries the heaviest penalty, up to 15 years in prison. Each of the other two charges can lead to prison sentences of up to five years. 

She is also charged with first-degree assault of three other children in her care. She is facing witness tampering charges involving two of the children as well.