Investigators in two states say one defendant admitted to the 1981 abduction of a teen and the 1986 killing of a golf pro.
BENNINGTON, VT — A California inmate pleaded guilty Tuesday in two linked cold cases from the 1980s, admitting to a Berkshire County kidnapping of a 15-year-old and to murdering Manchester golf professional Sarah Hunter five years later. Officials in Vermont and Massachusetts announced the resolutions at a joint news conference in Bennington.
Authorities said the pleas by David Allen Morrison, 65, close investigations that haunted both communities for decades and stalled repeatedly amid lost leads and earlier missteps. Prosecutors called the outcome the product of an anonymous tip, a survivor’s testimony and a renewed, multiagency push that included interviews in California prisons and fresh grand jury work in the Berkshires. Morrison received life without parole in Vermont for Hunter’s killing and a separate Massachusetts sentence for the 1981 kidnapping, to run alongside his existing California term. The coordinated result ends two of New England’s longest-running unsolved cases.
On Tuesday morning, in Berkshire Superior Court in Pittsfield, Morrison admitted he kidnapped Laura Sheridan in 1981, when she was 15 and hitchhiking near Lanesborough and New Ashford. Hours later, in Bennington County Superior Court, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 1986 abduction and killing of Hunter, the 32-year-old head professional at Manchester Country Club. At a Wednesday briefing in Bennington, Sheridan described the relief and weight of the moment. “I spent 20 minutes with David Morrison and no more, then I escaped,” she said, adding that the resolution sharpened her grief for Hunter, who “wasn’t lucky.” Bennington County State’s Attorney Erica Marthage said investigators had interviewed Morrison last summer in California, where he was serving a separate life term, and that he acknowledged both crimes.
Officials outlined a timeline stretching from a May 2024 Berkshire County indictment to Morrison’s Nov. 19, 2025 extradition to Massachusetts on a governor’s warrant, followed by Tuesday’s back-to-back pleas. Prosecutors said Hunter vanished the night of Sept. 18, 1986 after stopping at a Manchester gas station. Morrison, who worked there, took her by force, bound her and placed her in the trunk of his car, investigators said. Her body was found two months later off a wooded road in Pawlet, in rural Bennington County. In court filings, authorities said Morrison described using rope to restrain Hunter; he later left Vermont and was arrested in California for unrelated crimes. “When I dismissed this case in 2015, I thought there was no way in hell this case was coming back — but here we are,” Marthage said, crediting renewed cooperation across states and agencies.
The joint case hinged on people and paperwork that outlasted decades. Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue said an anonymous tip to his office prompted a fresh look at Sheridan’s file and helped link details to the Vermont homicide. Retired Vermont State Police investigator Tom Truex, the original case officer in Hunter’s disappearance, returned to assist, working alongside his son, retired Detective Sgt. Samuel Truex, for what Marthage called “one more interview.” Vermont Public Safety officials and Massachusetts State Police unresolved-crimes detectives joined a new round of evidence reviews and witness interviews, culminating in a Berkshire County grand jury and the Bennington plea agreement. Prosecutors said unknowns remain — including whether Morrison harmed others — but they said the two resolved cases were supported by his statements and corroborating records.
Both cases endured earlier turns. Morrison was charged in Vermont in 2012 after DNA tests appeared to link hair from his car to Hunter, but the charge was dropped in 2015 over concerns about how key evidence had been handled. In Massachusetts, Sheridan testified decades ago about being abducted at gunpoint and escaping when Morrison pulled over; a related trial ended without the accountability she sought. By 1988, Morrison had relocated to California and was convicted there in an unrelated kidnapping and assault, drawing a life term with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Tuesday’s coordinated pleas, officials said, were structured to ensure the Vermont life-without-parole sentence controls his custody, with the Massachusetts term running at the same time as his California sentence under an inter-state agreement.
Procedurally, the Massachusetts case moved first: Morrison pleaded guilty to kidnapping in Berkshire Superior Court on Tuesday morning and received a two- to four-year state prison sentence, to run concurrent with his existing incarceration. Later Tuesday, he pleaded guilty in Bennington to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole. Shugrue and Marthage said their offices will file closing paperwork and victims’ rights notices in both jurisdictions this week. Corrections officials will coordinate his transfer so Vermont’s sentence is honored; no parole eligibility exists on the Vermont count. Investigators said they will continue to review tips in both states and will evaluate any additional statements Morrison makes about other crimes.
Outside the Bennington courthouse Wednesday, Sheridan, now a mother, stood beside prosecutors and investigators. “When I fully processed what this meant for Sarah Hunter, that was really tough,” she said. “She wasn’t lucky.” Nearby, a framed photo of Hunter — smiling in a windbreaker, remembered for starting youth programs and welcoming new players at the club — leaned against a lectern. Major J.P. Schmidt of the Vermont State Police’s Criminal Division, Massachusetts State Police Maj. Jeff Boutwell and Detective Lt. Peter Sherber, and local officers from both sides of the border thanked residents who kept calling with pieces of the story. A hush fell as Marthage spoke of the Truex family’s persistence and of community volunteers who kept Hunter’s memory alive through an annual tournament.
As of Thursday, Morrison remained in state custody awaiting transport arrangements governed by the new Vermont sentence. Prosecutors in both states said the cases are closed except for administrative filings and records updates. Officials said they expect a final written case summary from investigators in the coming days and no further court dates are scheduled. The next milestone will be Morrison’s transfer to Vermont corrections to serve life without parole.
Author note: Last updated December 11, 2025.