Back in Farmington, on May 3, Worster had a conversation with David’s wife, Kathy Woodman, and she provided some additional background on the day of the murder. She said that sometime between 11:30 and midnight, Walter and David had left the house, saying “they were going to do a job in Dover.” She understood that they had hitched a ride to Rochester, then a second ride to Dover. They arrived back at the house from Portsmouth around 2:30 in the morning. Walter slept downstairs. David came to her and told her that Walter had shot Dodge four times, David covered him with a blanket, and they then broke into the money machine. “He started to cry, and I calmed him down, and he went off to sleep.” Several days later, he told her that, in fact, they had not hitchhiked back to Farmington but had obtained a ride from her twin brother, Sam Faulkner. Several weeks after that, she said she was having an argument with David and called him and Walter “murderers.” Walter, who was present, responded that he was the one who shot Dodge, not David. On another occasion, she overheard a conversation between Walter and his girlfriend, Theresa Buckley, in which he admitted he was the one who fired the shots. Worster turned over his notes and report of Kathy’s statements to Rowe.

At the same time, authorities were dealing with David Woodman, and efforts were underway to determine the whereabouts of Walter. David had clearly implicated him as the one who had fired the shots that had led to Dodge’s death, and based on that statement, a petition for an arrest warrant had been filed with the Dover District Court. Information had been received that he was in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It seems that Walter had somehow learned of his brother’s arrest and had made a phone call back to Farmington. That call was traced to the residence of one Cheryl Levelle. Police in Wilkes-Barre were then notified by the New Hampshire State Police to be on the lookout and advised that an arrest warrant would be forwarded.

Considerable background on Walter had been gained through an interview on the 1st with Theresa Buckley, who had lived for a time with Walter in Farmington. She had first met him in November 1969. They began dating shortly thereafter, and he would stay with her on occasion. At some point, he had left the area for a former girlfriend, whom she identified as Cheryl Levelle, a resident of Wilkes-Barre. He remained there for just over a month but returned to New Hampshire for a job as a groom at the Rockingham Racetrack in Salem. In April 1970, Theresa went with him to Delaware, where he worked at the Brandywine Racetrack for a couple of months, and then they both moved to Wilkes-Barre. Several months later, Walter was arrested on a charge of breaking and entering. (According to an article in the local Wilkes-Barre newspaper, at some point Walter “sought permission from the county court to marry a Theresa Jean Buckley, his fifth cousin who arrived in Wilkes-Barre with him and who resided with him for about a year.” An order was issued granting his request, but “a few weeks later he stood trial and the marriage did not take place while he was in prison.”) Following his conviction, Walter received a sentence of 90 days in jail, with 23 months’ probation. Upon completing his jail time, he was unemployed and eventually returned to Farmington, where he moved in with David and his family.

Theresa had returned to Farmington in November 1970 and joined Walter at David’s home. Neither one of them had a job. Just prior to the Dodge murder, she was aware that David had told Walter about a lot of money to be had at Kidder Press, where David was employed, and “they went down.” She read about the murder in the paper in the days following and stated that David and Walter had told her and Kathy (David’s wife) what had happened. She claimed that Walter had put the gun in a bureau drawer, but at some later point she had hidden it in a trunk. When David was arrested, she went to get the gun, intending to dispose of it, but it was no longer there.

(to be continued)