Episode 103: The Murder of Vickie Cushman
Scott Hornoff and his mother after his exoneration
29-year-old Vickie Cushman was a headstrong, friendly woman who was known to work hard at her job and also be intense in her personal life. On August 11th, 1989, her coworkers became concerned when she didn’t arrive to her shift that the sports and diving store she worked at, conveniently placed right below her apartment. When they went looking for her, they found a horrible scene. Vickie lay dead in her pink bathrobe, surrounded by a pool of blood. Near her body lay a 17-pound fire extinguisher and inverted rubber gloves. Her purse, money, and valuables remained untouched. A window had it’s screen removed and was open in her living room. And most damningly- a sealed envelope addressed to a man named Scott Hornoff lay on her desk.
Scott Hornoff was a Warwick, Rhode Island police officer, who was married with an infant son, and a frequent customer of the sports and diving shop that Vickie worked at. Investigators read the contents of the letter and concluded that Scott and Vickie had been having an affair, in which Scott had recently ended. Investigators spoke with Scott and probed him about his relationship with Vickie and his whereabouts on the night of her murder. After providing a solid alibi and passing a polygraph test, Scott was sent off without being named officially as a suspect.
In 1994, however, a grand jury indicted Scott Hornoff and found him guilty of murder, sentencing him to life in prison. The jury found his relationship with Vickie extremely interesting and perfectly motivating for murder. They put him away without question, and Scott spent the next six and a half years in prison fighting with appeals to be released, claiming he was innocent.
In November of 2002, 45-year-old Todd Barry came forward to an acquaintance of his, a criminal defense lawyer, and confessed to the murder of Vickie Cushman, now fourteen years in the past. Within days Todd was charged with her murder and Scott Hornoff was released from prison. Todd Barry was found guilty of second degree murder and charged to 30 years in prison, with 15 years suspended. He is eligible for release in 2025.
Image sources:
thecinemaholic.com - “Vickie Cushman Murder: Where Are Scott Hornoff and Todd Barry Now?”
credo.library.umass.edu - “Jeffrey Scott Hornoff leads his mother Betty June Hornoff down the steps outside Superior Court”