Episode 110: The Attacks of Melissa Walbridge and Meghan O’Rourke
16-year-old Louis Hamlin and 15-year-old Jamie Savage
On May 15th, 1981, 12-year-old friends Melissa Walbridge and Meghan O’Rourke, left their Essex Junction, Vermont school later in the afternoon and proceeded to travel down a popular “short-cut” to get to their respective homes. Meghan wasn’t super keen on using this path to get home, as she had gotten a scare two days earlier when she saw two older boys lurking in the woods. However, Melissa convinced her, and together they began to make their way down the wooded path to get home for the day.
Not too long into their trip, two teenage boys ambushed Melissa and Meghan, pointing pellet guns in their faces and dragging them off the cleared path and into the woods. The older boys were the same ones that Meghan had seen two days earlier. They demanded the girls take their clothes off, and when Melissa resisted, one of the boys began to choke her, before sexually assaulting her. The other did the same to Meghan.
After being shot with a pellet gun, stabbed and stomped on, Meghan lost consciousness. Upon waking up, she found herself under a moldy mattress, with Melissa nowhere in sight. She was able to crawl out from underneath and find help. When police arrived, they found Melissa underneath the mattress as well- except she was dead.
Thanks to Meghan’s bravery and tenacity, she was able to pick out her attackers from a photographic lineup. A week after the attack and murder, 15-year-old Jamie Savage and 16-year-old Louis Hamlin III were arrested. Louis was charged with first degree murder and sexual assault and sentenced to 45 years to life in prison. Because Jamie wasn’t quite 16, he was sent to a juvenile detention center and was released on his 18th birthday with his record clean.
Image sources:
findagrave.com - “Melissa Ann ‘Missy’ Walbridge”
ebay.com - “Wire Press Photo 1981 James Savage suspect in Melissa Walbridge case Vermont”