Episode 186: The Murder of Eugene Mallove
Eugene Franklin Mallove grew up in Norwich, Connecticut and graduated from the Norwich Free Academy in 1965. Eugene, lovingly called “Gene,” was always incredibly smart and bright. He developed a love of science, especially astronomy, from a very early age. Eugene attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Massachusetts in the fall of 1965. During the summer of 1968, Eugene worked as a staff assistant at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory where he helped run tests of Project Apollo lunar mission guidance equipment. In 1969, Eugene earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. As he was taking part in incredible research and developments in the science world, Eugene also met Joanne Smith, the love of his life.
In 1970, Gene earned a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from MIT, and also in 1970 he and Joanne married. The couple welcomed their daughter Kimberlyn in 1974 and their son Ethan in 1979. Four years after receiving his Doctorate in Environmental Health Sciences from Harvard University, in 1979, Eugene founded Astronomy New England. This was a company that developed and marketed astronomy-related projects, which included a 3-D star map and computer-aided telescope. He started writing in 1982, writing in elite science journals and publications. He wrote his own newspaper science column called “Starbound,” which was published mostly in New England newspapers. His first book, The Quickening Universe: Cosmic Evolution and Human Destiny, was published in 1987.
Eugene was also an enthusiastic supporter of cold fusion. Cold fusion, broken down in simple terms, is a nuclear reaction that happens at or close to room temperature. As a typical reaction occurs at very, very high temperatures, cold fusion was written off as impossible. Eugene, along with other scientists, saw it as a way to make incredibly affordable and accessible alternative energy, and as he cared deeply for the environment he greatly wanted this to succeed.
Eugene was working at MIT, and when the huge cold fusion story broke, he famously quit his job. He felt that MIT had shot down and was even covering up data on cold fusion. Less than a year later, his book Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth Behind the Cold Fusion Furor was released, and it was later nominated for a Pulitzer. In late 1994, he and several colleagues started the foundation for science publication “Infinite Energy.” Eugene served as Infinite Energy’s editor and President of the New Energy Foundation until his murder. He was brilliant and such a kind, caring, wonderful father and person.
On May 14th, 2004, just after 11:00 p.m., Norwich, Connecticut police received a call that a body had been found in a local home at 119 Salem Turnpike. The caller was a woman who had driven by the home and saw a “For Rent” sign, called the number on the ad, and spoke to a woman who said her husband was cleaning the house and to go over to talk to him. When she got there, she walked up the driveway to find a man, barefoot and covered in blood, lying in the driveway. When police arrived at the home, they found a scene that was beyond brutal. A white male in his 50’s had been found in a pool of blood in the driveway with significant blood splatter around the general vicinity. It was clear even from a distance that he had been beaten, and when officers got closer, they saw that there were shoe patterns on the man’s clothes. He had been stomped on repeatedly and had 32 stab wounds to his face. The man’s wallet and shoes were missing, leading police to believe that maybe the motive was a violent robbery.
The man was identified as 56-year-old Eugene Mallove. The home he was working on was the childhood home he grew up in. He and his family lived up in Bow, New Hampshire, but he rented out the home and had been fixing it up between tenants. One article said that he died where he spent many youthful nights staring up at the stars.
Police learned that Eugene had driven his minivan to the home but noted that it was not in the driveway or the neighborhood. Not long after this discovery, investigators received a call from the Foxwoods Resort Casino, a casino about 15 miles from the Norwich home. Eugene’s 1993 Dodge minivan had been found in the employee parking lot. The van was brought in and processed, but there were no fingerprints in or on the car, indicating that the perpetrator had been wearing gloves. The security cameras in the parking lot also didn’t reveal much as they had been obscured by the fog that had rolled in that night. Two days after the murder, a witness said they saw a white male wearing a bandana driving the minivan outside of Mohegan Sun, another casino not far from Foxwoods. The witness identified 39-year-old Joseph Reilly out of a police line-up. Joseph and a friend of his, 42-year-old Gary McAvoy, were arrested just two days after Eugene’s murder for stealing a car in Groton, Connecticut. Joseph had multiple scratches and defensive wounds on his hands as well as blood on his shirt during his arrest. These details, combined with a hair sample from Eugene’s minivan that matched Gary McAvoy, allowed police to charge them both with Eugene’s murder. In November of 2008, defense attorneys discovered that the state forensics lab had made a mistake and had mixed up Gary’s hair samples. The hair sample did match his, but it was found in the stolen car instead of in Eugene’s minivan. The murder charges against both men were dropped and the case was still unsolved, now many years in the wrong direction. Joanne had said that she and her family were “heartsick” over this.
Police spoke to Joanne again to see if she knew of anyone who didn’t like Eugene and may have wanted to hurt him. Joanne recalled that there was a couple, Patricia and Roy Anderson, who had been evicted from the home two weeks before the murder. The couple had completely stopped paying rent, allowing Eugene’s beloved childhood home to fall into disrepair. As the eviction process can be time consuming, it took Eugene over six months to finally get rid of them. Police had located the couple’s son, Chad Schaffer, who was living with his girlfriend Candace Foster. Chad claimed that his parents had last seen Eugene when they moved out of the house and that things had ended amicably. Despite this claim seeming inaccurate, Patricia and Roy Anderson both had alibis for the night of the murder.
There was little movement in Eugene’s case and things seemed to stall until police got permission to offer a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the person responsible. Several weeks after announcing the reward, in May of 2009, a young woman named Jill came into the Norwich police station. She said that she knew Chad Schaffer, who was the son of the couple who Eugene evicted. Chad had visited Jill’s home with his girlfriend Candace Foster. Jill had been making conversation, mentioning that she saw a billboard saying there was now a $50,000 reward for information about the murdered scientist. Chad then grew visibly upset and left the room, and Candace followed him out. Jill then overheard Candace tell him “They don’t know anything. There’s nothing to worry about.” Jill also told police that she had seen bloodied clothing at Chad’s house in May of 2004, right after Eugene’s murder.
Detective James Curtis began looking at old photographs of the crime scene and kept returning to a picture of a dumpster Eugene was using to throw out old belongings from the house. In the photo, you could see a key chain shaped like a sun that had the name “Brittany” on it lying in the grass. The keychain itself had been taken into evidence, but police never found the owner. Detective Curtis then picked up on something: everything was covered in freshly mowed grass clippings except for the keys. They ended up there after the grass was cut, which meant after Eugene was murdered.
Now in June of 2009, Chad’s girlfriend Candace Foster was brought in for questioning. She informed police that Brittany was the name of one of Chad’s daughters he had with another girlfriend. She also told police that Chad’s mom, Patricia Anderson, had been repeatedly calling Chad on the day of the murder to tell him that the landlord was throwing their belongings in the trash. Chad told his cousin, 30-year-old Mozzelle Brown, and the two went to the house to confront Eugene. Things quickly got physical and Chad and Mozzelle overpowered Eugene, brutally beating him before running off. They returned to Chad and Candace’s home and Candace accompanied the two men back to the crime scene to help them clean up. When they arrived, Eugene was still alive.
The men beat him more, and Mozzelle then stomped on him and stood on his throat until Eugene stopped breathing. The three tried to stage the scene to look like a robbery, taking Eugene’s wallet and shoes. It was Candace who drove the mini van to the casino and left it in the employee parking lot. Candace also destroyed bloody clothing that Chad wore the night of the murder.
All three were tried for their roles in the murder. During the sentencing hearing, a statement written by Eugene’s son Ethan was read aloud, stating “Eugene Mallove was a man of kindness, generosity and knowledge. He was a rarity. Far more common are the ignorant monsters of the sort that committed this crime.” Ethan’s statement also said that the murder of his father “rises to the level of extreme depravity.”
Chad Schaffer’s trial began in 2012, and while it was originally for murder, he took a plea bargain before the trial ended. He was sentenced to 25 years after he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and accessory to third-degree robbery. Ethan Mallove said that this was “an insanely short sentence for the horrific manner in which this crime was carried out.” Mozzelle Brown was charged with four felonies: murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory to a murder and burglary. He was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 58 years in prison in January of 2015. Candace Foster served 4 years and 10 months in prison while awaiting trial before pleading guilty to lesser charges of hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. She was sentenced to time served followed by probation.
Image sources:
infinite-energy.com - “Dr. Eugene F. Mallove”