Episode 153: The Murder of Gycelle Cote
12-year-old Gycelle Cote was known as having a beautiful heart, she was quick to smile and she always wanted to help others. She was called “the girl with the 1,000-watt smile.” Gycelle loved and excelled at softball, her favorite color was purple and like any true 80’s girl, she loved to collect and trade stickers and her sticker binder was one of her prized possessions.
On April 29th, 1984, Gycelle’s family was sitting down for dinner at their Jackson Street home in Sanford, Maine. Her father John waited patiently for Gycelle to arrive for dinner, but panic soon set in when she went from being late to not showing up at all.
The next morning, the principal at Sanford Middle School went classroom to classroom, pulling teachers out into the hallways and telling them they had to tell the students that they were not allowed to use their radios at recess. The students would listen to the radio and play cassettes at recess, and they immediately suspected that something was wrong.
When school got out and all of the kids trickled home, they realized that the body of their peer, classmate and friend was found. Gycelle was found off of the bank of the Mousam River, in the woods beyond York Street Extension, just a few hundred yards away from her home. She had been covered by branches and grass to conceal her body and there were ligature marks on her wrists suggesting that she had been bound.
Further investigation revealed that Gycelle was strangled and confirmed that she had been bound at the wrists. There were no signs of sexual assault, but police did find semen on her clothes.
Sanford at this time was a town of about 19,000 people, and with how well known and loved Gycelle was, panic set into the town as well.
On Thursday, May 3rd, police entered the Sanford High School’s gymnasium where the annual spring concert was being held. They arrested a local teenager, 18-year-old Scott Waterhouse. He was actually a drummer in the band that was performing when he was arrested. Scott was charged with Gycelle’s murder.
A witness had reported to police that they saw Scott gathering sticks and grass at the river bank on the day of Gycelle’s murder. When the witness asked what he was doing, Scott said that he was just looking for a good fishing spot, but he clearly didn’t have a fishing rod or anything to fish with. Multiple other witnesses had also placed Scott at the general scene of the river bank on the day of the murder.
When police were talking to Scott, the topic of conversation eventually switched over to Satanism when Scott told police he had purchased the Satanic Bible by Anton S. LaVey of The Church of Satan from a local bookstore. He quickly became obsessed, and his family had said that once this obsession began Scott became more irritable and quick to anger. Scott stated to police “I just started questioning things. I see certain things and I say, if there's a God, why are these things happening.” He went on to explain that his own interpretation of Satanism was to just do whatever felt good, stating “Whatever floats your boat, turns your crank.” Scott also admitted to getting into heavy drugs such as LSD.
Investigators found that Scott had been writing letters to a 15-year-old girl who was also in the school’s band, asking her out but then quickly switching to threatening her when he asked her to meet him somewhere and she didn’t show up. The second letter after the girl didn’t show up to meet him stated “I will get my rightful due, my dear, and you will be repaid for this.”
Four days before Gycelle’s murder, the girl found a note from Scott in the case for her flute. This note stated “Make the best of your every waking moment from now on because your days are numbered.” In the note, Scott asked her to again meet him but to show up wearing a purple shirt and purple socks. It was also revealed that Scott was leaving notes in Gycelle’s locker. These notes he wrote called her pretty, asked for her to like him back, and then the notes became threatening.
At Scott’s trial, Assistant Attorney General Michael Westcott said that he speculated that Scott lured Gycelle into the woods, stating “He got her to think they were playing a game and got her to the point where he tied her wrists and she was at his mercy. When she was defenseless, he killed her. The truth is that the defendant murdered Gycelle Cote for the heck of it.” Attorneys on both sides believed that testimony about Scott’s Satanic beliefs was important in winning a conviction, but both sides disagreed on whether or not those beliefs were relevant to the crime and charges at hand.
Michael Westcott stated “It was important in the sense that it showed a bias on the part of the defendant which was basically immoral, self-centered and basically says no moral codes hold true.” Defense attorney Ronald Caron had a different view, stating “He believed in (Satanism). That doesn't make him a murderer.”
In the tape-recorded conversation between Scott and police that was used in the trial, Scott had told police about graphic and gruesome “sex and destruction rituals” as part of his beliefs, and he had said that for him, Satanism represents a darker side of humanity. Scott had said that his own interpretation of Satanism was that it encouraged and urged indulgence of carnal needs instead of withholding. Portions of "The Satanic Bible" were introduced at trial, and these portions contained passages that were highlighted from the book. One stated “Satan represents indulgence, instead of abstinence! Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification! Are we not all predatory animals by instinct? If humans ceased wholly from preying upon each other, could they continue to exist? Death to the weakling, wealth to the strong! Blessed are the powerful, for they shall be reverenced among men Cursed are the feeble, for they shall be blotted out.”
In court, it was brought up that Satanism isn’t about killing people or taking human life, and it only advocates for violence in acts of self defense and only when absolutely necessary. Since there is no evidence that Gycelle had attacked, injured or done anything intentional to Scott, it seemed like the argument of Satanic rituals did not apply.
Scott was sentences to life in prison for the murder of Gycelle Cote. He attempted to appeal in 1986, unsuccessfully, and remains in prison.
Image sources:
fosters.com - “Gycelle Cote, Remembered Tuesday makes 30 years since her tragic death. A ceremony is planned at Central Park to honor her”