UPDATE Sept. 2, 2016: more information provided by the Delano Family in italics.
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More details in the Everett Delano case thanks to two of my blog readers and Twitter followers.
One reader emailed me that she found a grave on the website “Find a Grave” with the name Everett Delano. However, since the date on which he died was different from what was initially was posted in the newspapers, she was not sure that it was the same man.
One of my Twitter followers send me several messages with this link to the Portsmouth Herald, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Issue Date: Saturday, September 3, 1966, page 8. Unfortunately, I cannot see the image or enlarge the one on that website unless I open an account. However, from the OCR text below on the same page I was able to copy this:
“Robbery Victim Dies in Hanover, N. H. (AP)
Everett Delano, 48, shot in an apparent robbery of a service station in Potter Place, died yesterday [Sept 2, 1966] at a Hanover hospital where he had been in critical condition with three bullet wounds in the head. Delano, of Wilmot Flat, was a substitute garage attendant who also was a special police officer at Colby Junior College in New London.
Police said two men who had stopped to inflate a tire found Delano in a pool of blood behind a desk in the station Thursday. A petty cash amount, said to be less than $30, was missing from the station, police said. The station, Sanborn’s Garage, is situated on Route 11.
Delano, a retired Navy man, was the father of two children.”
Update: Everett Nelson Delano had three children: one son and two daughters. One of the daughters has provided the other details.
The information from this newspaper article matches with a detail on the Find a Grave page: Delano was from Wilmot Flat. I checked with google maps to see if the driving distances between Andover and Wilmot Flat would be a reasonable commute for work. Because if it isn’t, there is a bigger likelihood that this is not the right Everett Delano. The driving distance between Wilmot Flat and Andover is approx. 10min. That is not a bad commute home-work so it seems well possible that this is the same Everett Delano.
This means that we now have details that I didn’t have when I posted about Everett as Case of the Month for November.
- We now have his full name: Everett Nelson “Red” Delano
- We know from the newspaper article how much was missing (less than $30.–) from the cash register
- From the grave stone we have his wife’s name: Blanche A. Forest. Update from his daughter: their mom’s full name was Blanche Anna Forest (1928 – 2006)
- And from the paper we know that Everett and Blanche had two children. Update: three children.
The other details from the newspaper however could place Everett Delano’s murder in a different light:
- Delano was a special police officer at Colby Junior College in New London, New Hampshire. This college is about 15min away from Wilmot Flat. Not a bad commute between home and work.
- Delano was also retired from the Navy.
These two details could mean that his murder doesn’t have to be a robbery by a stranger that resulted in his death. There is a chance that Delano was the target. This doesn’t necessarily mean that someone planned to kill him. But it is possible that a visit to the gas station was made because of Delano. It could have been an intended visit that resulted in an argument that resulted in Delano’s death. Then the money taken was just to make it look like a robbery. Remember that State Police said that Delano was shot at close range possibly by someone who he knew.
Do we know of any incidents at Colby Junior College or from his years in the Navy? I will keep looking online to see what else may pop up.
Thank you to all my readers and Twitter followers who send me information about these cold cases. I appreciate you very much.
