Arraignment for Man Accused in Killing Spree

W H I T E  R I V E R  J U N C T I O N, Vt., Aug. 2, 2001 -- A man accused of killing three

men during a crime spree that may have lasted a week faced

arraignment in Massachusetts today in two of the slayings.

Gary Sampson, 41, has remained cryptic about his motive. "If you guys keep harassing me, you're going to miss the realstory," he said as he was escorted, hands bound, into theMiddleboro (Mass.) State Police barracks Wednesday night afterwaiving extradition from Vermont. He faced murder charges inBrockton and Plymouth district courts. The FBI is investigating news media reports that Sampson calledthe agency's Boston office to surrender on bank robbery charges theday before he began his alleged killing spree, but they never cameto arrest him. Charles Prouty, special agent in charge of the FBI office inBoston, said today that the agency hasn't found any record ofthe call after an initial review. "We have looked at the complaint forms, we've talked to thepeople who were on duty and we've interviewed everybody in the bankrobbery squad that would normally take this type of a complaint,and we have not found any record of them coming in," he said. Sampson, whose last known address was Tamworth, N.H., is accusedof murdering Philip McCloskey, 69, a Taunton, Mass., retiree;Jonathan Rizzo, 19, a college student home for the summer inKingston, Mass., and Robert Whitney, 58, a contractor and formercity councilor in Concord, N.H.

Investigators: Suspect Admitted Golf Course Killing

In court documents filed Wednesday in Brockton, Mass., DistrictCourt, investigators said Sampson admitted taking Rizzo behind amini golf course in Abington, Mass, tying him to a tree andstabbing him to death. Sampson said he took the victim's car, which was found at theNew Hampshire death scene, $110 in cash and a case of beer that wasin the trunk of the car. Based on the information, police found Rizzo's body Tuesdaynight. McCloskey, who had been robbed, was found stabbed to death andcovered with leaves last Thursday in Marshfield, Mass. Whitney wasstrangled, to New Hampshire authorities. Whitney apparently waskilled after confronting a stranger inside the Meredith home, whichhe was maintaining for its elderly owner. Sampson was arrested Tuesday afternoon after a carjacking inVermont. It was Vermont State Police detectives that he made hisadmissions to, court records say. He could face the death penaltyunder federal carjacking statutes.

Motive Remains a Mystery

Authorities have not said what sparked the alleged killingspree, but acquaintances of Sampson said he may have believed hewas dying of AIDS. "Maybe he is sick and maybe he was doing this as a way out,"Houston Roberts, owner of the Royal 8 hotel where Carter stayed inNorth Carolina, told The Boston Globe. Roberts said Sampson toldhim he was dying and planned to return to Massachusetts. Ricki Carter, a transvestite and Sampson's former lover in NorthCarolina, said he believes he contracted the HIV virus fromSampson. "You never know what's going through a person's mind whenthey're out there and they have nobody," Carter told the Globe. William Gregory, 39, whose car was carjacked in Vermont, saidWednesday that Sampson held a knife to him and said he didn't wantto hurt him, but just wanted his car. "He said he had killed people and robbed banks and he was justrambling on," Gregory said. "He said he was strung out on crackcocaine. Authorities say none of the victims had any prior connection toSampson. Sampson grew up in Abington, where deputy police chief DavidMajenski, a childhood acquaintance, said police were frequently atSampson's house while he was a teen-ager.

Record of Assault, Robbery

His criminal history dates at least to 1978, when he was chargedwith assault and battery in Weymouth, Mass., according to Vermontcourt documents. The record includes prison time in New Hampshirein the 1980s and a July 14 bank robbery in North Carolina. In 1981,he and another inmate used a hacksaw to escape the old Plymouth(Mass.) House of Correction, but was captured two hours later, theBoston Herald reported. Sampson is wanted in North Carolina for bank robbery and hadbeen arrested there for assault and burglary, according to DavidsonCounty Sheriff Gerald Hege. Sampson used elaborate makeup techniques to alter his appearancefor bank jobs, Hege said. "He lives with cross-dressers and transvestites," Hege said."He learned how to change his appearance." The court records say Sampson used women's names as aliases whenhe was charged with violating probation in New Jersey two yearsago. Sampson has been married at least four times. His first wife,Nancy Beaton, told the Globe he had a hair-trigger temper. She saidhe'd been medically diagnosed as a schizophrenic. "He could be sitting there laughing one minute and throwingthings the next," Beaton said. "You never knew." The alleged murder spree could have begun as early as July 24,the day McCloskey's car was found abandoned. Rizzo, who was last seen at the Plymouth, Mass., restaurantwhere he worked, disappeared Friday. The George WashingtonUniversity student's car was found Monday outside the homecontaining Whitney's body. Officials said Sampson drove Whitney's car to Vermont that dayand spent Monday night in a motel after the car broke down. They said he was hitchhiking Tuesday afternoon when he waspicked up by Gregory. Sampson later told police he threatened tokill him and tried to back the car over him after Gregory jumpedout in a rest area. Sampson then broke into a home in Plymouth, Vt., setting off theburglar alarm. Inside, he called 911 and told police he was wantedin several states and wanted to surrender. Police arrested himwithout incident.