BURLINGTON — The stepson of a man shot and killed earlier this summer at a trailhead in Hinesburg has been charged with illegally possessing the gun that fired the fatal blasts.
Vermont State Police Maj. Dan Trudeau, head of the criminal division, said Wednesday evening that the investigation is continuing, and stopped short of calling Kory Lee George a suspect in the homicide.
“We believe he stole the gun, but we haven’t determined if he is a suspect,” Trudeau said.
The major said with the federal charge becoming public along with details of the investigation in the affidavit in support of the gun charge, he hoped it would stir more people to come forward with information on the homicide.
“What you’ve got in the federal affidavit is all we can offer,” he added. “Certainly, everybody in that affidavit is of interest to us.”
George, 31, of Monkton, appeared Wednesday in federal court in Burlington for an initial appearance on two counts of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. He was ordered detained pending his next court hearing on Friday.
Specifically, the charges accuse George of illegally possessing a Beretta Model 92FS 9 mm caliber pistol and a Savage Arms Stevens Model shotgun, according to court filings.
According to newly filed court records Wednesday, George possessed the Beretta that was used in the shooting of his stepfather, David Auclair, on July 11. Authorities claim George stole the gun a day earlier. Auclair was shot nine times.
Federal prosecutors wouldn’t comment Wednesday after George’s brief court appearance if they consider him a suspect in the homicide. Michael Desautels, a federal public defender representing George, also declined comment following the hearing.
Authorities in court papers said they believed the killing was premeditated. No one has been arrested in Auclair’s death.
State police investigators have been tight-lipped about their probe into Auclair’s death, which has been ruled a homicide.
Auclair, 45, of Williston was found dead at around 10:40 p.m. on July 11 in the parking lot of the LaPlatte Headwaters Town Forest. Police had been called to the scene for reports of gunshots in the area, and found Auclair’s body near his gray GMC pickup truck.
He had been shot multiple times, according to police.
Police say there was black grease on his hands and it appeared he may have been trying to crawl under the truck as he was being shot.
Court records filed Wednesday in federal court with the charges against George provide new insights into the police investigation, at least as it relates to the firearm used to fire the fatal shots. The documents show police used cellphone records to recreate the activities of family members and witnesses in the the days and hours leading up to the killing.
Those federal court records also don’t call George a suspect in the shooting.
“Evidence relating to the shooting, meanwhile, indicates that the murder of the defendant’s step-father was carefully planned and executed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Spencer Willig wrote in a filing seeking to keep George detained.
“The victim was apparently lured via a call from a prepaid cell phone to an isolated trailhead late in the evening,” the prosecutor wrote. “Nine 9mm slugs were found in the victim’s body; the shooter left no casings at the crime scene.”
Forensic analysis of those slugs recovered from Auclair’s body confirmed the weapon possessed by George was the firearm used to kill his stepfather, Willig wrote.
“There is thus a factual nexus between the weapon and a crime of violence,” the filing stated.
Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. James Vooris wrote in an affidavit that George stole the Beretta from James Synnott’s home on July 10. The following day, according to the detective, that Beretta was used to shoot Auclair to death.
Voorhis wrote that shortly before the theft of the Beretta from Synnott’s home, George met with his mother, Angela Auclair, who was David Auclair’s wife, at the University Mall in South Burlington.
John Turner, who was in romantic relationship with Angela Auclair, was in that same area around that same time, the affidavit stated. Police said Angela Auclair and David Auclair had separate bedrooms in the home they shared prior to his death. George lived at certain times in a trailer on the Auclair property.
On the evening before the killing about an hour after meeting with her son, Angela Auclair along with David Auclair went to dinner with Synnott at a Colchester restaurant, the detective wrote.
According to the detective, George and Turner, along with George’s girlfriend, Kristin Stillwell, drove to Synnott’s residence while Synnott was at dinner. Vooris wrote that Turner dropped George off near Synnott’s home at 6:04 p.m. George entered the residence at 6:07 p.m. and left 10 minutes later.
“Evidence further indicates that the Beretta was stolen from the Synnott house at that time,” the detective wrote. “John Turner then picked up George and they left the area together.”
According to the affidavit, a few hours later the Beretta was test fired near the Auclair house in Monkton.
“The next day, a prepaid cell phone was used to call David Auclair at around 9:15 pm, apparently to lure him to the Hinesburg trailhead where, at about 9:45pm, he was shot to death,” the affidavit stated. “Evidence indicates that the cell phone was purchased on July 11, 2019 at the Rite Aid in Milton.”
According to the detective, George has admitted going into the Rite Aid that day.
State police recovered the Beretta and the prepaid phone from Lewis Creek in Monkton near the scene of David Auclair’s death, the affidavit stated.
The court filing added that a search Aug. 2 of the mobile home where George lived with Stillwell resulting in police finding the shotgun.
That shotgun, according to the affidavit, was stolen in an early 2019 burglary in upstate New York from a camp “familiar” to George.
The affidavit stated that George has a lengthy criminal record, including felony convictions for escape, assault and robbery with a weapon; grand larceny, burglary of an occupied dwelling, and burglary.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Slain man’s stepson had gun used in fatal Hinesburg shooting.