In the quiet, wintry town of Barre, Vermont, the new year of 1961 was brutally marred by a tragedy that unfolded within the home of the Constant family at 42 Maple Avenue. On the second day of January, the lives of four-year-old Joanne J. Constant, a White female, her eight-year-old brother Michael, and their 29-year-old mother, Huguette G. Constant, were brought to a sudden and violent end.
The innocence of childhood and the presumed safety of their home were shattered in the early morning hours.
As the community slept, a devastating sequence of events transpired. Paul L. Constant, the husband of Huguette and father to Michael and Joanne, turned a firearm on his sleeping family. He first shot his wife as she lay in their bed. From there, he proceeded to his children's bedrooms, where he shot both Michael and Joanne while they slept. The violence that erupted in the Constant home was contained within its walls, leaving no opportunity for intervention or escape.
After taking the lives of his entire family, Paul Constant then turned the gun on himself, ending his own life. The grim discovery of the murder-suicide would later send shockwaves through the close-knit Vermont community. There was no lengthy investigation, no search for an unknown assailant, as the perpetrator of the horrific act was found among the deceased. The case was closed with the identification of Paul L. Constant as the sole suspect, his death leaving behind a legacy of unanswered questions and profound grief for those who knew the family. The reasons behind his actions remain a somber mystery, buried with the family on that cold January day.
