Police search for killer of retired college dean who was shot on trail near university

Associated Press

Students and residents in a small Vermont university town were being told to lock their doors and stick together as police searched Tuesday for a killer who shot a retired dean on her favorite walking trail last week.

Honoree Fleming, a retired dean and professor of education at Vermont State University in Castleton, was found shot to death Thursday afternoon about a mile (1.61 kilometers) south of campus. Police said Monday they don't know if the community of roughly 4,500 people is in any further danger or whether Fleming was targeted.

“I recommend to the public to be vigilant, have some awareness,” said Maj. Dan Trudeau, commander of the Vermont State Police’s criminal division. “If you’re out, be with a friend.”

Detectives have been interviewing people who live near the wooded Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail or were in the area between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday.

Signs and a closed gate stand at an entrance to the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Castleton, Vt. Police said an autopsy showed that retired dean and professor Honoree Fleming, of Castleton, Vt., died from a gunshot wound to the head on Thursday, Oct. 5. She was found on the trail about a mile south of the Castleton campus of Vermont State University.

One witness reported seeing a man walking northbound on the trail toward campus after gunshots were heard, police said. The witness described a 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) white male with short, red hair, wearing a dark gray T-shirt and carrying a black backpack. State police said he is considered to be armed and dangerous.

The shooting happened during the university's week-long fall break. Students were excused from classes Monday, and some said they wished classes would be cancelled while the investigation continues.

“I was hoping that they would extend their break, trying to figure out if they can try and catch this guy, just so I could feel more safe,” sophomore Jasmine Traverse told mynbc5.

Other students said they feel safe because the university has stepped up security.

“I do feel safe, not necessarily on the trail at this moment, but in general on campus, I do feel safe,” Pearl Bellomo told WCAX-TV.

Fleming died days before what would have been her 45th wedding anniversary. Her husband, author Ron Powers, co-wrote the book “Flags of Our Fathers,” about the men involved in the famous flag-raising during the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima. A Pulitzer Prize winner in 1973 for criticism as a television-radio columnist, he also wrote a biography of Mark Twain and collaborated with the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy on the politician’s memoir, “True Compass."