[Wolvie]

Body ID'd; Hudson Falls man charged

By DON LEHMAN

Updated: 7/26/2005 12:00:27 AM

KINGSBURY -- Police late Monday charged a Hudson Falls man with murder in the death of a central New York woman whose body was found Sunday in the Champlain Canal.

Shawn M. Doyle, 29, of 16 School St. was charged with second-degree murder for the slaying of 33-year-old Lori A. Leonard, a Chittenango woman who disappeared from her hometown May 5.

He was arrested without incident at his place of work and arraigned around 11:30 p.m. Monday before Kingsbury town Justice Michael Feeder. He was sent to Washington County Jail without bail pending a preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. Friday.

A slight man with a shaved head and arms adorned with tattoos, Doyle did not comment to reporters as he was led to and from court in handcuffs and leg manacles. He seemed nervous and spoke only to acknowledge he understood his rights and give the judge his pedigree information.

He wore a white uniform from Ellsworth Ice Cream Co., his employer for the past year, he told the judge.

A dozen police officers, including the police chief and an investigator from the Chittenango Police Department, crowded the small courtroom as Feeder read the charge to Doyle, which accuses him of intentionally killing Leonard. The charge was signed by Washington County sheriff's Investigator Bruce Hamilton.

A local fisherman, whom police did not identify, found Leonard's body stuffed in an aluminum toolbox in the Champlain Canal near Lock 9. A sand bag was found in the tool box, apparently put there in an effort to weigh it down, Washington County Sheriff Roger Leclaire said.

An autopsy performed late Sunday or early Monday found she suffocated, and her death was deemed a homicide, police said.

Police said Doyle was arrested after investigators linked him to the tool box, the kind that is mounted on a pickup truck. Leclaire said investigators had connected Doyle to the toolbox in part through items found in his truck.

Authorities on Monday subpoenaed Doyle's credit card records, in part to see if he had purchased such a toolbox, but it was unclear Monday night if that effort linked Doyle to it.

The discovery of the body early Sunday ended a 2-1/2-month manhunt in which police quickly focused on Doyle. Leonard and Doyle had dated for several months after meeting on the Internet, a relationship Leonard ended earlier this year.

Doyle had gone to Chittenango to help Leonard move into a new apartment the day she disappeared and was the last person seen with her. He drove there in his pickup truck, police said.

Leonard was the mother of two young children, ages 9 and 4. The children are in the custody of their fathers, police said.

Doyle has a history of violence against women, in particular a misdemeanor assault conviction for binding and choking a former girlfriend in Kingsbury several years ago. He is on probation for a 2003 felony drug possession conviction.

Authorities would not comment on the evidence in the case late Monday, other than to say they believe it is sufficient to convict Doyle.

"We wouldn't have had him arrested unless we felt there was enough evidence to convict him," Washington County District Attorney Robert Winn said late Monday.

Messages left at Doyle's home were not returned Monday, and his lawyer, Patrick Barber, did not return a phone call for comment. A woman who answered the phone at his office said he had no comment on the case.

The discovery

A fisherman spotted the tool box floating near the canal's surface between Lock 9 and the bridge over New Swamp Road. He pushed it to shore to retrieve it later, and when he came back discovered it contained the petite Leonard's badly decomposed body, police said. Leclaire said police used dental records and tattoos to identify the body.

The stretch of canal where the body was found is just a few miles from Doyle's home. The shoreline is mostly wooded there, but it was found near a small clearing, Leclaire said.

"Obviously the area is well-known by locals, but anyone could have driven there," he said.

Investigators from the Sheriff's Department, state police, Chittenango police and Hudson Falls police worked late into Sunday and all day Monday on the case.

State police evidence technicians were poring over the body and the container to try to find clues, such as fingerprints, hair or DNA that would link the body to whoever killed Leonard.

"We're taking every step to recover whatever evidence there is," Winn said.

Chittenango's police chief, Jeffrey Paul, was among the contingent of central New York officers in Washington County on Monday to take part in the investigation, which was based at a command post in the offices of the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

Body dumped in a rural area

The container was apparently found adjacent to property off rural Towpath Road where Nancy Arberger lives. She said she was not home Sunday when police officers swarmed the area but called it "creepy" that the body was in the canal behind her home.

"I can't believe it. All that time it was probably down there," she said, pointing to the woods behind her home.

She said neighbors on the sparsely populated road said there were numerous police cars on and around the canal all day Sunday, including officers on boats and police divers.

State police evidence technicians were still working along the canal Monday morning.

The canal is heavily traveled by boaters from all over the world on their way to and from Lake Champlain. In addition to pleasure boaters, the canal is also regularly patrolled by Sheriff's Department patrol boats.

Since the canal is drained every fall when boating season ends, that likely would have exposed the container, had it not been found Sunday.

The investigation

Leclaire and Paul said Leonard had acquaintances in the region other than Doyle and police had conducted more than 750 interviews statewide since she disappeared.
Paul said police had been in frequent contact with Leonard's family and said they were "devastated" Sunday to learn she had been found dead.
"They're a close-knit family, and they've turned to us for answers, and we're going to get them," the chief said.

Leonard's relatives have long suspected Doyle was involved in her disappearance, posting fliers around his neighborhood and holding a rally in Hudson Falls on July 1. An $8,500 reward was being offered in the case, but it was unclear Monday whether the angler who found the body would collect it.
Leclaire asked that anyone with information in the case contact the Sheriff's Department at 747-4623.