Murder in Massachusetts

"It's My Fault"

The 911 call was from Patricia. She was frantic and upset. She had just found Neil dead in the barn, which was connected to his sign-making workshop. She had no idea what happened. She had gone out to bring him his morning coffee and breakfast sandwich when she saw the most horrible thing.

The Olsen house

According to testimony he later gave in court, Bashara had known Neil and Patricia for a few years. Neil was a local business owner—a sign maker. For the most part, he lettered trucks and cars. Neil was quite the whiz with a brush and some paint and had a rather stellar reputation in town. Everyone spoke highly of his work, not to mention his character.

Now Bashara heard that Neil had been found lifeless in his barn. Patricia was beside herself. She couldn't tell what had happened and couldn't bear to see Neil like that. Soon after realizing something was wrong, she told them she ran back into the kitchen to call 911.

"I thought he had fallen," Patricia said later in court. "I thought he had a heart attack..."

After the 911 call, Bashara and a colleague hopped in two separate cruisers and raced out to the Olsen place.

In between the time Patricia called 911 and Bashara arrived, Patricia called Rosa Nicola back. She explained how she had found Neil in the barn on the ground. She said she believed he was dead.

Startled and quite upset by this, Rosa rushed back over to the house.

When she got there, Patricia was, Rosa recalled later in court, "standing over the kitchen sink, vomiting."

When Patricia finished, she and Rosa sat down. Rosa knew Neil well. She liked him. It was incredible to think he was dead. How could it have happened?

"That horse killed him!" Patricia blurted out. She was speaking of Neil's beloved horse, Hannah. Every night, like clockwork, Neil went out to the barn between 11:00 and 11:30 to feed Hannah. Apparently, Patricia had slept through the night after taking the three Tylenol PMs, unaware that Neil hadn't returned to bed.

"What?" wondered Rosa. She couldn't believe Neil's own horse killed him.

"It's my fault," Patricia cried, blaming herself. "I took too many pills. Otherwise I would have been awake."