Murder in Massachusetts

Who's Telling the Truth?

According to Amanda's boyfriend, a convicted felon, Patricia Olsen expressed a need for a gun on several different occasions. "Pat wanted a gun," he told police. "She wanted Amanda to get her one. Then she wanted Chris to get her one."

Amanda told her boyfriend that Neil hit Patricia—that her mother had explained to her that Neil beat her. But she never saw it for herself. And those who knew Neil personally, even people close to Patricia, said there was no way Neil had ever beat his wife. It just wasn't in him.

Patricia Olsen later stated this same thing to police. "Neil never hit me."

As the day of the murder drew closer, Amanda's boyfriend ended up doing some time for a crime he had committed. That recorded conversation on January 10, 2005, makes it pretty clear that the topic of killing Neil Olsen was familiar fodder for Amanda, Chris, Amanda's boyfriend and Patricia—that they all knew about it in some form or fashion. But more than that, prosecutor David Capeless later told a local Berkshire Eagle reporter, the call proved that "Amanda wasn't involved and never expected it [the murder] to happen. It also shows that her information didn't come from her brother," simply because they "hardly spoke to [each other]—it came from her mother. ..."