In 1986 When 15-year-old Tracy Gilpin ran out of cigarettes, she left a party in the Rocky Nook section of Kingston, Mass., and set out on foot to nearby Cumberland Farms on Oct. 1, 1986. She never came back. The local police listed her as a runaway.
Some initial theories
The placement of Tracy’s remains at the edge of the woods, right near the forest entrance, made it seem as though someone wanted her to be found. Because Myles Standish State Forest was eleven miles from the Cumberland Farms where Tracy had last been seen, it was assumed she had been brought to the location by car. The Gilpin family suspected that she had known her killer; her sister insisted that Tracy would not have gotten into a car with someone she didn’t know, and would have fought against anyone attempting to abduct her. However, in 1991 the Boston Herald would report that Tracy was known to hitchhike—it’s possible she did accept a ride from a stranger that night. She also might have been picked up by someone she knew as she walked home from Cumberland Farms. Maybe the driver had invited her to a party outside of Rocky Nook, or had suggested a late-night adventure in the woods. Or maybe Tracy had accepted a ride home, only to realize that something was wrong as the car drove in the opposite direction of her neighborhood. Another terrible possibility is that Tracy was killed elsewhere, and her body was dumped at the edge of the woods along with the murder weapon.
A gruesome discovery
On October 22, 1986, three weeks after Tracy had initially been reported missing, a local woman was picking flowers in Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth. As she made her way into the thicker patches of vegetation at the edge of the forest, she discovered the decomposed, partially-clothed body of a young girl in a makeshift grave. The girl was covered in leaves, her underwear pulled down, her pants and shoes missing. A large boulder covered her head, which had been severely disfigured.
Although decomposition and damage from the rock had rendered the girl’s face unrecognizable, Plymouth Police quickly matched the body to Tracy’s missing person report in nearby Kingston. When asked to view the remains, Tracy’s mother recognized a piece of her daughter’s jewelry. Dental records were needed to confirm the identification. An autopsy would reveal that she had been dead for several weeks, and likely died the night she vanished. Her death, which was ruled a homicide, had resulted from a massive skull fracture, caused by a single blow from the 73-pound rock found on her head.
On March 11, 2018 Massachusetts police announced that Michael Hand, 61, of Troutman, N.C., was arrested in connection with Tracy’s murder. Hopefully, after 30 years, Tracy’s family can now have some closure.
Michael Hand’s story
In 1986, 29-year-old Michael still lived with his parents in Kingston. His family home on Brookdale Street was five miles from Tracy’s home in Rocky Nook, and just a short drive from the Cumberland Farms on Route 3A where she was last seen. He told investigators he’d seen Tracy on the afternoon of her disappearance, riding in the passenger seat of an orange Ford Escort driven by Henry Meinholz. Later that night, he watched the same car take off from the Cumberland Farms parking lot, heading south down Route 3A towards Plymouth. Just then, an unnamed friend of Michael’s arrived at the convenience store on a motorcycle. Michael climbed onto the back, and he shouted “Follow that car!”—the two took off in pursuit of the Ford. The men stopped when they found the car pulled over on the side of the road at the edge of Myles Standish State Forest. They saw Henry emerge from the woods, carrying a shovel and a tarp. Michael’s friend with the motorcycle got scared and took off, leaving Michael alone on the side of the road. Henry noticed Michael and approached him, shovel in hand. Michael, who felt very intimidated, claimed Henry forced him into the woods. Once there, Henry ordered him to kneel down and touch the boulder that had been found on Tracy’s head. Michael claimed he moved the rock about a foot, and that he scratched his hand when he touched it, leaving trace amounts of his blood on its surface. As Michael walked out of the woods, his friend with the motorcycle reappeared, and Michael rode away with him. Frightened that he would be implicated in the situation, he did not stop to get help for Tracy or alert the authorities about what he had seen.
Michael’s tale sought to pin the blame for Tracy’s death squarely on Henry Meinholz, unaware that Henry had been cleared as a suspect in Tracy’s murder. Michael also claimed that Tracy had made sexual advances towards him weeks before her death—she had rubbed his upper leg and attempted to kiss him in the bedroom of his home. He said he had rebuffed her, because his penis was uncircumcised and he worried that she would laugh at him.
Michael speaks to his pastor
Michael contacted his pastor, David Troutman, when his interview concluded. Pastor Troutman reported this conversation to the police at the urging of his son, who was a reserve police officer. The pastor told police that Michael had been disturbed, distressed, and desperate, and that he’d made potentially incriminating statements in their conversation. Michael was worried that he was going to be arrested for a 30-year-old murder in Massachusetts. He claimed that he had been looking for a girl who had been taken into the woods by another man, and that while looking for her he had knocked or thrown a rock onto the girl’s head. When Pastor Troutman asked Michael why he hadn’t gone to police right away, he explained that he’d been too afraid to think.
Michael charged with murder
On March 9, 2018, a mere two days after he’d been interviewed as a potential witness, Michael Hand was arrested for Tracy’s murder. Kerry Gilpin, then Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, released a public statement expressing her family’s gratitude. “For the past three decades, we have remained hopeful that Tracy’s murderer would be identified. The much-welcomed news of an arrest in the case leaves us cautiously optimistic that justice for Tracy is within reach.” Kerry had not been involved in the investigation of her sister’s murder. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz explained, “She may be the colonel of the State Police but she is also [Tracy’s sister]. It was important for us to treat her like a victim rather than as the Superintendent.” Michael Hand was held in Iredell County Jail in North Carolina until a hearing on March 12, when he agreed to return to Massachusetts to face the charges. As Plymouth County investigators worked to piece together the events leading to Tracy’s death, Michael’s neighbors and acquaintances in North Carolina and Massachusetts reacted to the news of his arrest.
Neighbors reflect on Michael
Because the affidavit supporting the murder charges against Michael is sealed, there is not much known about the case against him. In the absence of public information, people that knew Michael began to pore over their interactions with him, searching for any hint that, in hindsight, might point to his shocking arrest. The stories shared about Michael in both Kingston and Troutman tended to paint the picture of a man whose relationships were often at arm’s length.
Michael had lived in a three-bedroom home on dead-end Klutz St in Troutman until his arrest. He lived primarily on disability pay but also bred dogs and sold junk cars and car parts to make money on the side. He liked to falsely claim that he had been a police officer in Boston until back problems forced his retirement. He also claimed that he was in the witness protection program due to his police work.
Michael’s neighbors in Troutman described him as an argumentative man who could not hold down a job. An 81-year-old woman who was a neighbor of Michael’s said he was an opinionated Yankee with a gun collection who was always hard-up for money. Although she thought Michael was a know-it-all with an attitude, she did say, “He was always very helpful if I needed anything. He offered to help me with my yard work. He never did… but he offered.”
The Legal Process
Within days of his arrest, Michael Hand was in Massachusetts. He was arraigned on March 14, 2018, at Brockton District Court after a power failure forced officials to move proceedings at the last minute. Tracy’s family looked on as Michael’s attorney entered a “not guilty” plea on his behalf. The judge ordered that Michael be held without bail until his next court appearance a month later. After the arraignment, Plymouth County DA Timothy Cruz told reporters, “His statement puts him at the scene, puts his hands on a rock, and allegedly, bleeding on a rock, which he subsequently states that he dropped on the head of Miss Gilpin. I’m really glad that the family now knows who the killer is, and we’re going to make sure we do everything we can to get justice for Tracy Gilpin.”
At a pretrial hearing on April 13, 2018, his attorney requested funds to hire a private investigator. He also asked for access to the recordings of Michael’s statements made when investigators first interviewed him in North Carolina. Assistant DA Jennifer Sprague objected to this request, due to an ongoing grand jury investigation and the possibility of DNA evidence. The judge ordered that the recorded interviews be turned over to the defense by the next court date, scheduled for May 23rd, a month later.
Michael was indicted by a grand jury on May 22, 2018, and his case was bound over to Plymouth Superior Court. He was charged with one count each of murder, kidnapping, and assault with intent to rape a child. He was arraigned for a second time for these charges in early June of 2018 and continued to be held without bail. During the year of 2019, however, the kidnapping and assault charges were dropped, and Michael’s defense team asked the public to come forward with any information about other possible suspects in Tracy’s murder.
As Michael Hand sat in jail awaiting trial, the COVID-19 pandemic ground the legal system to a halt. Courts in Plymouth County were closed, causing delays which were compounded by a shortage of court workers. The resulting backlog pushed some trials back as far as four years. Michael, who was not particularly well-liked in jail, was anxious to get on with the proceedings. By May of 2022, both the prosecution and the defense had filed several motions pertaining to what evidence would be presented to the jury at trial. One motion filed by prosecutors requested that statements of innocence from Michael’s interrogation be disallowed, including, quote, “I didn’t smash Tracy’s face” and “I have no blood on my hands from Tracy Gilpin, period.” In another motion, prosecution requested that the judge allow the jury to hear testimony from Pastor Troutman regarding his conversation with Michael in the days before his arrest. The pastor had told police that he didn’t believe their conversation fell under any kind of privilege because it was not religious in nature: Michael hadn’t approached his pastor for spiritual counsel when he discussed his involvement in Tracy’s death.
On June 1, 2022, Michael’s attorney said in court that it was indisputable that the semen found in Tracy’s underwear did not belong to him, nor did the DNA found on the rock used to crush Tracy’s skull. The defense did not want a continuance—they hoped to prove Michael’s innocence as soon as possible, as he’d been sitting in jail for four years. A week later, however, the judge granted a continuance so that the prosecution could investigate a new lead. According to Assistant DA Jennifer Sprague, the state needed to interview two witnesses and run a DNA test that could benefit Michael’s case. Sprague explained that an anonymous tip had come in claiming another man had been with Tracy the night she disappeared. That man had refused to give DNA and threatened to invoke the fifth amendment, so the state obtained a DNA sample from his brother and was waiting to test it against the DNA obtained from the crime scene. A new trial date was set for September 6, 2022.
On August 8, statements from Michael’s pastor were ruled inadmissible to be presented during trial. The judge also found that the interrogation conducted by the police involved coercion and ruled that portions of Michael’s interview were involuntary. After his talk with police, Michael reiterated (and even amplified) some aspects of the story to his pastor, but because of the impropriety in the police interview, those statements, too, were inadmissible. The details of what went wrong legally during the interrogation have not been released. The defense appealed this ruling, which postponed the trial once again, from September 6 to October 5, 2022.
At the time of this airing, the case against Michael Hand is still in progress, as is the investigation of Tracy Gilpin’s murder. While we wait for justice for Tracy, life continues on for her friends and loved ones.
Massachusetts State Police cold case unit
In October of 2019, Kerry Gilpin announced the formation of a statewide unsolved case unit to investigate cold cases and other violent crimes. The unit would consist of five state troopers experienced in homicide investigation. These troopers would partner with the state’s district attorneys, whose offices held jurisdiction over unsolved murders.
Kerry said, “There are many cases over the years that, even in light of the outstanding and tireless efforts of police and prosecutors, have not been resolved for a variety of reasons. I hope that by creating a dedicated unit … we will build upon the excellent work already done on these cases and … achieve the breakthroughs we need to secure justice for these victims and their families.”
District Attorneys around the state were pleased at the announcement. Worcester County DA Joe Early said, “I’m really excited that Col. Gilpin is putting resources into these horrible crimes. These families still experience a lot of pain. Hopefully, this unit will help to solve some of these murders.”
The creation of this unit was one of Kerry’s last acts as Superintendent of Massachusetts State Police. On November 6, 2019, she announced her retirement from the force, two years after stepping up to lead it. Before and during her tenure as superintendent, the force was embroiled in one ethics scandal after another. It was in upheaval when Kerry accepted her promotion, and she pursued an agenda of reform with courage and tenacity. Despite her leadership and dedication, the pushback she experienced as she worked to rebuild public trust began to grind her down. Still, she considered her time as superintendent to be the greatest honor of her professional life. Kerry gave her parting words in a letter to state police employees: “We have accomplished so much during this difficult time, and I am confident you will continue to build on the foundation.” She remains extremely proud of her career with the force. Kerry Gilpin’s legacy, a dedication to the victims of unsolved violent crimes, will live on long after her career. Now a civilian, Kerry watches from the sidelines as the legal process inches forward. Meanwhile, Michael Hand awaits trial, anxious for the opportunity to prove his innocence. With investigations ongoing, it’s possible new information will come to light—whatever arises, we hope that it leads to justice for Tracy.
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Who remembers this case ? I was only a child then and don’t recall this