Sex, Lies & Murder: The Pamela Smart Case
An Anonymous Tip
It was two weeks into the investigation of Gregory Smart's death, with only random leads for Pelletier's squad to follow-up, when he fielded an anonymous tip. A female caller told him that a teen named Cecelia Pierce of Seabrook knew that Pam Smart planned Greg's death with three teenage boys.
Then, at noon on Sunday, June 10th, more evidence was revealed when Vance Lattime Sr. brought a snub-nosed .38-caliber revolver to the Seabrook police headquarters, believing that the pistol might have been a murder weapon. It wasn't long before the murder case with the Seabrook angle connected Pam Smart. Mr. and Mrs. Lattime recognized her name as one that their son and his pals had mentioned.
Derry's detectives went to Seabrook. Lattime told Charewicz that Ralph Welch overheard J.R. and Pete discussing their involvement in a homicide, mentioning Raymond Fowler and Billy Flynn. Welch then told his surrogate father, Lattime Sr., early Sunday morning. "I'd grown up with them," Welch told the jury later. "I couldn't believe my best buddies could do something like this."
On Monday, June 11, they spoke to Cecelia Eaton but it wasn't until Thursday that Cecelia told all. The boys were still not talking. The detectives only had Fowler's affidavit and Pierce's account. They needed more.