Vermont police get more than 150 tips after sketch of person of interest released in trail killing
CASTLETON, Vt. (AP) - More than 150 tips have come in since Vermont State Police released a sketch of a person of interest in the killing of a retired college dean who was shot dead a week ago on a recreation trail in the small college town, authorities said Thursday.
The composite sketch was made public Wednesday afternoon and is based on witnesses´ accounts of a man they saw on the trail before they came across the body of Honoree Fleming, 77, police said. Fleming died of a gunshot wound to the head while walking along the trail on the afternoon of Oct. 5, about 1 mile (1.61 kilometers) south of the Vermont State University Castleton Campus.
Detectives have been pursuing leads in response to the tips, state police said.
At the university, senior Kiki Valentino said she's heard some students say the sketch could look like anyone on campus but that the increase in tips is helping to alleviate students' fears.
"People are ... more kind of at ease since there are more tips that they're going to find him," Valentino said.
The person of interest is described as a 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) white male in his 20s with short, red hair. He was wearing a dark gray T-shirt and carrying a black backpack and is considered armed and dangerous, police said.
A building at Vermont State University's Castleton Campus in Castleton, Vt., is shown Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. Police were searching for a suspect who shot and killed a retired dean on a nearby rail trail last week. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
Witnesses reported that the man was acting odd, and more than one person observed him, Capt. Scott Dunlap, commander of the Vermont State Police major crime unit, said Wednesday. He also said police did not know if the shooting was random or targeted and advised the public to remain vigilant.
This composite police sketch released by the Vermont State Police, depicts a person of interest in the Oct. 5, 2023, killing of Honoree Fleming, 77, in Castleton, Vt. The sketch was prepared for the Vermont State Police by Detective Sgt. Adam Temple of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office in Bath, Maine, and released by VSP, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (Detective Sgt. Adam Temple/Vermont State Police via AP)
Students walk around the Vermont State University Castleton Campus, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Castleton, Vt. Police were searching for a suspect who shot and killed a retired dean on a nearby rail trail last week. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
A Vermont State Police trooper is parked on Main Street in front of a church near the Vermont State University Castleton Campus, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Castleton, Vt. Police were searching for a suspect who shot and killed a retired dean on a nearby rail trail last week. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
In this 2010 photo provided by Anne Slonaker, Honoree Fleming stands for a photograph. Fleming, a retired dean and professor of education at Vermont State University, in Castleton, Vt., was found shot to death on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, on the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail about a mile south of the Castleton campus of the university. The shooting happened during the school's week-long fall break. (Anne Slonaker via AP)
A Vermont State trooper sits parked in a cruiser, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, at the entrance to a recreational trail in Castleton, Vt. Police are searching for the killer of a retired college dean who was shot and killed last week while walking on the trail. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
