New England’s Unsolved: The Murder of Henry Bedard

real cases real people New England's unsolved with Bob Ward there are some crimes that are so horrible they leave an indelible scar on a community now that happened 50 years ago in the small Northshore Town of swampit and this New England's unsolved we see how even a half century after Henry Bard was murdered the hunt for his killer is still on in swamps a 50-year-old painful and profound loss is remembered Henry Bard a 15-year-old High School sophomore beaten to death with a baseball bat in December 1974 a new sign peers out from Town Center designed to help find his killer if you could just put that up that'd be great meanwhile swampit police share Flyers with the message Justice for Henry the day that Henry Bard was killed was like any other after school Henry took the bus to vinen square he dropped a roll of film off at CVS and he shopped for a Christmas present for his sister in 2004 I interviewed the late swampit Police Chief Peter Cassidy who recalled seeing Henry cross the street right in front of his Cruiser that day I just stopped the car and just waved at him when he went across he knew me and I knew him he just went up that way which is the direction of where we found him Chief Cassidy was one of the last people to see Henry Bard alive sometime between 3:00 and 3:30 workers in the swamps good DPW Yard also saw Henry 2 hours later Henry was late for supper his family was very much a 5:30 dinner time back in the day that was a very important thing for families so when Henry didn't show up for dinner at that time his family became concerned the next day children playing in woods behind the DPW in an area known as kite Hill or swampit view made a gruesome Discovery 2004 Chief Cassidy brought me to the site he still had all his clothes on and uh jacket and clothes that he wore to school this little league baseball bat a Hank Aaron 31-in Louisville Slugger was found next to Henry's body 50 years later investigators are taking a fresh look at Henry Bard's violent death studying the murder weapon the baseball bat they want to know who owned the bat and what these markings might mean could what appears to be a letter K carved into the handle be an initial of the bat's owner andry was a baseball player he was an athlete and to have his life take and the way it was makes it I think that much more difficult not only for his family but for the town's people as well swampit detective Sergeant Candace Doyle tells me even after half a century of Silence no one is giving up on Henry Bard we're just going over everything resubmitting things for new DNA testing just getting in front of everything do you think there's still somebody around the area that has some information and doesn't know what to do with it definitely why do you think that it's just such a small town and it was just really the area was out in the open even though it was up on a track it was really visible so someone knows something and we just want them to come forward if you have any information about the murder of Henry Bard you are urged to contact swamps police at 78159 5111 or you can try Mass state police at 1855 Maas solve for New England's unsolved I'm Bob Ward