Tips pour into Vermont State Police following sketch related to trail homicide

Krystal Nurse, USA TODAY
Updated ·2 min read

More than 150 tips flooded Vermont State Police after authorities released a sketch of a person connected to the murder of a retired college dean on a trail.

Police released the sketch Wednesday afternoon based on witness recollections of a man they saw on a recreational trail before finding 77-year-old Honoree Fleming dead with a gunshot wound to the head. She was killed on Oct. 5 about one mile south of Vermont State University's Castleton Campus on the Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail.

"In addition to releasing the sketch to the public, detectives with the Vermont State Police continue to review potential evidence in the case, including forensic evidence with the assistance of the Vermont Forensic Laboratory at the Department of Public Safety in Waterbury," state police wrote on Wednesday.

Vermont State Police Public Information Officer Adam Silverman didn't immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on Friday.

This composite police sketch released by Vermont State Police depicts a person of interest in the Oct. 5, 2023, killing of Honoree Fleming, 77, in Castleton, Vermont. The sketch was prepared by Detective Sgt. Adam Temple of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office in Bath, Maine.
This composite police sketch released by Vermont State Police depicts a person of interest in the Oct. 5, 2023, killing of Honoree Fleming, 77, in Castleton, Vermont. The sketch was prepared by Detective Sgt. Adam Temple of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office in Bath, Maine.

Police described the person as being a 5-foot-10 male in his 20s with short, red hair. He's considered armed and dangerous.

Commander of the Vermont State Police Capt. Scott Dunlap told the Associated Press witnesses saw the man acting odd. He added police don't know if the shooting was random or targeted.

The Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail is a 19.8-mile section of former railroad that cuts through scenic countryside with vistas of the nearby hills, villages, farms, fields and forests, according to its website. It's a multiple-use trail open to pedestrians, bicyclists, and horseback riders in the summer, and snowshoers, skiers and snowmobiles in the winter.

Signs and a closed gate stand at an entrance to the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Castleton, Vt. Police said an autopsy showed that retired dean and professor Honoree Fleming, of Castleton, Vt., died from a gunshot wound to the head on Thursday, Oct. 5. She was found on the trail about a mile south of the Castleton campus of Vermont State University.

Vermont State, loved ones mourn death of former dean

Vermont State University Castleton campus confirmed that Fleming was a retired dean of education at the university. She previously worked as a faculty member at Trinity College, Middlebury College and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Fleming lived in Castleton with her husband Ron Powers, a Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times-bestselling author.

The university reopened Oct. 9 and resumed classes on Oct. 10 after closing the week prior following Fleming's homicide.

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, Vermont, 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.
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, Vermont, 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.

In a Facebook post, Powers said his wife was walking along her favorite trail near the college when she was killed.

"There is an area-wide dragnet out for her killer," he wrote. "Police believe that it was random, but all possibilities remain open."

Powers added he was with his son, Dean.

"Those of you who knew her know that she was beautifully named," he wrote about Fleming. "I have never known a more sterling heart and soul than hers. She has taken far more than half my own heart and soul with her."

In 2017, Powers wrote "No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America" about his two sons with schizophrenia. One of his sons, Kevin, died in 2005.

Contributing: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY; Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vermont police flooded with tips on sketch related to trail homicide