More on this case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_H._Bourque_Jr.
On July 6, 1955, 17-year-old Walter H. Bourque Jr. killed his four-year-old neighbor, Patricia Ann Johnson, in the cellar of their shared tenement building. After luring her into the basement, he committed the assault and murder, then buried her body and clothing in two separate holes in the dirt floor.
Bourque spent the next two days pretending to help over 1,000 volunteers search for the girl. The investigation turned toward him on July 8, when the victim's father told police that his daughter often watched Bourque chop wood in the cellar. After two hours of questioning, Bourque confessed and led officers to the body.
Bourque initially pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. During his December 1955 trial, he took the stand and admitted to the killing. The jury convicted him of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Bourque spent nearly 70 years in the New Hampshire prison system. His early attempts at parole were denied due to the nature of his crime. While he was briefly moved to a minimum-security hospital program in the late 1970s, he was sent back to prison after being caught committing forgery.
For decades, Bourque worked in the prison’s print shop, a job he held starting in 1958. Despite later indications from the parole board that he could be released upon completing a treatment program, he remained behind bars for the rest of his life. Bourque died in custody on January 10, 2025, having served 69 years, 31 days.