Killer will remain on state probation after for life after prison
By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First
HYDE PARK – A dangerous career criminal has been sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison with all but 16 years suspended for second-degree murder in the brutal Lamoille County killing of his longtime friend – and frequent intimate partner – in 2024, court records show.
Theodore “Teddy” Farnham, 55, of Waterbury was due to go on trial in Vermont Superior Court in Hyde Park on Monday.
Lamoille County State’s Attorney Aliena Gerhard charged Farnham with the strangulation death of Richard Cote, 76, at his Morristown residence the night of July 23-24, 2024. The home is attached to the auto repair shop and a bus/limo service Cote operated.
Jury selection was scheduled for last week, but the lawyers on both sides told Judge Justin Jiron that they had negotiated a plea agreement with a prison sentence of 16 years to serve.
Jiron imposed the agreed upon sentence, which means when Farnham gets out of prison, he will remain under supervision of the Vermont Probation Department for the remainder of his life. He can get more prison time if he violates probation terms.
Veteran defense lawyers Daniel Maguire and Andrew Schmidt of Essex defended Farnham, who offered an apology to the family.
Gerhard said the victim’s family approved of the plea agreement, including ensuring a specific prison sentence would be imposed.
Gerhard said she was unwilling to accept a no contest plea from Farnham. He had to admit his guilt to close out his case, the prosecutor said.
The Cote family, friends and some in the public were miffed that Farnham was even out of prison when the homicide happened.
Public records show Farnham had 533 incidents or contacts with law enforcement in Vermont in his life before the homicide.
Police had arrested Farnham on 19 felony charges, and he was convicted on 11 of them, records show.
The records also showed Farnham had faced 101 misdemeanor charges, resulting in 67 convictions. His record also reflected 17 crimes involved assaults, including 12 convictions.
He had 24 cases of failure to appear for court, and another 25 violations of court orders, including 13 with convictions.
Yet he was still free on the streets.
The Vermont court system is often challenged by cases involving career criminals who repeated crimes and ignore judicial orders. Farnham’s was another case of what is referred to as “catch-and-release,” authorities said.
He could have faced up to a life sentence as a habitual offender after his third felony conviction, but nothing was done in the court system.
Gerhard said the laxness in the system is something that prosecutors and law enforcement have to deal with — resulting in the government being unable to ensure community safety.
“We are helpless. It is frustrating,” she said. “It is something I tell the public,” Gerhard told Vermont News First
Homicide uncovered
Morristown Police said they responded to the home and business at 813 Elmore Road the morning of July 24, 2024 for a welfare check when an employee, Kevin Mayo, arrived for work at 6:30 a.m. and could not enter the locked shop or locate Cote for about 90 minutes, which were both unusual.
Mayo initially called the bookkeeper and the victim’s brother, who both agreed it was unusual for the owner to be out of touch. They could not reach him and Mayo finally called police at 7:55 a.m.
Morristown Police Chief Jason Luneau and Officer Lance Lamb eventually had to use a crowbar to force entry into Cote’s upstairs residence and found him naked on his bedroom floor with multiple injuries to his face, neck and head at 9:02 a.m., police said.
The autopsy showed Cote died from asphyxia due to compression of the neck with possible smothering, according to Dr. Kathleen McCubbin, a deputy chief medical examiner.
McCubbin also reported she found blunt trauma to the head, neck, torso and extremities.
“The amount of damage to Cote’s nobody is indicative of an emotionally charged assault. The death of Cote was without question violent,” Morristown Detective Lt. Todd Baxter said in a court affidavit.
Red and brown stains were located on the bed and the victim’s body, he said.
Farnham and Cote had lived together off and on over the previous decade, Baxter said. He wrote that Farnham, who also had a Woodbury address, reported he had been involved with Cote for about 30 years.
Farnham told Chief Luneau “If Richard had it his way we’d be married,” the affidavit said. Farnham claimed Cote kept pushing for a relationship, including as recently as 3 weeks earlier, Baxter wrote in the 43½ page affidavit. Farnham made clear he did not like the sexual advances, Baxter said.
“Not once in any of the interviews or conversations with Teddy did he say he enjoyed the intimate/relationship side of Cote. Teddy spoke the opposite,” Baxter’s affidavit noted.
“Teddy did not like the constant advances of Cote and the constant ask for more. Teddy’s frustration with Cote is clear,” Baxter wrote.
Family, friends and employees knew about the relationship and also that Farnham would steal from Cote, according to Baxter, a retired state homicide detective.
When arrested on the Morristown homicide charge, Farnham was also wanted for an unrelated failure to appear for court in Lamoille County on two counts of petty larceny and two counts of unlawful trespass. A judge had pre-set bail at $200 if Farnham was caught.
Farnham also was due in criminal court in Washington County Aug 22, 2024 following a complaint of two people using a ladder to attempt to break into a residence in Waterbury about 9:50 p.m. July 4, 2024, Vermont State Police said.
They said Farnham was found inside the residence on U.S. 2 between the Waterbury Flea Market and Parro’s Gun Shop and Indoor Range. He was cited for unlawful trespass, Trooper David Lambert said.
Morristown Police said Vermont State Police came across Farnham again at the Waterbury site, which is a known drug house. State police arrested Farnham on the warrant and then brought him to Morristown and turned him over to Baxter, police said.
Farnham was jailed pending his arraignment, police said. Judge Daniel Richardson found probable cause overnight for the homicide case, records show.
Public Defender Kurt Williams had argued there was not enough detail in the probable cause court affidavit to justify the charge against Farnham.
However, Gerhard said she had just received lab tests further linked Farnham through DNA to Cote. Williams, a former Caledonia County prosecutor, subsequently withdrew the objection.