Guns belonged to dad who died a suspicious death

By Mike Donoghue
Vermont News First

A Northfield man, whose father died in a suspicious shooting at his home last year, has been arrested on charges for stealing and selling firearms from the dead man’s home.

Peter Baez, 41, of Northfield pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington Thursday afternoon to a two-count federal indictment obtained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“He had nothing to do with the death of his father,” defense lawyer William Vasiliou told news reporters following the court arraignment.

A lawyer representing the estate of Pedro “Pete” Lorenzo Baez, 68 of Northfield has called into question whether his death last November was a homicide and not a suicide. His daughter also is calling for a deeper investigation.

Former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan has written to local and state officials maintaining that the shooting death on Nov. 9, 2024 appeared to be a homicide. Nolan was retained by the victim’s daughter, Alexandria Stanley, who is the executor of the estate and also is a lawyer.

The family of Pedro Baez has been critical of the death investigation by Northfield Police and what they see as a lack of interest by both Washington County State’s Attorney Michelle Donnelly and Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark in the fatal shooting at his home at 160 West Hill Road, Nolan has said.

The federal gun charges stem from a legal dispute that also is playing out in Probate Court in Washington County.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Arra said in federal court Thursday afternoon that Peter Baez was written out of his father’s will. The residence and all his property went to his sister, Alex Stanley.

Baez reportedly stole the firearms from the estate, which also had to institute eviction proceedings against him after he learned he was disinherited, Arra said.

The stolen firearms were sold to gun stores in Vermont and most have been traced, she said. Arra said there was at least one more that the ATF was attempting to recover Thursday afternoon.

Stanley told Vermont News First after the court hearing that she was thankful that federal authorities – ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office – both stepped up when they were approached in April after non-action by state prosecutors and police.

If convicted on the single felony charge, Baez could be imprisoned for up to 10 years.

Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle agreed to release Baez on conditions, including that he stay at least 300 feet away from the West Hill Road property and refrain from throwing or firing any projectiles toward the property.

The court was told there was some question whether Baez would still have his job at Washington County Mental Health following his arrest. The court agreed to let him live at a home referred to as the “McCracken residence” and there could be no weapons and no drug use, including marijuana.

Nolan and Stanley were among those attending the court hearing.   Also seated near the back of the courtroom was Acting U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher.

Baez has been sought since his federal indictment was sealed on July 10. Doyle approved the sealing request by prosecutors to avoid Baez from fleeing and to help protect police when making the arrest, court records show.

Berlin Police, which was aware of the arrest warrant, located Baez in Barre Town on Wednesday and turned him over to ATF, which lodged him at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town.

The indictment maintains Baez knowingly possessed, sold and disposed of three stolen firearms: a .38-caliber revolver on Dec. 6, 2024 and a .22-caliber semi-automatic and a .30-06 rifle both on Dec. 16, 2024.

The estate eventually hired Nolan to protect its interest. Nolan has tried to get Vermont State Police to have some of their well-trained death investigators take over the case and take a deep dive into the evidence.

The case was initially handled by a Northfield Police Cpl. Michael Gero, who has limited death training. Police Chief Pierre Gomez, who came from Philadelphia in September 2023, has said he is not certified for death investigations. There was only one other officer with the Northfield department and he was not trained to investigate deaths, the chief has said.

Gomez said Thursday he asked Berlin Police to have one of its experienced investigators review the case long after the shooting. The request came after Vermont State Police said it would not review Gero’s investigation, the chief said.

According to Nolan, the initial determination of suicide by Northfield Police made no sense to the victim’s daughter.

“In the weeks and months since the devastating news of her father’s passing, Ms. Stanley – who almost immediately recognized that the initial suicide determination made no sense and relied on inadequate investigation – has conducted as thorough an investigation into his death as any civilian could, with virtually no help from law enforcement I would add,” Nolan said in an April 18 letter obtained by Vermont News First.

Nolan sent the letter to various people including both state prosecutors, Donnelly and Clark, along with Vermont Chief Medical Examiner Elizabeth Bundock, Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison, Police Chiefs Pierre Gomez of Northfield and James Pontbriand of Berlin, Northfield Town Manager Jeff Schulz, State Rep. Anne Donahue, R-Northfield and Chief of Staff Jason Gibbs for Gov. Phil Scott and other various town and state officials.

“She has presented to all (or nearly all) of you her compelling findings, which clearly demonstrate that this is at least as likely as not a murder case, not a suicide,” Nolan said in an email to the group.

“Her late father’s attorney, Bill Smith, did the same in an email transmitted to law enforcement within days of Mr. Baez’s passing.”

Nolan hinted that state and local officials appear to be playing a game of Pass the Buck.

“For more than six months, Ms. Stanley has pleaded with you through letters, emails, phone calls, and meetings with professionalism, respect, and patience. Upon my review of the file, I see that, sadly, her entreaties have been met with stonewalling and an interagency bureaucratic shuffle of the highest magnitude,” she said.

“She has been redirected from the Northfield Police to the Vermont State Police to the Medical Examiner’s Office to the Berlin Police back to the Northfield Police back to the Vermont State Police and Commissioner of Public Safety and finally to the Washington County State’s Attorney,” Nolan wrote.

“At too many junctures, she has been stonewalled, rerouted, or ignored. Putting our work obligations aside, as a human being, I don’t know how she could bear this treatment in the wake of the death of her father, and we hope and expect that she will very soon get a more professional, motivated, and empathetic response. I mean to help Ms. Stanley to get to the bottom if this, and to help her get justice for her father, Mr. Baez, whose death investigation has been handled with carelessness and neglect. We will not rest until we do,” Nolan said.

“To come straight to the point, it is very obvious to me that, from moment one, this matter needed to be investigated with an open mind as to whether the deceased died by suicide or homicide. Indeed, my review of the file strongly suggests a significant likelihood that Mr. Baez died by gunshot wound to the head …” she said.

“Sadly, and as you all know, no such professional and open-minded investigation occurred. Rather, and as Ms. Stanley has thoroughly and repeatedly conveyed to all of you, his death was hastily and unprofessionally investigated: it was hurriedly deemed a suicide by a Northfield police officer based almost exclusively on the word of Peter Baez who allegedly ‘discovered’ his body,” Nolan said.

The former prosecutor listed 10 specific problems with the criminal investigation, including “there was no autopsy performed despite assurances to my client that there would be, such that, unbeknownst to her, her father was cremated without an autopsy.”

Nolan then questioned why everybody was sitting on the sidelines instead of getting involved in the death case.

“While it has been very difficult for Ms. Stanley to know who to turn to given the bureaucratic quagmire she’s been dragged through since November, Ms. Stanley was last told – without any explanation why – that she needed to await the decision of SA Donnelly as to whether the Vermont State Police would investigate. Putting aside that, based on my experience, there is no rule or custom requiring a Vermont law enforcement agency to await permission or directions from a State’s Attorney before investigating a crime, let alone a homicide, we need an answer from someone now,” Nolan wrote.

“I know none of you is satisfied with an investigation falling so woefully short of law enforcement standard. I am asking you to help us make it right, which we are going to do, one way or the other,” she said.

Nolan, who took on serious homicide/attempted homicide cases as U.S. Attorney that local state prosecutors refused to tackle, said she would make herself available to help move the case forward.

“I will make myself available to answer any questions or to meet with any of you at any time. Ms. Stanley has offered, time and again, to all of you her full cooperation in this investigation,” she said.

“As we all know, the help of cooperating witnesses in a homicide investigation is something we cannot take for granted. Please take her up on it. Ms. Stanley loved her father dearly, knows he did not die by suicide, and will not rest until there is justice and a true accounting of the circumstances of his tragic death,” Nolan said in closing.