Case sparked DUI against state prosecutor in January 2024

By Mike Donoghue
Vermont News First

BRIDPORT — The 18-year-old son of a Bridport man, who was found shot dead at their home in January 2024, has been arrested on a charge of second-degree murder, Vermont State Police said Monday evening.

Stephen Nuciolo Jr., 18, is charged in the shooting death of his father, Stephen Nuciolo Sr., 44, of Bridport, police said.

The son is due for arraignment in Vermont Superior Court in Middlebury on Tuesday afternoon.

State police said in a news release recent developments over this past weekend — which investigators failed to described — led detectives to make the felony arrest on Monday.

The fatal shooting attracted extra media attention at the time because Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos was arrested at the crime scene for suspicion of driving while intoxicated, officials said.

State police had summoned Vekos to the crime scene to consult with homicide investigators in case criminal charges were warranted.

Nuciolo’s body was found at his 748 Swinton Road home shortly before 9 a.m. the morning of Jan. 24 after his son went to school. State Police had received a report that the father had died in the residence overnight.

The body was taken to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington while state police sorted out the case.

Detectives said when the medical examiner’s office later reported the death appeared suspicious, more investigators flooded the scene. Vekos responded to the scene that night.

The State Police Crime Scene Search Team members were wrapping up their site work about 36 hours after the initial call and investigators normally ask the local prosecutor if they want to observe the scene of an untimely death in case there are decisions to be made, including criminal charges.

The cause of death was attributed to a gunshot wound to the head, but the manner was somewhat in doubt, police said.

The case then went a little sideways when state troopers reported smelling alcohol on Vekos and seeing signs of impairment shortly after she entered the crime scene about 8:50 p.m. for a walk-through with detectives.

Vekos, then 54 of Middlebury, refused a breath test, but police still processed her. Seven state troopers provided sworn court affidavits, including veteran Sgt. Eden Neary, a patrol commander from the Rutland barracks who instructs about driving while intoxicated enforcement and is a certified Drug Recognition Expert.

There were some immediate questions on which office would take over the possible prosecution of Vekos and the shooting, officials said. The Vermont Attorney General’s Office eventually stepped up and began working with the state police on the DUI and the homicide cases.

Vekos has pleaded not guilty in court to the DUI charge. Vekos and her defense lawyer, David Sleigh of St. Johnsbury, have maintained she was not impaired when she drove to the scene.

A pre-trial motion is set in court for May 13. Her case is planned for jury selection on June 23 in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington following a change of venue.

For more than a year state police homicide detectives have been working the death case and the son was considered a person of interest from the start, officials said.

State police said Nuciolo Jr. was arrested without incident Monday afternoon and brought to the New Haven barracks for processing. He was ordered jailed without bail Monday night.

State police normally provide mugshots in felony cases, but none was provided on Monday.

State police lodged him at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.