Autopsy shows Todd Lawyer died on blunt force trauma to head

By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First

ENOSBURGH — An Enosburg man is now facing charges of second-degree murder of his father and aggravated domestic assault on his mother in a brutal, bloody attack with a baseball bat at their home on Friday.

Jordan Lawyer, 29, is being held without bail at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town. He is scheduled to be arraigned in court Monday, October 7.

Autopsy results released Sunday evening confirmed Todd Lawyer died from blunt force trauma to the head, and the manner of death was homicide, state police said.

Vermont News First has confirmed that a hammer also had been used during the attack on Lawyer’s parents.

A bloodied bat was thrown down by Lawyer after he crashed his vehicle on Main Street in Enosburgh about 11:20 a.m. Friday, police said.

Vermont News First reported on Friday that Lawyer has a long history of mental health issues and was found incompetent to stand trial in Vermont Superior Court for a March 2022 charge of aggravated domestic on his parents, who survived that attack.

Friday proved to be more deadly.

Todd Lawyer, 54, was found dead outside the family home at 2521 West Enosburgh Road when state police responded for a disturbance call about 8:45 a.m. Friday, officials said.

His badly beaten wife, Robin Lawyer, 58, was taken by Enosburgh Ambulance to Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, where she was listed in stable condition. Police said she had “significant injuries” but did not elaborate.

The Enosburgh Volunteer Fire Department also had been called to the home because authorities said the younger Lawyer had reportedly torched property belonging to his parents.

It was the second reported vicious homicide in less than 3 months in this small rural Franklin County town near the Canadian border.

Lawyer fled the scene in his mother’s 2015 black Jeep Cherokee, state police said.

State, county and federal law enforcement were seeking the vehicle and it was eventually reported in Bakersfield, but fled the scene.

He was later spotted near the Abbey Restaurant on Vermont 105 in Sheldon and a short police chase began, but state police ordered a trooper to stop the pursuit.

State police has a strict department policy that severely limits pursuits by their troopers.

Lawyer made his way toward downtown Enosburgh, where he crashed his vehicle into the right front of a law enforcement truck operated by Fish and Wildlife Warden Matt Thiel at Main and Pearl Streets just before 11:30 a.m., police said. Initial reports indicated that Lawyer crossed the center line of Main Street and aimed for the warden’s truck, authorities said.

Game wardens and state troopers converged on the crash scene to arrest Lawyer, who initially refused to get out of the damaged Jeep Cherokee.

Troopers fired multiple bean bags or rubber bullets to obtain compliance. Lawyer discarded the blood-stained bat in the road as he climbed out of the vehicle and got on the ground, where he was handcuffed by authorities, police reported.

Lawyer was eventually taken to Northwestern Medical Center — the same hospital where his mother was being treated — for evaluation of any injuries from the crash and the non-lethal projectiles.

Warden Thiel also was taken to the hospital for evaluation of injuries received when Lawyer crashed into him, police said. He was later released.

State police working with the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s Office throughout the day eventually developed enough evidence for the filing of criminal charges. Detective Sgt. Drew Cota of the Major Crime Unit is taking the lead on the case.

Police lodged Lawyer about 11:50 Friday night at the St. Albans prison, records show.

A state judge ordered Lawyer held without bail pending his planned arraignment on Monday in Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans.

Lawyer has had ongoing mental health issues, according to family members and authorities. Police have responded to multiple disturbance calls to the Lawyer home in the past.

After the March 2022 domestic assault case was filed in court in Franklin County, a judge approved a request for a psychiatric evaluation for Lawyer, records show.

A state judge later ruled the son was incompetent to stand trial and the Department of Mental Health was left to deal with Lawyer, officials said.

Both victims were believed to have been employees at Mylan Technologies in St. Albans. They reportedly had just arrived home after working the midnight shift.

Few details are available about the domestic dispute and fire alarm at the home on West Enosburgh Road (Vermont 108) near Tyler Branch Road.

Authorities had initially requested a helicopter and were looking for a place to land it, apparently to airlift the woman, possibly to the UVM Medical Center.

However, it was going to take an hour for the helicopter to arrive and Enosburgh Ambulance transported Mrs. Lawyer to the St. Albans hospital about 20 miles away.

Vermont State Police, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. Border Patrol, Vermont Fish and Wildlife and other law enforcement flooded the area Friday looking for the suspect.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also took to the air to provide surveillance over Franklin County, police said.

Authorities did set up a command post at the Enosburgh Volunteer Fire Department just like they did in July for another homicide.

In the earlier case, Darren A. Martell Jr., 23, of St. Albans has pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated murder in the brutal beating and smothering death of an elderly Enosburgh woman in mid-July.

The former Grand Isle resident sexually assaulted Roberta Martin, 82 in her home at 61 Butternut Hollow Road and then killed her, according to charges filed by Deputy State’s Attorney Diane Wheeler.

Court records note that Martin was smothered and had blunt trauma. Her dismembered body was found at a burn pit off Sand Hill Road, about three-quarters of a mile from her home, state police said.

The DNA from the sexual assault was matched to Martell, Detective Sgt. Tyson Kinney said in a court affidavit.