A Plymouth County jury Tuesday found Michael Hand guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Kingston teenager Tracy Gilpin 40 years ago.
It took the jury less than six hours to reach a verdict, solving a cold case that had stumped investigators for decades.
Hand, now 69, was immediately sentenced by Plymouth Superior Court judge Katie Rayburn to life in prison at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center, a maximum-security state prison in Lancaster, MA.
His lawyer, Craig Tavares, said he will appeal the verdict.
“We are disappointed with the verdict as we hoped that the jury would acquit based on the state of the evidence,” Tavares told the Independent.
“We had hoped to walk out with him today after eight plus years (in jail). But we will file a notice of appeal and go through the appeals process.”
Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz, whose officers spent 32 years investigating the case, said the Gilpin family never stopped seeking justice for Tracy.
‘“They never gave up hope…and today we got that justice…,” said Cruz, whose assistants Jennifer Sprague and Shanan Buckingham prosecuted the case. “I am hopeful that Tracy can now rest in peace knowing that her killer will spend the rest of his life in prison,” he said.
In a statement read in court, Gilpin’s family urged families of other unsolved cases to “never give up hope in pursuit of justice.
“Although nothing will ever bring Tracy back, our family can now finally rest and begin the healing process,” the statement said.
Hand was accused of dropping a 73-pound rock on Gilpin’s head in October 1986 and covering her body with leaves near the entrance to the Myles Standish state forest in Plymouth.
Hand killed the 15-year-old, prosecutors said, because she rejected his sexual advances and made fun of his uncircumcised penis.
Tavares had argued investigators failed to look at other possible suspects in a rush to solve the decades-old case. He alleged DNA from someone other than Hand was found on Gilpin’s clothing, but investigators never determined whose it was.
It wasn’t until 2018 — when Gilpin’s sister Kerry was head of the Massachusetts State Police — that a renewed investigation led to Hand. She retired from the force in 2019.
After a witness told police Gilpin and others had gathered at Hand’s house the night of her death, investigators traveled to North Carolina, where Hand had moved.
During those interviews, Hand likely sealed his own fate.
He gave several rambling and sometimes contradictory statements. He denied any involvement and blamed Henry Meinholz, a Kingston man who was convicted of raping and killing 13-year-old Melissa Benoit in 1990.
But at one point, Hand said he followed Gilpin into the forest that night and may have killed her, according to court documents.
The Plymouth County Superior Court jury, sitting in Brockton, also heard from a man who served time with Hand at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, where Hand had been held since March 2018.
Wilfred Dumont, a career criminal, told the jury Hand confessed to him while they were jail mates.
Dumont reached out to the DA’s office in March 2018, he testified. He offered to provide information about Gilpin’s death in exchange for help with own case. He was serving an 18-month sentence out of Hingham District Court for violating his probation.
Hand told him he killed Gilpin because made fun of his uncircumcised penis,” he said during his March 17 court appearance.
That made him “angry, angry, very angry,” Dumont testified.
He said Hand told him “he had followed her … and forced her into a car at gunpoint” and then took her to “some park,” which he later learned was Myles Standish Forest.
He allegedly told Dumont “he dropped a rock on her head.”
Tavares alleged that Dumont made up the story — including the allegation that Hand had a gun — because he was angling for a reduced sentence in his own case.
He eventually won his freedom, Tavares alleged, because of his cooperation in the Hand case.
As for the incriminating statements Hand made to police, Tavares alleged an old brain injury left him with cognitive issues and susceptible to police coercion.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.