The Murder of Declan Lyons (Vermont)

When a beloved cook and aspiring organic farmer was murdered at work, it left everyone who knew him devastated and shocked. The investigation zeroed in on a suspect and the case went all the way to trial, but questions still remain more than 20 years later. 

No matter what you believe after hearing the facts of the case, the truth is that a killer is still walking free.

April 12, 2002

It was around 2 in the afternoon on Friday, April 12, 2002 and 24-year old Declan Lyons was outside in the courtyard of the Lareau Farm County Inn in Waitsfield, Vermont. The historic farm and its sprawling green acreage set against a backdrop of mountains on the banks of the Mad River was home to the very first American Flatbread Company. It’s a place still known today for their wood fired pizza prepared in a large domed oven inside the restaurant.

Declan was right at home working for American Flatbread. He and his fiance had spent some time together in Vermont and decided to move back after college in Wisconsin to study organic farming. They hoped to someday start an organic farm of their own, but until then, Declan primarily worked at American Flatbread’s factory and occasionally filled in at the restaurant. On Fridays, he made sauce. Declan was known as the “sauce boss”.

According to Brent Hallenbeck’s reporting for the Burlington Free Press, Declan prepared the sauce for the restaurant over an open flame in the courtyard, known as the medicine wheel by employees. He stirred and seasoned the ingredients inside a large cauldron until they reached perfection, with flavor enhanced by the fire below. No matter the weather, if it was Friday, Declan was outside at his post. He wasn’t one to complain, even when Vermont dished out some particularly challenging temps and precipitation. On the days the weather was nice, Declan soaked it in and spoke his gratitude for the opportunity to cook in the sunshine.

That’s where Declan was when his co-workers inside the restaurant heard a loud popping sound coming from his direction. They were at his side within seconds. What they saw was devastating, and confusing. 

Declan was lying on the ground with a massive head injury. His co-worker Camilla attempted CPR while someone called 9-1-1. An EMT with an ambulance service happened to be driving by the restaurant at that moment.

The EMT arrived minutes later and could see that Declan was losing significant blood from the wound. He didn’t have a pulse. Although he was transported to Central Vermont Hospital in Berlin, Declan was pronounced dead on arrival. 

It all happened so fast. The restaurant staff were outside within moments of the sound. As far as they could tell, there was nobody else around, no one fleeing the scene, nobody standing nearby who looked like they could have caused this injury to Declan. There had to have been some kind of accident, they thought. Maybe a malfunction of the cooking equipment. A rock from the firepit that exploded. Something. 

The circumstances of Declan’s death called for an investigation at the scene. Stephen Mills reports for the Rutland Herald that police sussed out the theory that something had gone wrong with the equipment. They tested and analyzed the electrical systems and mechanical equipment nearby and inspected the cauldron firepit itself, but there was nothing that could be blamed for the fatal injury. Not a single fault to speak of.

When the results of Declan’s autopsy came back, theories of a freak accident went out the window, but what replaced them didn’t make any more sense to the people who knew and loved Declan. Vermont State Police ruled Declan’s death a homicide. Someone killed him with a single gunshot wound to the head.

About Declan Lyons

Declan’s friends, family, and coworkers could not reconcile the information they received about his death. There was no explanation as to why someone would want to kill a guy like Declan. He was a peaceful person who loved to cook and farm and protect the environment while doing it.

He wasn’t involved in anything nefarious and didn’t seem like the sort of character who would attract danger of that nature. He had no conflict with anyone to speak of. The founder and owner of American Flatbread, George Schenk, said that Declan was “a prince of a guy.”

The VP of the restaurant, Camilla Behn, who was among those who rushed to Declan’s side and had administered CPR, said, “He was a beautiful person. We lost somebody we love very much, a wonderful part of our family. He was an incredible, sensitive cook. He was one of those absolutely sweet, kind and gentle souls.“

As the weekend stretched on with police remaining hush-hush about the developing homicide investigation, Declan’s former place by the sauce pot outside became a shrine in his honor. Flowers and fruit and photos surrounded the base of the cauldron as his community grappled with the loss of him.

Early Investigation

Detectives were on the case throughout the weekend but by Monday they wouldn’t say if the first 48 hours had revealed any suspects, nor did they disclose if the crime was targeted or random. 

Since people at the scene immediately following the shooting hadn’t seen anybody in the vicinity, police considered the possibility that whoever fired the fatal shot had been hiding somewhere nearby. According to a few Associated Press reports published in the Brattleboro Reformer and Rutland Herald, Vermont State Police measured possible bullet trajectories from the concealed wooded areas nearby. They also scanned the ground with metal detectors looking for slugs and other evidence that could point to the murder weapon.

Results of those ballistics tests determined that it was likely Declan was shot with a high velocity rifle from a distance greater than five to ten feet.

Meanwhile, interviews with witnesses were ongoing. Robin Palmer reports for the Rutland Herald that the investigation had led police to two men who were hunting woodchuck in the area at the time Declan was murdered, but those individuals were apparently cleared of any involvement.

Police also spoke to a woman who had been kayaking nearby on the day of the murder and she said that as she drove home that day, she saw a “good-looking” man standing or walking near American Flatbread with a bag slung over his shoulder. She took notice of the man because something about him seemed off, like he didn’t fit into the picture of a farm in rural Vermont. By her assessment, he was too well-dressed for where he stood. Another witness who saw a man fitting the same description said the guy was near the restaurant within 10 minutes of the time of the shooting.

That wasn’t the only thing that witnesses picked up on the day of the murder. At least one witness told police they saw someone walking towards American Flatbread on the day of the shooting carrying a long object wrapped in cloth.

As police worked to track down these individuals, two months passed without any public updates in the case. The community continued to rally around Declan’s family and his fiance, who was due to give birth to their first child just weeks after Declan was killed. 

Unrelated to the homicide, the restaurant’s sauce production was moved inside on an order from the health department. But even if the change wasn’t made otherwise, no one wanted to be standing out at the cauldron, not with the fear of an unknown killer still at large.

Thankfully, that fear was somewhat put to rest before the summer came to a close. In August of 2002, Vermont State Police announced they’d made an arrest in the case. The accused killer was one of Declan’s fellow employees at the restaurant.