Victoria Cushman was just 29 years old when she was found murdered inside her Warwick, Rhode Island apartment, just steps from the sporting goods store where she worked. For years, her family waited for answers and eventually, the case seemed to have them: a suspect known to the case from day one, who investigators said had motive to end Vickie’s life.
The evidence was circumstantial, but it was compelling. A secret relationship. Conflicting statements. A timeline that seemed to close in around one man. To a jury, the pieces fit. But fitting isn’t the same as true.
Years later, the story everyone thought they trusted cracked wide open.
Discovery
In the summer of 1989, Victoria Cushman lived in an unexpected little pocket of Warwick, Rhode Island.
Her apartment was on the second floor of a white building adjacent to the Alpine Ski & Sports store, where she worked. It sat in an industrial and commercial stretch of Maple Street near Jefferson Boulevard, close to warehouses, offices, parking lots, and the hum of I-95. It was not the kind of place where you’d necessarily look up and imagine someone living, but Vickie had made a home there.
She wasn’t even 30 years old yet, but by then, Vickie had already lived more than one kind of life. She had served four years in the U.S. Army, including time overseas in Germany with a specialized intelligence unit, and later earned a degree in German from the University of Maryland. Language was one of her gifts. She could move between German, Italian, French, Farsi or Iranian, and Spanish. She had an agile mind and an ear for the world beyond where she happened to be standing.
There was even more to Vickie than her résumé. She painted. She gardened. She loved her family. She wanted a future with a home, a marriage, and children. That life was still ahead of her, still taking shape.
Outside her apartment, Vickie tended a garden. She was rooted there and she cared about making even an unlikely place beautiful. She had a cat she loved, too – a cat her friends knew she worried about, especially with all the traffic in the parking lot below.
On the evening of August 10, 1989, Vickie talked on the phone with her father, Robinson Cushman, around 9:30 p.m. Sometime after that, an employee working downstairs heard movement from her apartment above, the soft footfalls of Vickie settling in for the night.
By the next morning, August 11th, Vickie was expected at work. Her coworker Kerri Martin expected to see her for their usual pre-shift coffee and conversation before the day started. But Vickie wasn’t there.
At first, it was just unusual. Then it was worrying.
Kerri tried calling Vickie’s apartment, but it just rang and rang until the answering machine picked up. So Kerri walked over from the store to check on Vickie. When she reached the apartment, the door was slightly open. Then Vickie’s cat jumped out and clawed at her, clearly distressed.
Kerri was spooked and didn’t dare go in any further without backup. She returned to work and asked two other coworkers to check on Vickie with her. One of the others entered the apartment first. Almost immediately, he told them to call the police.
When Warwick PD officers arrived, they found Vickie in the living room, behind a chair, lying in a pool of blood with obvious trauma to her head. Nearby was a heavy fire extinguisher.
Vickie was wearing a pink bathrobe cinched at the waist. In the bedroom, her bed linens had been turned down. A book was propped open, holding someone’s place. The light was still on. It looked like Vickie had been settling in for the night, reading or resting in the quiet of her own space before the violence began.
There were other details, too. Yellow dishwashing gloves were found turned inside out near Vickie’s body. Her handbag was open, but her wallet was still there, with cash and credit cards inside. This did not look like a simple robbery gone wrong. Something violent had happened here, but whatever the reason, it didn’t seem to be money.
The details did not point neatly in one direction. There was violence, yes. But there were also contradictions.
Early Investigation
An autopsy by Dr. William Q. Sturner, Rhode Island’s chief medical examiner, found that Vickie had suffered multiple skull fractures from repeated blows with the 17-pound fire extinguisher found at the scene. There was also evidence of asphyxiation, described as an initial disabling injury before the beating. Her cause of death was cranial cerebral trauma, with three distinct sets of fractures to the skull. The autopsy ruled out sexual assault.
Vickie’s father, Robinson Cushman, had spoken with her around 9:30 the night before. Later, someone working downstairs heard movement above, the sound of Vickie in her apartment. So, with those clues and the condition of her body, the medical examiner estimated that Vickie died sometime between 9:30 p.m. on the 10th and 3:00 a.m. the next morning.
Investigators found an open window in the apartment, and the screen from that window was leaning against the wall near Vickie’s feet. Outside, in Vickie’s garden, flowers were trampled and uprooted. Investigators also found a piece of rotted wood from the building, a bent shingle on the porch roof, and muddy scuff marks near a vertical conduit pipe along the exterior.
From the outside, it suggested a possible route: someone climbing up the side of the building, stepping onto the porch roof, and getting in through the window.
But inside, that version started to fray.
There was no mud tracked through the apartment despite finding mud on the exterior wall. The screen came from the window above the porch roof, but the locking mechanism was still intact and working. According to later findings, it could only be opened from the inside.
And then there was Vickie’s cat. Her friends knew how careful she was with that cat. To them, it did not make sense that Vickie would leave the screen open and risk the cat getting out. If Vickie wouldn’t have removed the screen for fear of her cat escaping, and it didn’t appear to have been tampered with from the outside, what was the explanation for it being out of place?
Near her body, police also found those yellow dishwashing gloves turned inside out. Later, the theory would be that the gloves may have been used after the fact, possibly by someone trying not to leave evidence behind.
The evidence and circumstances at the scene didn’t immediately fit one obvious scenario. But then investigators found something that changed the direction of the case entirely.
It was a letter, written by Vickie, addressed to a Scott Hornoff.
The letter was intimate and emotional, and it suggested Vickie believed Scott had been torn between her and his home life. Vickie wrote in part, “Scott, I know how hard this whole situation must have been for you – as you said – a major dilemma. I wanted to be the kind of person who was strong enough to say – ‘your best interests come first, I’ll let you go easily.’ But couldn’t and I can’t…”
She also wrote as if Scott had told her his marriage was troubled, or at least unstable. According to later court records, the letter referred to Scott’s “situation at home” and said things had not “been on an even keel for some time.”
Later in the letter, Vickie wrote, “If I wait for you to try and work things out I fear I will lose you – you are saying now that I can’t lose you because I never had you, but you’re wrong – we had a lot over these past few weeks. Something special happened, that I can’t easily deny or ignore…”
“I know that there isn’t much hope for any kind of future for us – but at least there can be a present. I miss you terribly already. I want to see you so very badly. Vickie.”
Scott Hornoff was not some distant person investigators had to track down. He was a Warwick police detective. He was part of the same department now investigating Vickie’s murder.
Victoria Cushman’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.
Episode Source Material
Photo Gallery
Other Source Materials
- Rhode Island v. Jeffrey Scott Hornoff, Rhode Island Supreme Court No. 99-508-C.A. Opinion Filed 24 Oct 2000
- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff v. City of Warwick, Rhode Island et. al. U.S. District Court: District of Rhode Island, No. CA-05-446 – Complaint
- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff v. City of Warwick, Rhode Island et. al. U.S. District Court: District of Rhode Island, No. CA-05-446 – Answer to Complaint from State of Rhode Island, Richard Hurst and Thomas Denniston
- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff v. City of Warwick, Rhode Island et. al. U.S. District Court: District of Rhode Island, No. CA-05-446 – Answer to Complaint from City of Warwick, Richard Santos and Thomas Nye
- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff v. City of Warwick, Rhode Island et. al. U.S. District Court: District of Rhode Island, No. CA-05-446 – Interrogatories
- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff v. City of Warwick, Rhode Island et. al. U.S. District Court: District of Rhode Island, No. CA-05-446 – Dismissal
- State of Rhode Island v. Jeffrey Scott Hornoff, State of Rhode Island, Kent Superior Court, Decision and Order Denying Defendant’s Motion for a New Trial, J. Krause, 2 Jul 1996
- State of Rhode Island v. Jeffrey Scott Hornoff, Opinion, decided 24 Oct 2000
- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff v. City of Warwick Police Department, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Superior Court, Decision, filed 6 Jan 2004
- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff v. City of Warwick Police Department, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Superior Court, Decision, filed 2 Mar 2004
- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff Testimony to House Judiciary in Support of H-5470
- Warwick saleswoman, 29, found slain in her apartment by Jim Hummel, Providence Journal, 12 Aug 1989
- Victoria Cushman funeral Friday by Staff Writers, Providence Journal, 13 Aug 1989
- Warwick police end search at site of slayings; evidence to FBI by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 12 Sep 1989
- Father worries slaying ignored by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 15 Sep 1989
- Man offers reward in daughter’s slaying by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 15 Dec 1989
- Forensic expert to assist on homicide case Dr. Henry Lee will analyze evidence from slaying by Staff Writers, Providence Journal, 29 May 1992
- Policeman suspected in 1989 fatal beating of Warwick woman by Jim Hummel, Providence Journal, 3 Jul 1993
- Five years later, unsolved murder haunts Warwick police by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 7 Aug 1994
- Patrolman arraigned in 1989 murder by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 29 Dec 1994
- Policeman charged in ’89 slaying of woman by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 30 Dec 1994
- Warwick councilman: Probe city police by Journal-Bulletin Staff, Providence Journal, 31 Dec 1994
- Petition calls for investigation of police inquiry into ’89 killing by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 4 Jan 1995
- Warwick mayor set to probe local police, councilman reports by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 9 Jan 1995
- Embattled Police Chief Blanchard leaving by Jim Hummel, Providence Journal, 10 Jan 1995
- Once-respected police force in turmoil by Jim Hummel, Providence Journal, 11 Jan 1995
- Warwick police chief stepping down so department can ‘move forward’ by Richard Salit, Providence Journal, 11 Jan 1995
- Warwick police undergo shake-up in command by Jim Hummel, Providence Journal, 12 Jan 1995
- New chief ‘stunned,’ but ready by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 12 Jan 1995
- Warwick’s loss of faith by Staff Writers, Providence Journal, 14 Jan 1995
- Review of police murder probe begins by Jim Hummel, Providence Journal, 25 Jan 1995
- Report due today on police handling of slaying by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 27 Feb 1995
- Report on police probe sealed until April by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 2 Mar 1995
- Conduct of murder probe ‘scary,’ ‘sad’ by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 4 May 1995
- Warwick police probe of murder blasted by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 04 May 1995
- Excerpts of report by Kevin Bristow by [No author], Providence Journal, 4 May 1995
- Information uncovered during review of city police triggers state police probe by [No author], Providence Journal, 25 May 1995
- Police major criticized in Hornoff probe could retire by [No author], Providence Journal, 08 Nov 1995
- Police Maj. Duquette demoted for stonewalling murder probe by Tony De Paul, Providence Journal, 28 Nov 1995
- Chafee: Duquette couldn’t be fired by Tony De Paul, Providence Journal, 30 November 1995
- Duquette faces no criminal charges by Tony De Paul, Providence Journal, 1 December 1995
- City gets no answer to murder questions by Tony De Paul, Providence Journal, 21 February 1996
- Hornoff charged with forging police ID by [No author], Providence Journal, 20 March 1996
- Lost wallet led to forgery charges against Hornoff by Tony De Paul, Providence Journal, 21 March 1996
- Rules: No freebies with a badge by Barbara Polichetti, Providence Journal, 21 March 1996
- Hornoff still a policeman, lawyer says by Richard Salit, Providence Journal, 27 Mar 1996
- Hornoff’s bail revoked over charges of forgery by Richard Salit, Providence Journal, 28 Mar 1996
- Warwick officer awaiting murder trial confined to home by [No author], Providence Journal, 04 May 1996
- Medical testimony prefaces Hornoff trial by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 07 May 1996
- Warwick policeman’s murder trial begins today by Richard Salit, Providence Journal, 13 May 1996
- Jury selection in murder trial of policeman by C. Eugene Emery Jr., Providence Journal, 14 May 1996
- Policeman’s murder trial begins Hornoff charged with 1989 killing by C. Eugene Emery Jr., Providence Journal, 15 May 1996
- Hornoff jury hears opening statements by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 16 May 1996
- Jury sees video of slaying scene by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 17 May 1996
- Hornoff trial focuses on victim’s life by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 18 May 1996
- Murder trial focuses on investigation by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 21 May 1996
- Witness: Hornoff denied knowing victim by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 22 May 1996
- Officers detail errors in Hornoff investigation by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 23 May 1996
- Witness tells of an affair made public by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 24 May 1996
- Murder investigator tells of initial query by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 25 May 1996
- Hornoff trial calls Conn.’s ‘Quincy’ by Richard Salit, Providence Journal, 31 May 1996
- Wife: Hornoff home at time of slaying by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 1 Jun 1996
- 2 contradict testimony of detective’s wife by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 4 Jun 1996
- Hornoff brother changes his story by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 5 Jun 1996
- Hornoff taken aback at killing, brother testifies by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 7 Jun 1996
- Hornoff called Cushman a temptress by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 8 Jun 1996
- Witness: Hornoff accounts didn’t add up by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 11 Jun 1996
- Jury hears Hornoff’s grand jury testimony by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 12 Jun 1996
- Both sides rest in murder trial of ex-detective by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 13 Jun 1996
- Hornoff’s fate in murder trial belongs to jury by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 18 Jun 1996
- Hornoff found guilty Warwick detective faces life sentence by Elizabeth Rau, Providence Journal, 20 Jun 1996
- STATE MAN WATCHES AS SISTER’S KILLER CONVICTED by Staff and Wire Reports, The Hartford Courant, 21 Jun 1996
- Hornoff gets life in jail for murder of Cushman by Mike Stanton, Providence Journal, 11 Jul 1996
- Victoria Cushman’s letter to her niece on birth day by [No author], Providence Journal, 11 Jul 1996
- Hornoff offers condolences in statement before sentencing by [No author], Providence Journal, 11 Jul 1996
- Council shuns seeking FBI probe of Hornoff case by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 18 Sep 1996
- Hornoff case closed, Pine says by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 19 Jun 1997
- Police foundation says Hornoff wrongly convicted of murder by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 20 Jul 1997
- Report raises questions about Warwick police by Tony De Paul, Providence Journal, 22 Jan 1998
- Officer convicted of murder presses bid for new trial by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 7 Jan 1999
- Deadline set on Hornoff’s request for new trial by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 8 Jan 1999
- Hornoff’s lawyer blames Price by C. Eugene Emery Jr., Providence Journal, 3 Mar 1999
- Tough laws are legacy of Price murders by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 29 Aug 1999
- Hornoff denied new trial by Tony De Paul, Providence Journal, 29 Oct 1999
- Convicted murderer pleads no contest to using fake ID by [No author], Providence Journal, 12 Jan 2000
- Hornoff asks court to set aside murder conviction by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 28 Sep 2000
- High court upholds Hornoff murder conviction by Ellen Liberman, Providence Journal, 25 Oct 2000
- 1989 murder case puts DNA to the test in R.I. by Jonathan D. Rockoff, Providence Journal, 25 Jun 2001
- Convicted Murderer In R.I. DNA Wants Testing by Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff, Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly, 2 Jul 2001
- New suspect exonerates former officer of murder by Cathleen F. Crowley, Providence Journal, 5 Nov 2002
- Ex-cop freed after real killer confesses by Associated Press, Houston Chronicle, 7 Nov 2002
- Hornoff gets first taste of freedom by Cathleen F. Crowley, Providence Journal, 7 Nov 2002
- Misplaced evidence, lost opportunities clouded Hornoff case by [No author], Providence Journal, 8 Nov 2002
- THE MURDER OF VICTORIA CUSHMAN by Tom Mooney and Zachary R. Mider, Providence Journal, 10 Nov 2002
- Confessed killer’s kin to face questioning by Tom Mooney, Providence Journal, 20 Nov 2002
- Former detective exonerated of murder by Associated Press, Erie Times-News, 23 Nov 2002
- Brother of confessed killer denies knowledge of crime by Gerald M. Carbone, Providence Journal, 26 Nov 2002
- Man whose confession exonerated police detective indicted on second-degree murder by Brian Carovillano, Associated Press, 19 Dec 2002
- Barry indicted in 1989 murder by Tom Mooney, Providence Journal, 19 Dec 2002
- Barry pleads not guilty to Cushman murder by Tom Mooney, Providence Journal, 4 Jan 2003
- Man pleads guilty to murder in slaying for which former police officer jailed for six years by Brooke Donald, Associated Press, 7 Jan 2003
- Barry guilty; Hornoff finally free by Gerald M. Carbone and Tom Mooney, Providence Journal, 7 Jan 2003
- Rhode Island Lawyer For Exonerated Man Reflects On Case by Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff, Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly, 10 Mar 2003
- AT THE ASSEMBLY – Hornoff testifies for legislation that would alter grand juries by Gerald M. Carbone, Providence Journal, 28 Mar 2003
- Hornoff wins reinstatement, decade worth of back pay by Gerald M. Carbone, Providence Journal, 7 Jan 2004
- Interview- Jeffrey Scott Hornoff discusses being wrongfully imprisoned for murder and his subsequent exoneration by Scott Simon, NPR, 24 Jan 2004
- Hornoff, Warwick are $367,000 apart by Gerald M. Carbone, Providence Journal, 26 Feb 2004
- Hornoff, city settle suits in wrongful imprisonment by Daniel Barbarisi, Providence Journal, 17 Aug 2006
- U.S. magistrate orders release of Hornoff records by Cynthia Needham, Providence Journal, 14 Mar 2007
- BUSINESS – Hornoff plans venture under ‘Rogue Island’ by Karen Lee Ziner, Providence Journal, 30 Jul 2011
- R.I. House unanimously approves plan to compensate wrongfully convicted by Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal, 29 May 2019
- Man wrongly jailed for 13 years to get $558,000 from Rhode Island under new law by Tom Mooney, Providence Journal, 30 Mar 2022
- Todd Barry, who confessed to the notorious 1989 killing of Victoria Cushman, has died by Tom Mooney, Providence Journal, 17 Apr 2025
- Murder will out by Cynthia Rockwell, Wesleyan University Magazine, 20 May 2004
- Man who confessed to killing Victoria Cushman, freeing wrongly imprisoned officer, dies by Brian Crandall, WJAR NBC 10 News, 17 Apr 2025
- Lawmakers again consider giving convicts more time to prove their innocence by Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current/States Newsroom, 20 Apr 2026