Episode 189: Robert Sabetta Jr.
On January 9th, 1993, the Foster, Rhode Island police department received a complaint from a woman named Charlotte Sherman. Her son, 16-year-old Frank Sherman, had been assaulted by a patrolman with the department, 24-year-old Robert Sabetta Jr., earlier that day when Robert struck Frank in the face with his department-issued flashlight and knocked in two of his teeth during a traffic stop. Robert was arrested the next day by officers from his own department and was charged with felony assault. On the same day, January 10th, Chief Donald Kettelle sent Robert written notice that he would be suspended from duty but paid during the investigation. There was also to be a lawsuit against Robert for brutality.
On March 23rd, 1993, Robert was indicted by a grand jury on the felony-assault charge for assault with a dangerous weapon. He was arraigned on March 31st. Chief Kettelle then provided written notice that Robert was now suspended without pay, as well as informing him that he had violated six different regulations of the Foster police department. The notice also stated that he had a right to a hearing under the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights. This hearing never came.
On the evening of April 13th, 1993, at Wilson's Auto Sales on Route 6 in Foster, Rhode Island, 16-year-old Frank Sherman, his brother, 17-year-old Charles Sherman III, and their friend, 19-year-old Jeremy Bullock were all working on their cars. The Shermans' cousins, Darrell Drake and Michael Clausen, were also at the garage doing some work on their cars. At around midnight, Frank and Charles’ black lab named Chocolate started to bark from outside the garage. Frank went to go outside to check on the dog while Michael was getting underneath his car to do some work. Michael then heard what sounded like fireworks and scuffling feet in the dirt before hearing a loud bang inside of the garage. The next thing he heard was Jeremy groaning in pain. He peered out from underneath the car to see Jeremy lying on the floor of the garage on his back.
Michael was able to see that the shooter was wearing a pair of black boots and dark blue pants with a light blue stripe on them, and he realized he had seen these before. They were pants that were part of the Foster police uniform. From where he was hiding under the car, Michael wasn’t able to see the man’s face. He watched the man walk around to the passenger side of his car where Charles had been sitting, and then he heard two gunshots. Michael waited for the man to leave, then crawled out from under his car. He saw that Charles was shot in the face. Michael ran out of the garage for help and as he was running, he saw Jeremy lying on his back on the floor of the garage. Michael was able to get into a car, drive off to his parents house and beg them to call for help.
Darrell Drake had been sitting in the front seat of his car doing some work on the car’s radio. He then heard loud bangs that shook the garage and he looked up to see a man with short hair and glasses pointing a gun at him from about 6-7” away. Darrell dove out of the way, heard another gunshot, and jumped across the console of the car and fell out of the passenger side door, landing on the floor. When he landed, he saw Jeremy’s body on the floor. As the shooter walked to the back of the garage, Darrell got up and ran out the door for help. As he was running, he noticed he was having a hard time breathing and realized he had been shot in the chest. Suddenly he heard tires squealing, and he looked up to see a light-colored Grand Marquis or Crown Victoria drive quickly past him with the headlights off.
Darrell ran to the nearest house for help and the homeowners called police. He was then rushed to the hospital. Later that same day, now on April 14th, after recovery from emergency surgery and in critical condition, Darrell agreed to speak to police and share with them any information that could be helpful. He was shown a photo lineup of possible suspects, and Darrell pointed to 24-year-old Robert Sabetta Jr.
Once police arrived on scene, they saw that the three boys: Frank Sherman, Charles Sherman III, and Jeremy Bullock, had all been shot in the head. Police then realized that one of the victims was Frank Sherman, the same teenager who had been assaulted by Robert and made the complaint against him. A BOLO was put out for his car, a gray-colored 1990 or 1991 Ford LTD Crown Victoria. At 3:30a.m. on April 14th, police located Robert driving his car in nearby Cranston, Rhode Island. He was stopped and then taken into custody of the State Police, then arrested for the murders of Frank Sherman, Charles Sherman III and Jeremy Bullock. He was also charged with assault with intent to murder for Darrell Drake.
Chief Kettelle had stated “There was a complaint that one of the officers had assaulted a youth with a flashlight and, uh, the youth had lost a couple of teeth. He asked me, `Is this a felony?' and I says, `Yes, a flashlight, is a, is assault with a deadly weapon.' If you're convicted of a felony, you could never be a police officer again. He needed to be a police officer. It was his whole life. And when he saw it going away, he just, uh, evidently he cracked."
Police began the search for the murder weapon but were unsuccessful until they received a call about two weeks after the murder from someone who was fishing under the Gold Star Bridge in Groton, Connecticut. This person found a gun with the serial number removed and the barrel of the gun ground down and damaged to avoid identification. The gun, as well as six spent cartridges that were remaining inside, was turned over to Groton police. This gun was a .357 magnum, which was similar to the service weapon Robert Sabetta Jr. had been issued by the Foster police department. A ballistics expert determined that the shell casings inside the gun matched bullets Robert had shot into a tree during target practice, and an FBI forensic metallurgist said that bits of metal found in Robert’s home matched the material that made up the ground down, damaged barrel of the gun found in the river.
Thanks to expert testimony as well as witness testimony from Michael Clausen and Darrell Drake, on June 11th, 1994, Robert Sabetta Jr. was found guilty of the first-degree murders of the Sherman brothers and Jeremy Bullock as well as guilty of assault with intent to commit murder upon Darrell Drake.
Robert attempted to appeal, claiming his Miranda rights were violated, despite him being a former police officer and stating multiple times he was aware of his rights to the arresting officers and investigators.
In October of 1994, Robert Sabetta Jr. was sentenced to three consecutive life terms plus twenty years. The trial judge called the killings a "deliberate, systematic and cold-blooded" execution.
Image sources:
providencejournal.com - “Revisiting a ‘Darkness’ close to home”