Episode 202: The Murder of Doris Maxfield
Doris Elizabeth Hopkins was born in Plymouth, Maine in September of 1930. She had been born to a repairman and a housewife and was the oldest of five children. Unfortunately, not much is known about Doris in her younger years as public records were scarce regarding Doris and her family. What is known, however, is that sometime when Doris was a teenager, her family picked up and moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where she would remain for many years. Springfield, as a bustling mechanical hub for the war efforts of WWII, was a stark contrast from small town Maine, but Doris took the change in stride and excelled in school.
Doris was described as being creative, artistic, and smart. She often performed in school plays and also found herself a part of various student councils and committees in school. After graduating in 1947, Doris had set her sights on being a milliner: someone who made hats. She graduated from the trade school with a specific concentration in millinery, and she was looking forward to this craft.
Life had other plans for Doris as in 1947, she married a man named Thomas Powers. He was an auto repairman and may have met Doris through her dad, who at this time owned his own auto repair shop. The couple went on to have three sons together, and while Doris never got the opportunity to pursue her dream of being a milliner, she was a wonderful mom and adored her boys. In 1963, Thomas and Doris divorced, leaving Doris to face the sudden change of being a single mom.
According to public records, Doris went from Doris Powers to Mrs. Melvin Maxfield as she had met a new man to be her husband. Melvin Maxfield was fresh off of a divorce himself, having sole custody of his two sons and one daughter. Melvin was also an auto repairman, and their meeting is speculated to have been a result of his profession and her association in the field. In 1966, Melvin and Doris began the process of buying a local convenience store in Post Mills, Vermont, known as the Hatch Store, previously owned by the Hatch family. By 1968, they were the sole owners and worked hard to maintain the historical piece of property in the small Vermont town after moving their blended family into the small but cozy apartment above the store.
By this time the oldest boys, Doris’ son and Melvin’s son Melvin Jr., both got into trouble with underage drinking. Doris helped her son avoid charges when he first got into trouble, but Melvin’s son had long been troubled as he faced abuse at the hands of his father from a young age. While Melvin Jr. was being charged with underage drinking and drinking in public, Melvin himself was charged with “forgetting about the two children from his first marriage.” His two youngest children frequently visited their mother and Melvin was not keeping up with financial support.
Despite this dispute, Melvin and Doris, now 40-years-old, welcomed their one and only shared biological child, a son, in 1970. Their busy life of running the store and caring for their large family grew busier when in 1974, Melvin made the surprising choice to run for a seat in Vermont’s House of Representatives as a Republican. Unfortunately, Melvin lost by quite a large margin. In 1976, the couple took out a big loan for repairs and improvement on the Hatch Store, which had become old and worn down and desperately needed some work.
In the early morning of January 3rd, 1977, Doris, now 46-years-old, had been getting her children ready for school. She lovingly shooed them out the door and on their way to school and began some household chores. Melvin, who was driving the local school bus, came home from the morning route at 8:45 a.m. to find Doris dead on the floor of the kitchen. After calling the authorities, Melvin informed police that Doris suffered from seizures and was being treated for this, however there are no records that can be found anywhere to indicate this. When Doris was brought to the local funeral home, the regional manager dismissed her death as seizure-related and determined she died “of natural causes.” Despite it being protocol and the law in the state of Vermont to inform the Chief Medical Examiner of a sudden death, the regional manager had Doris’ body embalmed and closed the case.
Small town gossip spreads quickly, and word spread fast about the tragic death of Doris Maxfield. Trooper Danford O’Brian overheard this and was shocked to hear that there had been no investigation and protocol wasn’t followed. He went to the funeral home himself and was shocked at the condition of Doris’ body. He quickly left and called Chief Medical Examiner Lawrence Harris, who intervened immediately and had the body relocated to his Burlington office. Chief Medical Examiner Harris made the determination on January 4th, the day after Doris’ death, that she had not died of natural causes at all. The official cause of death was “asphyxia due to manual strangulation” and her death was ruled a homicide.
This baffled the town. Melvin, who stayed in the apartment above the store, remarried less than two years after Doris’ murder and sold the store in 1986. The once blended family scattered as they grew into adulthood and moved away, but the small town still gossips about the case. Half of the town believes Doris’ death was truly an accident and she simply had a seizure and fell down the steep stairs into the kitchen, while the other half believes Melvin strangled her and then pushed her down the stairs as he was known to have a temper.
Doris’ case remains unsolved. Anyone with any information on the murder of Doris Maxfield is asked to please call the Vermont State Police at 802-241-5000.
Image sources:
ghastlyxgorgeous.wordpress.com - “Vermonters Keep Secrets: The Life and Death of Doris E Maxfield”