Episode 219: The Murder of Kerry Munger
Trevor Herrick during legal proceedings. If anyone has a photo of Kerry they’d like for us to share, please email us at truecrimene@gmail.com.
Despite growing up in Benson, Vermont and being a New Englander, Kerry Munger was known as a huge New York Jets fan and had season tickets. His close friend and coworker Jeffrey King, who had been friends with Kerry since they were both 14, said that Kerry was looking forward to the upcoming season and going to games. The two worked together at General Electric in nearby Rutland, Vermont and were incredibly close. Kerry loved riding his motorcycle, which he had painted green and white for the Jet’s colors, and would ride his motorcycle on adventures into New York and travel around on his bike. He was kind, hardworking and adored his son and grandson.
52-year-old Kerry and his wife Peggy had what was described as a difficult relationship. They had grown estranged from one another, which unfortunately led to Peggy having an affair with another man, her coworker 34-year-old Trevor Herrick. This relationship was allegedly going on for around five years, and while it’s not clear how long Kerry knew about it, it was known that he had known “for quite some time.” Peggy was also in the process of leaving Kerry at the time of this incident. On the morning of Monday, April 20th, 2009, Trevor received a text message with a phone number, and he called the number that turned out to be Kerry’s. Kerry asked him to meet at 2:35p.m. in the parking lot of Diamond Run Mall in Rutland Town, Vermont to talk about Peggy. Kerry had actually spotted Trevor and his wife together at this mall about two years prior.
After work, before heading to the mall to meet Kerry, Trevor went home to get his knife with a 3-inch blade as well as his .41 caliber handgun. When he arrived at the mall parking lot in front of Sears, Kerry was already there waiting for him and the verbal exchange began immediately. Kerry told Trevor that he just wanted to talk to him and know how he felt about his wife, to which Trevor replied that he had “feelings” for Peggy but would not apologize or explain himself further. Kerry began insulting Trevor, calling him names and saying that he was immature. A heated argument ensued, with both men starting to get into their trucks to leave but Kerry then turning around to approach Trevor again.
While arguing, Trevor pointed a finger in Kerry’s face close to his eye, and Kerry responded by shoving his left shoulder. Things escalated further when Trevor reached behind his back to grab his knife that was concealed and strapped to his belt. Trevor proceeded to swing the knife in a wide arc motion, stabbing Kerry in the back. Kerry yelled that he was going to kill Trevor, and Trevor stabbed him a second time in the side. Kerry collapsed to the ground while horrified onlookers saw the scene unfold and several attempted to help by calling 911 and trying to administer medical aid to Kerry.
Trevor called 911 as well, and once he hung up the phone he then called Peggy to tell her he had stabbed her husband and “it did not look good.” When first responders arrived, Kerry was rushed to the hospital but was unfortunately pronounced dead. The medical examiner found that one of the stab wounds sliced through Kerry’s diaphragm while the other hit his left lung and aorta.
Trevor Herrick was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded innocent. His defense attorneys tried to say Trevor acted in self defense, however a large argument against this was that Trevor went home to get his knife and his gun to intentionally bring to meet with Kerry. Trevor’s attorney
Matthew Harnett requested that several photos of the .41-caliber gun found inside of Trevor’s truck be removed from evidence on day two of the trial, and while this request was granted, one of the detectives was permitted to testify that she saw the gun in his truck at the scene as well as “a knife on the floorboard, a case hidden by a jacket, a wallet and a box of possible ammunition in an open glove box.” Aside from items found inside of the truck, when police had searched Trevor’s home they had found a manual on close quarters combat and a book on medieval fighting as well as Peggy’s 1977 class ring. Trevor, who was a former soldier in the Army, had told police he was taught techniques for fighting in close combat as part of his military training.
On March 29th, 2010, Trevor Herrick was found guilty of second-degree murder. Self defense was ruled out, as were the lesser charges of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter with much less time than the 20 years to life sentence that Trevor was looking at with second-degree murder. During closing arguments, Rutland County State's Attorney Marc Brierre said that by bringing weapons, then concealing the knife and pulling it out without warning after only a slight provocation, this was clear evidence of murder. Marc also stated, “From the beginning he knew he'd done wrong and he told everyone 'It's my fault. I did it.’ There's nothing mitigating about those statements. That's what happened. That's what he did."
Image sources:
rutlandherald.com - “Man gets 22 to life in stabbing death”