Nightmare Returns to Rhode Island Town 36 Years Later

South Kingstown, Rhode Island is a densely populated town in the southern part of the Country's smallest state. Made of up of several villages, it is also home to the University of Rhode Island. The town has beaches, a hospital, a high school, several restaurants and even a small mall. It is also home to one of New England's most infamous child abduction/murder cases,the tragedy of five year old Jason Foreman.

It was a Sunday in May of 1975 when the blond hair, blue eyed child of John Foreman Sr and Joice Foreman was last seen around 4pm heading home to his house on Schaeffer Street in the village of Peace Dale. Hours later, when he did not arrive for dinner, a massive search that covered the town and beyond went into effect. Basements and alleys were thoroughly checked as were forests and bodies of water. But days later when the five year old was not found, suspicions of foul play became evident. Parents in South Kingstown and neighboring towns took heed of what happened to Jason Foreman and cautioned their children to be wary of an unknown boogeyman.

In 1982, the case of Jason Foreman took a dark and disturbing turn. A neighbor named Michael Woodmansee who was 23, was arrested for trying to kill a fourteen year old boy in his Schaeffer Street house. Woodmansee who was an actor with local playgroups had lured the teenager with alcohol and made him pass out. He tried to strangle the young man who fortunately escaped and was able to notify police. It did not take South Kingstown police long to know that Woodmansee could be responsible for Foreman's disappearance. After some clever police work, he confessed but even the most hardened police officers were not prepared for what they would find.

Woodmansee who was sixteen at the time, had molested and stabbed the five year old to death after he had lured him into his house. He kept the young boys body in a trunk and cannibalized parts of it. He even went so far to remove the flesh from the bones by boiling the bones which he kept on top of his desk in his room. It was learned that Woomansee would show off Foreman's skull and pretend it was some sort of acting prop to various young children unaware that it was in fact their missing classmate. Woodmansee had also kept a journal that contain even more gruesome details. A judge as part of plea bargain ordered the contents of the journal sealed. Very few people know the contents of the journal.

Woodmansee agreed to plea bargain to a forty year sentence for murder in the second degree as well as time for his attack on the second child. Due to good behavior, he is scheduled to be released in August of this year. The father of Jason Foreman is furious and has threatened to kill Woodmansee if he gets out. He claims the disappearance and murder of his son destroyed much of his family's life. His other children are now grown up but his wife (Jason's mother) died in 2000 of cancer. Talk Show hosts and anonymous Internet posters have openly talked about their anger that a brutal killer could be allowed to be let out early. For many people, they wanted to forget about Michael Woodmansee and could do so as long as he was locked away from the public forever. Now, there is uncertainty and fear for many in Rhode Island.

Just a few years ago, longtime mobster Freddie Bishop was released from a Rhode Island prison for a 1973 murder. The felon who had spent time in several prisons was also accused of a homicide in prison but never charged. It didn't take long for Bishop to land in prison again this time for the 2008 murder of thirty-five year old Gabriel Medeiros, 35. There were cries of "I told you so" and now those protests are loud with Woodmansee. People feel if he is let go it is not a question of if but when he will strike.


UPDATE:

Michael Woodmansee voluntarily committed himself to a Rhode Island Mental Institution for further evaluation. There is no telling, how long he will stay there.