Murderer had long history of violence
by Franci Richardson, Laurel J. Sweet and Eric Convey
Sunday, August 24, 2003
Defrocked priest John J. Geoghan met his end at the hands of a vicious convicted killer who spewed hatred for gays, African-Americans and Jews and was serving a life sentence for a crime of unspeakable brutality on the North Shore.
Joseph L. Druce, 37, will be charged with murder, Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday.
Even if convicted, however, his punishment is likely to be of little consequence.
According to state Department of Corrections records, he already is serving a life sentence without parole for first-degree murder, armed robbery, theft of a vehicle and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
In 1988, while still going by his birth name, Darrin Smiledge, he brutally killed George Rollo of Gloucester.
According to affidavits in that case, Rollo picked Smiledge up hitch-hiking. Smiledge then beat Rollo and stuffed him in the trunk of Rollo's car.
Smiledge later strangled Rollo with a rope before dumping his body near the North Shore Music Theatre off Route 128 in Beverly.
``It was kind of a brutal case,'' recalled John Bianchi, a now-retired Beverly police detective who arrested Smiledge for Rollo's murder.
``He drove around with the guy in his trunk for quite a while,'' Bianchi said.
When arrested days after the killing, Smiledge was still wearing Rollo's bloody shirt, another investigator involved in the case told the Herald last night.
Smiledge later told the Beverly Times he attacked Rollo in response to a sexual advance. Police said Rollo was a homosexual.
Smiledge, speaking to a Times reporter in a jailhouse interview, denied being gay, saying ``I hate'' homosexuals.
Smiledge's defense was that he killed Rollo but was not responsible due to psychological problems. He was convicted.
In prison, Smiledge amassed a further record of trouble.
On one occasion, he allegedly mailed his own feces to then-Attorney General L. Scott Harshbarger.
When his attempts to win freedom through federal authorities failed, Smiledge allegedly lashed out at them.
A year ago he pleaded guilty to mass-mailing 40 anthrax hoax letters to lawyers with Jewish-sounding surnames around the country in the weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Smiledge's father, reached last night at his home in Byfield, offered little sympathy last night for his son's latest victim.
``I'm glad he did it. (Geoghan) was an idiot,'' Dana Smiledge said.
The elder Smiledge said his son is a priest in a cult and has written a book about killing Jews and black people.
``Something is wrong with that,'' he said.
Dana Smiledge long ago disowned his murderous son, who has been in jail for 15 years.
The boy came from what his father admitted was a troubled household.
While expressing no sympathy for his son, whom he also called ``an idiot,'' Dana Smiledge offered one piece of information that could help to explain yesterday's cold-blooded murder.
While a child, Darrin Smiledge was a longtime victim of sexual abuse by adult men, his father said.
Dana Smiledge and Darrin's mother divorced more than 30 years ago. His father said his other sons no longer speak with Darrin either.
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