BENNINGTON — The three-times delayed murder trial of accused killer Deven Moffitt was officially scheduled by a Bennington judge for a record-setting 14 days this coming January with a different judge.
Included in the schedule is a possible site visit by the jury to the scene of the homicide- a rural gravel pit along Somerset Road in Searsburg.
Moffitt, 33, was charged in June 2022 with murder in the second degree in the death of Jessica Hildenbrandt, 47, after a 33-month investigation revealed a violent and abusive relationship that started when Moffitt was a Vermont prisoner.
Along with the new starting dates of the long-awaited trial, Judge Kerry McDonald-Cady also announced that the scheduled judge in the case, Judge Jennifer Barrett, who will take over the criminal duties from Judge McDonald-Cady this coming September, has recused herself from the upcoming trial. It is unclear as to the reasons or possible past connections Judge Barrett might have to Moffitt. Judge Barrett was once the Family Court judge here in Bennington County. Family court records in Vermont are sealed. There were no records of Judge Barrett being involved with Moffitt in any past criminal cases after a record review by the Banner.
On a sunny day in mid-September 2019, a man walking through a gravel pit in Searsburg discovered what appeared to be a human jawbone on the ground. Vermont State Police soon arrived and, after searching the area in and around the gravel pit for several days after the 2019 discovery, found a shallow grave nearby on Somerset Road. The grave was covered with dirt, rocks, and tree branches. It was apparent to investigators that the grave had been disturbed by animals.
They found large amounts of human hair still attached to the scalp, fingernails, teeth, and jewelry. Additional bones were discovered nearby. DNA testing revealed a match to Hildenbrandt.
According to police affidavits, Hildenbrandt was in a tenuous and abusive relationship with Moffitt while he was serving time in Vermont for leaving the scene of a crash with property damage and escaping custody. It started as a respectful relationship, but Moffitt became controlling and possessive at some point in the phone- and email-only relationship, threatening Hildenbrandt and accusing her of being with someone else.
Soon after his initial arrest, Moffitt demanded Hildenbrandt begin sneaking contraband drugs into the prison for him by sewing Suboxone strips into her court clothes and bringing them into the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield. The affidavit names several other females that Moffitt also used as drug mules at the prison for illegal drugs.
Hildenbrandt, feeling threatened, eventually emailed the Windsor County State’s Attorney’s Office to indicate that she was in fear for her life.
“Please Help Me … ” she wrote at the end of the email to authorities. She quoted Moffit as saying, “You know I am coming home, and I will kill you.”
At one point, Moffitt allegedly intimidated Hildenbrandt into putting her house up as collateral so he could get out of jail. That was July 8, 2019, six days before police believe Hildenbrandt might have been killed. She is thought to have been slain sometime between July 14 and 15 of that year.
Authorities launched a long homicide investigation that ended in Moffit’s arrest after a joint operation made up of Bennington Police, FBI, Homeland Security, and Vermont State Police, and ended with Moffitt being chased and then tackled on Jefferson Avenue in Bennington.
According to several witnesses, Moffitt was carrying a black fanny pack right before his arrest and dumped the bag into a trash can as he ran from police. Vermont State Police located the bag inside a trash can. They found about 3,750 bags of suspected fentanyl, 20 grams of suspected crack cocaine, 22.5 grams of cocaine powder, 100 prescription pills, a loaded .22-caliber revolver, a loaded 9 mm pistol, a cellphone, and $16,474 in cash.
Moffitt was found guilty on three charges last month in a federal criminal trial. He was convicted in federal court in Burlington on three gun and drug charges. The jury found Moffitt guilty initially on two charges: possession of both fentanyl and cocaine and a second count of possession of a fully .22-caliber revolver and a loaded 9-mm pistol with the safety off to help further his drug trafficking business.
After delivering the two guilty verdicts, the jury was asked to consider a third felony charge: whether Moffitt was guilty of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm when he was eventually arrested that day in Bennington. It took 5 minutes to convict on the third charge.
Local News
Accused gravel pit killer files motion to suppress evidence in federal court
- By Michael Albans, Bennington Banner
The six men and six women on the jury were never told that the gun and drug charges stemmed from Moffitt's arrest on Hildenbrandt’s murder charge. He faces sentencing on the federal offenses in November, two months before the start of his murder trial in Bennington.
Moffitt has a lengthy criminal record in Vermont, including felony and misdemeanor convictions for assaults, assaults on law enforcement officers, escaping custody, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, unlawful trespass, and aggravated assault, as well as felony drug convictions in Massachusetts. He is facing a possible life imprisonment with the presumptive minimum term of 20 years if convicted on the single murder 2 charge.
Moffitt is being held without bail at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans. He is scheduled to be transported to Bennington for the duration of his trial in January.
