HINGHAM, Mass. (AP) – Two friends beat two homeless men to death with baseball bats, then used one man’s severed hand to brag about the killings at a party, police allege in documents filed in court Tuesday.
Eric Snow, 25, of Bridgewater, and James Winquist, 23, of Weymouth, pleaded not guilty to murder charges during their arraignment Tuesday in Hingham District Court.
The men were arrested Friday for the deaths of William Chrapan, 44, and David Lyons, 46, whose bodies were found on May 9, 2005, in an abandoned military bunker outside Bare Cove Park in Hingham. Police believe they were killed in April 2005.
It was not immediately clear what motivated the attack.
Police said two witnesses told them Snow and Winquist bragged about the slayings at a party in Hingham, where they showed off Chrapan’s severed right hand.
“Mr. Winquist told the witnesses that this hand was the hand that had been cut off from a homeless man who they had killed at Bare Cove Park,” Sgt. Leonard Coppenarth wrote in a police report filed in court. “These witnesses told me that they had seen and heard Eric Snow and James Winquist mock the two murder victims by making gurgling sounds to imitate the death of the two homeless men.”
In July 2005, a witness directed police to Snow’s mother’s house in Bridgewater. Investigators found Chrapan’s hand buried near a utility pole not far from her yard, according to the police report.
The two men also discussed the killings in telephone calls that were recorded, police said.
Judge Patrick Hurley ordered both men held without bail. They are scheduled to return to court Oct. 5.
Both men are members of a white supremacy group, a witness told police. They also have lengthy criminal histories, court records show.
Snow is known as Killa, a nickname he had tattooed on his neck. Winquist has his nickname, Twister, tattooed on his back along with the words “I hate you” on his forearm.
After the court hearing, Lisa Winquist told reporters her son was wrongly accused and denied her son is a white supremacist.
Snow repeatedly shook his head during the arraignment as if denying the allegations against him.
AP-ES-09-04-07 1444EDT
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