Name: Cole Bushnell
41 years old
Ashley Falls, MA.
Great Barrington, MA- On Tuesday, June 2nd Cole Bushnell was arraigned for Murder in Great Barrington District Court. The Defendant is being held without the right to bail without prejudice and has a no contact order for witnesses to the crime. The Defendant is alleged to have murdered Michael Moore (Winsted, Connecticut: 40 years old).
On Monday, June 1st at approximately 1:34pm the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit (SPDU) assigned to the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office received a report from the Sheffield Police Department of a suspected homicide in Ashley Falls (located in Sheffield), Massachusetts.
Earlier in the day, a witness who worked with the Defendant made a report to the Connecticut State Police stating that there was a dead body at 546 Polikoff Road, Ashley Falls. The witness stated that he went to the Defendant’s home (located at 546 Polikoff Road) and the Defendant showed him a dead body in a greenhouse under a mattress. The witness was able to leave the property and immediately drove to a Connecticut State Police station near to his location. The Connecticut State Police contacted the Sheffield Police Department who then responded to the scene.
Upon arrival, Sheffield police located a body in the greenhouse. There were signs of blunt force trauma to Mr. Moore’s head and a puncture wound in his back. The Defendant was not on the scene when law enforcement arrived; however, at approximately 5:23pm he returned to the house after he had been told his house was on fire. (There was not a fire at the residence. People in the area may have believed there was a fire because of dispatch calls that go out during emergency responses.) When the Defendant returned to the house, he was wearing clothes stained in reddish/brown consistent with blood. The Defendant was brought into custody without incident.
The Defendant and the victim had a prior relationship including a friendship and professional connection. Both men were painters and sometimes worked together. Prior to the murder, there was a conflict between the Defendant and victim regarding a shared job. Additionally, leading up to the murder the Defendant began to demonstrate paranoid behavior and also altered the position of and turned off other security cameras around his property.
The investigation remains in its early stages. Law enforcement agencies involved include the Sheffield Police Department, the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit, the Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services Section, the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab, the Connecticut State Police, Sheffield Fire, and the Massachusetts State Police Troop B.