Vermont man gets 25 years in prison for kidnapping NH mom, young son

Jun. 18—A Vermont man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the kidnapping of a woman and her young son from the Mall of New Hampshire five years ago.

Everett Simpson, 46, of Saint Johnsbury was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III to a term of 300 months' imprisonment to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont said in a news release.

Simpson was previously convicted in federal court for two counts of kidnapping and two counts of interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle following a six-day trial in April 2023. He represented himself at the trial and during sentencing.

According to court documents and testimony, on Jan. 4, 2019, Simpson left a trail of havoc across three states, with officials claiming:

—He walked away from a drug treatment center where a judge had ordered him to remain before trial. He stole a van in Newbury, Vermont, abandoned it in Manchester and later that day kidnapped a woman and her preschool-aged son from the mall parking lot.

—He forced her to drive to Vermont and visit at least one house in the Bradford area in search of Simpson's estranged wife. Simpson was obsessed over suspicions she was cheating on him.

—He brought the woman to a Vermont hotel room, where he raped her in front of her son, according to charging documents. He stole her car and was eventually arrested in Pennsylvania after a police chase involving another stolen car ended in a crash.

During the course of the federal case, Simpson fired four rounds of public defenders or court-appointed lawyers before opting to represent himself. The trial took six days, and a federal public defender was assigned as stand-by counsel.

The state of Vermont paid $400,000 to settle claims filed by Simpson's victim, who faulted Vermont State Police for not acting quickly enough when Simpson absconded from a court-ordered drug treatment facility.

Claims against the Valley Vista treatment facility were settled in a confidential resolution, said the woman's attorney, Anthony Carr of Dover.

Simpson's issues began in September 2018, when he stole an SUV in Littleton and drove it into Vermont, police said. Vermont State Police pursued the vehicle, and when apprehended, Simpson allegedly fought with two Vermont state troopers, trying to wrestle the service weapon from one.

Jailed in Vermont on $20,000 bail, Simpson ended up at Valley Vista after a judge reduced his bail to $3,000 and ordered him to the treatment facility.

"The defendant's crimes were extraordinarily serious — both in their violent and random nature," said United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest in a statement. "An across-the-board guilty verdict in April and today's sentencing closes a dark period in two victims' lives and hopefully allows their healing process to continue and provides a sense of security to them and others, knowing that the community will be protected from this defendant for many years to come."