> 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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