Samizdat

By Jeff Blanchard

Dr. Ann Gryboski confessed to shooting her husband of 30 years  to DA Michael O'KeefeShe lives within eyesight of the murder scene, and yet she has not been approached by law enforcement to find out what she saw and what she knows about her longtime neighbors.

She wants to come forward, but in the absence of anyone's having taken an official interest in her story, what is she to do?

Her story, told privately and still unheard by law enforcement as recently as 10 days ago, would serve as a counter-balance to the reporting to date.

To date, there has yet to be an independently confirmed finding of fact that Patrick Lancaster ever once beat/abused his wife. What the world can be sure of is that someone shot him dead, and two people survived the slaughter, the mother and one of her two sons, alleged to be the only people there.

Her confession (and facial bruising) apparently ended any probe into the killing, unless you count the grand jury investigation being conducted by the killer's longtime neighbor the district attorney.

Tom Mullen, who lives across the street, spoke for many when he said it was obvious what happened. Even though he never had a clue Lancaster had beaten her before, it was obvious he had this time, on Easter weekend.

And so the killer/doctor is free and will remain so, because no one is going looking for witnesses to a murder that didn't happen. It was a killing in self-defense. Ask anyone except the rest of the neighbors, who apparently did not mix much with the doctor nor her handy, mechanically-inclined husband, despite the various children and dogs involved.

64 days before the murder they took out a $140,000 mortgage loan that was discharged the next dayClues to their life together can be sniffed from the paper trail: a year ago they tussled with the town's historic commission over their application to construct a detached building and a fence, and 64 days before the murder they took out a $140,000 mortgage loan that was discharged the next day.

Remnants of his life remain in the driveway, his pickup truck and three boats, including the one he used for fishing charters. Unfortunately, that's about as far as it goes for his public legacy, what remains in the driveway. Their boys do not at this juncture appear headed in a proud-son direction.

Gagged, in other words, by her former neighbor the district attorneyAs for his siblings, a gag order has been placed on the whole family, according to a story in The Boston Globe that quoted the doctor/killer's brother, Joe, who said Lancaster's siblings are on Ann's side and they were ordered not to talk to anyone besides the district attorney, defense counsel Kevin Reddington and police; gagged, in other words, by her former neighbor the district attorney.

What the neighbor-nurse would say if asked

What the neighbor-nurse would say if asked is that she witnessed a dysfunctional family dynamic that was just the opposite of the composite portrait as it has been painted for the public in the wake of the killing.

The public is told by all manner of testifier, family, friend, patient, lawyer and commentators near and far: here lies a classic case of long-term abused and battered woman, unable to involve the police, unable to cope any longer with the suffering and the physical threats to herself and her children and grandchild.

You beat me while I drove that infant in the back seat. You battered me and abused me and I just couldn't take it any longer. You were so selfish you wouldn't even get drunk and beat me, because you didn't drink. You sat there with your new hip all smug about being the senior lab guy at the maritime academy on Long Island, and your birthday right around the corner, and no, I didn't get you anything. You are rotten and horrible and deserve to die. You useless piece of trash. I have half a mind to shoot you myself. In fact, that's what I'm going to do. Shoot you. Right here. Right now. In front of our son. On Easter, three days before your birthday, in our home, with two from my trusty shooter.

Is that how this went down? C'mon.

I know for a fact that he was no angel. Angels make lousy post-mortem devils.I know for a fact that he was no angel. Angels make lousy post-mortem devils. I heard how he went to a nice old lady's house near Barnstable village center and made a bid on some roof repair work. The bid was high, but the work needed doing. Allegedly he did a lousy job, and his work required its own repair by another contractor. I believe this story, and I believe that he had a horrible, inexorable relationship with his wife.

Really, the lingering question for a sympathetic public is why it took so long for her to shoot him.

Because she confessed straight away, there was never a need to test any other theories about what may have happened that Easter morning at 11 Coach Lane. There was never a need for neighbor/DA to order the police to canvas the neighbors.

Why bother them?

As it is now, with the case in the hands of the neighbor/DA, this is exactly where story ends for Patrick Eugene Lancaster -- born April 11, 1956, died April 8, 2007, father, grandfather, brother, lifetime mariner, war veteran and husband of 30 years to Ann Gryboski, a medical doctor until she confessed to a killing which apparently needed doing.

Here's an update: A second abutter emerged Thursday who had a view to the killing scene (as opposed to the killing itself), and the story was the same.
   Four months have passed since the Easter slaughter, and no one from the state or Barnstable police has thought to contact her.
   So what I'm wondering now is -- what's taking those jurors so long to establish her innocence? They can't have much to talk about, considering the two neighbors who live closest to the killing were never canvassed by police.