Twenty-eight-year-old Dean Webster was known as a hardworking, easygoing man who loved the outdoors. A skilled pipefitter and welder, he had been building his own home on a secluded property along Sky Hollow Road in Rochester, Vermont, nestled among dense woods and rolling hills. Friends and family described him as friendly, humorous, and well-liked; someone who made connections easily and had no known enemies.
He was proud of the life he was creating. The home he was constructing symbolized independence and a future he was steadily working toward. That future, however, would never be realized.
On the evening of November 15th, 2001, Dean had plans to meet up with his sister Sandy. When he failed to show up, concern quickly set in among those close to him.
The following day, a friend went to check on him. What they discovered was devastating: Dean Webster had been shot dead outside the very home he was building.
Investigators quickly ruled out the possibility of an accident. Dean had been shot multiple times—including one shot to the chest and one to the head—at close range, estimated to be within fifty feet.
Authorities emphasized that the weapon used was not typical for hunting, despite the timing of the incident during Vermont’s rifle season.
There was no indication that Webster had been mistaken for someone else. Detectives believed he likely saw his killer before he died, a haunting detail that has lingered over the case ever since.
Perhaps the most perplexing aspect of the case is the absence of a clear motive. Dean Webster had no known conflicts, debts, or disputes that would suggest he was a target.
Police interviewed numerous individuals over the years, but no suspect has ever been publicly identified. The case quickly went cold, joining the ranks of Vermont’s unsolved homicides.
In a poignant act of remembrance, Dean’s sister eventually completed the home he had been building and moved into it, a living tribute to the life he never got to finish.
More than twenty years later, the murder of Dean Webster is still unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 