State Police are asking the public, businesses and hunters near a state university campus
State Police are asking the public, businesses and hunters near a state university campus to review their surveillance systems after Honoree Fleming, a retired dean and professor who was married to best-selling author Ron Powers, was found shot to death on a rail trail last week. Police said Friday night an autopsy showed that Fleming, 77, of Castleton, died from a gunshot wound to the head on Thursday afternoon. She was found on the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail about a mile south of the Castleton campus of Vermont State University, which was closed. A witness reported a possible suspect was northbound on the trail walking towards the campus after gunshots were heard, police said. The witness described a 5-foot-10-inch white male with short, red hair, last seen wearing a dark gray T-shirt and carrying a black backpack. State police said he is considered to be armed and dangerous and asked anyone who might have seen him to call them. Fleming was a beloved retired dean of education and researcher “with countless papers published,” the university said in a statement Friday. Fleming died days before what would have been the couple’s 45th wedding anniversary.