Man charged with Colby murder leaves six-state trail of criminal charges

PORTLAND – A Utah parolee charged with the murder of a Colby College student has faced dozens of criminal charges in six states over the past 31 years.

Edward J. Hackett, 47, has been in and out of reform school, jail and prison every year of his life since he was 16, according to the Maine Sunday Telegram.

The newspaper reported that Hackett has crisscrossed the country for more than two decades, leaving a trail of kidnappings, thefts, burglaries and robberies. The paper said Hackett dropped out of school in the seventh grade, was estranged from his parents most of his adult life and has used drugs – including cocaine, speed and heroin – for much of his life.

Documents show that he has criminal records in Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Utah, Texas and California. He is now charged with kidnapping and murdering 21-year-old Dawn Rossignol of Medway last month. Police say he abducted Rossignol in a Colby parking lot.

At the time of his arrest, Hackett was living with his parents in Vassalboro while on parole from the Utah prison system. He was released in March after serving 12 years in prison and the Utah state mental hospital for kidnapping and robbery.

Dick Tompkins, a Houlton native who moved to Stafford, Conn., more than 30 years ago, remembers Hackett as a troublemaker and petty thief when Hackett was a teenager in Stafford. Tompkins said many of Hackett’s friends back then are now in jail or prison, but none is accused of murder.

“All of those guys got more time behind bars than outside, but it would be breaking and entering and stealing. Kid stuff like that, not killing people,” Tompkins said.

Hackett, who was sometimes known as “Rocky” or “Breeze,” once told a woman he attempted to kidnap in 1977 that “he was sick, he was sick,” according to a police report.

He once told the Utah parole board that at one time he lived in a train yard in California, picking up aluminum cans on the side of the highway, scared to go into town. He also told the board that he felt he couldn’t return to his hometown of Stafford because of his notoriety there.

“I was notorious in [Stafford] and probably the worst thing I could have done was be in that town,” he said. “I stayed there for a week and I tried … I went to a couple places and interviewed for jobs and as soon as my name goes through, it was over. They didn’t want nothing to do with me.”