AT 2:40 A.M. ON JUNE 9, 2013, SERGEANT DETECTIVE GARY HAYWARD WAS DISPATCHED TO AN ADDRESS NEAR THE CENTER OF THE TONY TOWN OF TOPSFIELD, IN THE NORTH SHORE REGION OF MASSACHUSETTS. THERE, HE FOUND AN ELDERLY WOMAN ON A BENCH OUTSIDE THE TOWN LIBRARY IN HER BATHROBE, SOBBING, HER DISHEVELED AND DISTRAUGHT COMPANION BESIDE HER.
HAYWARD, A PATIENT MAN WITH A CALM DEMEANOR HONED OVER nearly 30 years in law enforcement, sat with the woman, Glenda Duckworth, as she described being forced to climb out of her bedroom window to escape her 6-foot-2, 240-pound son, Daniel Morley, after he attacked her, yelling, “Witch, burn in hell!” She said her son snatched her eyeglasses off her face and began melting them on the stove, threw her in a chair and…