A wooded area off Route 119 in Rindge became a crime scene this summer after a jogger spotted the body of a Massachusetts man investigators later alleged was murdered in a treehouse in the neighboring town of Ashburnham, Massachusetts in June.
Julia Enright, 21, of Ashburnham, was charged with murder in the district court July 24 after the body of Brandon Chicklis of Westminster, Massachusetts, was discovered on the side of Route 119 in Rindge on July 10. Enright has been held without bail since.
On Dec. 21, Enright was indicted by a Worcester County grand jury with murder in his death. Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. announced the indictment in a press release. “Family members had reported Chicklis missing after he left his home on June 23 to visit family in New Hampshire then never arrived. Investigators searched Enright’s residence at 171 Packard Hill Road in Ashburnham prior to her arrest and found evidence relating to Chicklis’ death,” the press release said. “The indictment moves Enright’s case to Worcester Superior Court where she is scheduled to be arraigned on January 3.”
Chicklis and Enright had been classmates at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School and knew each other, according to Early. But it was his cell phone records that brought investigators to her Packard Hill Road home, where Chicklis’ blood was found in a nearby treehouse as well as her vehicle, according to investigators.
“Mr. Chicklis’ cell phone records placed him at 171 Packard Hill Road in Ashburnham, Mass., on June the 23,” Early said.
Several search warrants were executed at the Packard Hill Road address, evidence was gathered and interviews were conducted.
“On June 23, Brandon Chicklis left his home in Westminster, Massachusetts,” according to Early. “On June 24 his family members reported him as missing. On June 29, his car was discovered in the parking lot of a Hannaford supermarket on Route 202 in Rindge, New Hampshire. On July 10, his body was found on the side of Route 119 in Rindge, about six miles from the supermarket.”
The location of his body is also about six miles from Enright’s home in Ashburnham. The scenic drive through rural Ashburnham into Rindge from Packard Hill Road includes Lake Road, East Rindge Road and finally Old Ashburnham Road that meets with Route 119 in Rindge, directly opposite East Main Street. New Hampshire investigators said the body was found off Route 119 between East Main Street and North Street.
On the day Chicklis would have turned 21 years old, Enright was arraigned in the Winchendon District Court in Gardner, Mass., on one charge of murder for allegedly killing him.
“It is believed that Mr. Chicklis, who would have turned 21 years old today, was killed in Ashburnham. And his body was taken to New Hampshire and left by the side of Route 119, where his body was later discovered by a jogger,” Early said outside of the courthouse in July.
Assistant District Attorney Terry McLaughlin said to the the judge during the July arraignment, “A New Hampshire medical examiner observed numerous wounds and ruled it a death by homicide.”
Chicklis’ cell phone records told investigators Chicklis had been at 171 Packard Hill Road in Ashburnham on June 23 and that there had been no further cell phone activity after that date, indicating that the phone had either been turned off or destroyed at that location. Enright, a resident of the property, told police she made plans to meet Chicklis at her home on June 23, McLaughlin said in court. She told police she spent June 23 with Chicklis, drinking alcohol, then Chicklis left to purchase narcotics and never returned. Her statements to police and Chicklis’ cell phones records led to a search of the property. During the search numerous items were taken from a treehouse near the property. Lab results determined Chicklis’ blood was present on the stairs leading into the treehouse, on the inside of the treehouse, under the treehouse and in Julia Enright’s vehicle, according to her arrest affidavit on file at the courthouse in Gardner, Mass.
“It was apparent that the treehouse had recently been cleaned and a new rug had been placed on the floor. When the rug was removed, it appeared that blood had seeped down through the floorboards. Enright made statements acknowledging visiting the treehouse with friends in the past, however she denied being in the treehouse or her vehicle with Brandon Chicklis on June 23, 2018,” according to the affidavit.
Police allege in the affidavit Enright assaulted Chicklis on June 23 with the intent to murder him.
Winchendon District Court Judge Arthur F. Haley ordered Enright held without bail at her arraignment. She is currently being held at the the Western Mass., Regional Women’s Correctional Center.
Judge Meghan S. Spring said in a Dec. 11 decision regarding the fate of the treehouse that the case is moving at a “glacial pace.” The Dec. 11 order decided motions from both the defense and the prosecution regarding the treehouse.
Prosecutors made a motion asking that the treehouse be released to its owners, saying that investigators had collected all the necessary DNA, photographic, video and 3-D video evidence required for the case and that the owners of the treehouse are seeking to sell their property and want the crime scene removed in order to do so.
“The treehouse is on the property of the owners who are not at all related to the investigation or involved in the alleged crime whatsoever,” the Dec. 11 decision states as a fact. “The owners have retained counsel and are suffering financial hardship due to the treehouse’s designation as a crime scene. As a result of the alleged murder being committed on the owner’s property, they have decided to sell their house and the land upon which the treehouse sits.”
The owners have already bought a new house and are paying two mortgages because they are unable to sell their former home and land, the decision said. The defense argued in a motion that the treehouse should be kept as evidence for the trial. However, Spring ruled the defense has had time to gather evidence from the alleged crime scene and ruled the treehouse would be released to its owners in 30 days from Dec. 11.
“It has been five months and the Commonwealth has yet to indict the defendant. This case is moving at a glacial pace and the owners have been barred from both the use of their property and the freedom to sell it. The fact that the treehouse constitutes a crime scene on the owner’s property is a factor in its failure to sell and has become a financial burden on them with no end in sight.” Spring wrote. “The defendant wants the treehouse preserved for the trial which could conceivably not occur for another year.”
In November the court granted motions from the defense to fund up to $2,750 for an investigator and up to $2,750 to hire a psychiatrist, both to assist in trial preparations.
Enright had been scheduled to return to the district court in Gardner for a status hearing on Jan. 4, but because of the indictment the case is now bound over to the Worcester Superior Court. An indictment is not a ruling of guilt but that there is enough evidence in a case to move forward with a trial.