#billysullivan

Untitled (V), Billy Sullivan, 1997, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift Size: 11 1/2 x 16 1/2" (29.2 sec., 41.9 cm) Medium: Ink on paper

Somewhere on the internet, two quiet teenagers, living in broken homes two states apart, found one another.

Nicole, 16, loved her music, so much that her neighbors said she spent hours alone at home listening to CD’s. Billy lived in Willimantic, a respectful but troubled 18-year-old who worked at McDonald's and loved driving his black Chevy.

Something between them clicked, and the relationship evolved. A few weeks later, Nicole Kasinskas and Billy Sullivan decided they wanted to live together in Connecticut.

They had a problem, though. Nicole's mother objected. So, according to police, Billy and Nicole decided to kill her.

A select few knew that Nicole had a boyfriend. Billy, told some friends about a girlfriend he had out of state. But mostly, it seems, they kept their relationship to themselves.

Nicole was a straight A student. As a result, she was often bullied. Nicole’s dad had left her after her parents’ divorce, so it was just her and her mom. Nicole didn’t really have friends, because of this her mother became her best friend. They were inseparable— joined at the hip.

After learning about Billy and Nicole’s relationship, Jeanne accepted encouraged their relationship. Unfortu, this would prove fatal for her in the end.

According to reports, the teenagers said in separate interviews that they had tried to kill Jeanne three times. The fourth time, however, they succeeded.

The first idea was to stage an accident that would set the house on fire. The plan was to use a candle to burn Jeanne's bed or mattress, but it failed because the bedding was made of fire-retardant material.

Then, they tried to poison her by putting Dimetapp, Benadryl and other drugs into coffee creamer in the refrigerator. After Jeanne used the creamer but didn't die, they added bleach to the container, according to the reports. It is not confirmed whether she consumed the creamer spiked with bleach though.

Their final failed attempt involved blowing up the fuel oil tank in Jeanne’s house. Billy and Nicole tied two ropes together to serve as a wick and intended to ignite the rope with a lighter. This scheme ``was also unsuccessful,'' according to a document that did not elaborate further.

Jeanne Dominico was 43. She was a single mother devoted to Nicole and her 14 year old brother Charlie. On August 6, she was found face down in a pool of blood on her kitchen floor; her throat and neck slashed repeatedly.

Billy told police he did it. Nicole told them she helped plan the attack. She also told the police about their deal: if Billy killed Jeanne, Nicole would clean the mess.

Rather than running away to Connecticut— as planned—  Nicole and Billy are now in separate prisons. They will spend the next 30 years in prison.

The brutal killing caused shock and puzzlement in two communities.

How could such a pleasant mother, who lived a seemingly ordinary life in an unremarkable house, find herself caught up in a cold-blooded plot, hatched by two love-struck teenagers?

And what of these teenagers? Who by most accounts were largely invisible in their respective schools, doing little— good or bad— to distinguish themselves?

Family members have been reluctant to talk. Friends and acquaintances interviewed over the past two weeks say they know little about Nicole Kasinskas and Billy Sullivan and the lives they led.

“The whole thing is unbelievable,'' said Douglas Milroy, a truck driver who owns property next to the house where Dominico died. “It's like a Sunday night movie.'' Milroy said he is convinced Billy must have manipulated Nicole. She was a “sweet, cute kid'' whom he watched grow up and in whom he never saw signs of trouble.

In Willimantic, neighbors and acquaintances have much the same of Billy. “He's quiet — he didn't really like to talk,'' said Danny Goss, a student at Windham High who has been friends with Billy. “But he was good in school and didn't get in any trouble.''

Official reports released by the courts present a dramatically different picture. Although the court records do not indicate how Jeanne reacted to these attempts, tension in the house was apparent.

Nicole told police that her mother objected to her plans to move out and live with Billy. She also wrote letters to her mother about troubling issues in their relationship.

Billy had been staying at the house, for the week leading up to Jeanne’s killing. Although a neighbor in Willimantic said he saw Billy outside his home about 2 p.m. the day she died.

A neighbor in Nashua, Alissa Bettencourt, said she arrived home about 8:30 p.m. the night of the killing to find police swarming inside and around the small, residential street.

The police had been called about an hour earlier, when an acquaintance of Jeanne had gone to the house and found her body.