CONCORD – Friends of Mont Vernon residents David and Jaimie Cates said Tuesday they weren’t surprised that the state Adult Parole Board granted parole for Autumn Savoy, the Hollis man who helped his friends get rid of evidence after they killed Kimberly Cates and seriously injured her daughter Jaime in 2009, and they now hope Savoy uses the opportunity to make something of himself.

Sharon and Lucien Soucy and Chris Lussier, who attended Tuesday’s hearing on behalf of the Cates family, said Kimberly Cates’ husband and daughter “are done with” Savoy and much prefer focusing on “moving forward with their lives.” The three spoke briefly outside the New Hampshire State Prison following the roughly 25-minute hearing.

Savoy, now 25, pleaded guilty in 2011 to conspiracy and hindering apprehension and was sentenced to 5-12 years in state prison for his role in a brutal, random crime that shattered the quiet of a small town and shocked many people well beyond New Hampshire’s borders.

Former Brookline residents Steven Spader and Christopher Gribble were convicted at trial and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Spader was charged with killing Kimberly Cates, while Gribble was accused of attacking Jaimie and leaving her for dead in the bedroom of their Trow Road home.

The other two perpetrators, former Amherst residents Quinn Glover and William Marks, were convicted of participating in the break-in and being present for the assaults and murder. Both were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, but Glover will become eligible for parole in 2017.

Sharon Soucy, who has acted as a Cates family spokeswoman since shortly after the Oct. 4, 2009, home invasion, assault and murder, choked up as she began to read a brief statement to the board.

“It’s been just over five years that family and friends who loved Kim so much … each new year brings about more and more (events) that Kim is not able to be here for,” Soucy said.

Kimberly Cates wasn’t there as her daughter “picked out her prom dress … she wasn’t there to do her hair for her,” Soucy said, her voice breaking occasionally. “There are countless other times Kim should have been there.”

Savoy, whose mother, Katherine Savoy, and sisters Veronica and Victoria Savoy attended the hearing, told the three-member parole board that he’s been incarcerated because “51?2 years ago, I destroyed evidence and gave false alibis” to try to help four friends elude police in the hours after they broke into the Cates’ Mont Vernon home, killed Kimberly Cates and maimed her then-11-year-old daughter.

Katherine, Veronica and Victoria Savoy were escorted from the prison after the hearing and weren’t available for comment.

Lussier, standing with the Soucys and state prison spokesman Jeff Lyons after the hearing, said Jaimie Cates “has got a lot going on … has a lot to look forward to” as she and her father move forward with their lives.

“Jaimie went to her (junior) prom and has started looking at colleges as she looks forward to her senior year,” Lussier said.

Next week, David and Jaimie Cates will be “handing out $25,000 in scholarships to deserving students at Souhegan High School,” Lussier said, referring to the Kimberly Cates Memorial Scholarship Fund (www.kimcatesfund.org) created in her memory to assist graduating Souhegan High seniors pursuing careers in the medical and health care fields.

The scholarships will be presented during Souhegan’s Senior Scholarship and Awards Night on Monday in the school theater.

Asked if certain milestones help bring measures of closure for the Cates family and their friends, Sharon Soucy said they don’t look at it that way.

“There’s no closure,” she said. “It becomes part of your life. You embrace what you have.”

Watching Jaimie grow up and flourish, Soucy said, is of great comfort and a source of happiness.

“Kim is here, kind of, in Jaimie,” she said.

In announcing the board’s decision to grant Savoy parole, member Barbara Maloney ordered him to complete his post-incarceration plan, which includes where he intends to reside, his current and future employment plans, and how he will address issues such as health insurance, transportation and setting up meetings with his parole officer.

Savoy told the board he’s been working on the plan since he was denied parole last year, and while the plan “is not formulated yet,” he said it is well underway and he expects he’ll finish it soon.

The lack of a suitable plan contributed to the board’s September decision to deny Savoy parole. Chief among the reasons, members stated at the time, was his proposal to move into a Nashua rooming house where convicted felons are known to reside and police activity is common.

Savoy said he now intends to live at his mother’s house, the Runnells Bridge Road home in Hollis where he lived until he was arrested and imprisoned.

He told the board he is currently “working 60-70 hours a week” at two restaurants at the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester. He said he also wants to go to school to be a machinist.

Maloney also ordered Savoy to clear up a restitution issue from an unrelated case, submit to a LADAC evaluation – a substance-use evaluation performed by a licensed alcohol and drug counselor – have no contact with members of the Cates family and notify his parole officer when he purchases the vehicle he said he intends to buy from his employer.

Asked by board member Jeffrey Brown how he intends to “handle your fame,” Savoy promptly answered, “Keep to myself. I understand that due to the circumstances, I will be in the spotlight,” he said.

“You will be under intense scrutiny,” Maloney told Savoy. “You’ll need to toe the line, as you have said you would.”

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443, dshalhoup@nashua
telegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.

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