On the evening of August 19, 2022, a violent confrontation inside an apartment complex on Putney Road in Brattleboro, Vermont, ended with 32-year-old Michael Mikey R. Ledbetter shot and found unresponsive on the housing complex lawn. The initial call reported a shooting; officers located Ledbetter bleeding from gunshot wounds. The man who called 911, identified at the scene as Nicholas Baker, told police Ledbetter had forced entry into his apartment, attacked him and that a handgun had fallen from Ledbetter’s pocket during the struggle. Baker said he seized the firearm and fired as Ledbetter advanced, and that Ledbetter then jumped out of a window.

Investigators later questioned elements of Baker’s account. Baker was taken into custody on a probation violation at the scene; a search of his apartment turned up 50 bags of fentanyl and a Bersa 9mm handgun, leading to federal charges for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. In February 2023 a grand jury returned a second-degree murder indictment charging Baker; prosecutors said they did not accept his claim of self-defense and said the men knew each other, though the reason Ledbetter was at the apartment that night has not been disclosed. Baker pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

Does anyone have information about Ledbetter’s movements in Brattleboro on August 19, 2022, or about why he might have been at that apartment?