On the evening of November 20, 1998, 45-year-old Conservation Officer James Spignesi was shot while on patrol in a field off Pudding Hill Road in Scotland, Connecticut. Spignesi and his partner, Officer Anthony Rose, were investigating reports of illegal deer hunting after hunting hours when a single rifle shot struck Spignesi in the chest. Rose apprehended a suspect at the scene and attempted to render aid; Spignesi was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead a short time later.

His death was the first time a conservation officer was fatally shot in the line of duty in Connecticut’s 131-year conservation law enforcement history. The person taken into custody was identified as Kevin O’Connell, an off-duty state corrections officer who admitted firing the shot but said it was a tragic accident after mistaking Spignesi, who was wearing camouflage, for a deer. O’Connell was tried on second-degree manslaughter with a firearm and criminally negligent homicide; the jury acquitted him.

Did anyone in the area that night notice hunting activity or anything unusual near Pudding Hill Road?