← All cases

Michael Woodmansee

Active

1975–1975

Region

South Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA

State

RI

Kind

Single

Status

Pleaded guilty

Victims

1

Jason Foreman, 5, disappeared on May 18, 1975, after playing with friends near his home in Peace Dale, a village of South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The case went unsolved for seven years until his teenage neighbor, Michael Woodmansee, was arrested in 1982 for attacking another boy and confessed to killing Jason. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years. His release in 2011, after 28 years with credit for good behavior, caused an outcry; he was immediately committed to a state psychiatric hospital.

Ask the Atlas about this case →

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Jason Foreman, 5 · May 18, 1975

  Remembered by his father as "a well-behaved boy, very smart, very intelligent for his age."

Timeline of locations

1. 1975
   Woodmansee family home, Peace Dale (Killer's residence, approximate area)

   Woodmansee, a 16-year-old South Kingstown High School junior in 1975, lived with his father across the street from the Foremans. He was arrested in April 1982 and confessed to killing Jason.

2. May 18, 1975
   Peace Dale, South Kingstown (Abduction, approximate area)

   Jason was playing with his older brother and other boys in Peace Dale and set off for home in the afternoon. He never arrived. Woodmansee lived across the street from the Foreman family.

3. 1983
   Adult Correctional Institutions, High Security Center, Cranston (Prison)

   Woodmansee served his sentence at the state prison in Cranston, held in protective custody in the High Security unit. He was released in September 2011 after about 28 years.

Sources

• Convicted child killer released from R.I. prison 11 years early (CBS Boston, Sept 9, 2011)
• Dad: I'll kill my son's murderer if he's released (AP via NBC News, March 2011)
• The release of child killer Michael Woodmansee (The Independent, South Kingstown)
• Michael Woodmansee (Wikipedia)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.