PLYMOUTH, MA — Michael Hand, 69, was sentenced to life in prison without parole Tuesday after being convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 killing of 15-year-old Tracy Gilpin, whose body was found in a Plymouth forest more than four decades ago.
The conviction closes one of Massachusetts’ longest-running cold cases, involving the death of the sister of former State Police Col. Kerry Gilpin. Hand was found guilty on one count of first-degree murder and received the mandatory life sentence without parole, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office announced. The case had remained dormant for more than 32 years before investigators determined Hand was a potential witness and eventually secured his confession.
Gilpin was reported missing by her family on October 2, 1986, and her body was discovered 20 days later in Myles Standish State Park in Plymouth. The Kingston teenager died from a massive skull fracture, and her death was ruled a homicide. Despite the brutal nature of the crime, the case went cold as investigators lacked sufficient evidence to identify suspects. For more than three decades, the Gilpin family maintained hope that justice would eventually be served, even as the trail grew colder with each passing year.
The breakthrough came in March 2018 when detectives from Plymouth, Kingston, and the Massachusetts State Police traveled to Troutman, North Carolina, to interview Hand as a potential witness. During multiple interviews conducted over several days, Hand made statements that “could be construed as admissions to the crime,” according to prosecutors. He told investigators that he lived in Kingston at the time of the murder, knew Gilpin personally, and held a gathering at his home the night she was last seen alive. Hand’s statements placed him directly at the crime scene, where he claimed he picked up a 73-pound boulder and dropped it on the teenager, identifying the rock to investigators in evidence photos.
Hand was initially arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping, and assault to rape a child following his 2018 interviews with police. However, the kidnapping and assault to rape charges were subsequently dropped in June 2019 because the statute of limitations for those charges had expired, according to court filings. Only the murder charge proceeded to trial, as there is no statute of limitations for homicide cases in Massachusetts. The case drew significant attention partly because of the victim’s connection to law enforcement — Tracy Gilpin was the sister of Kerry Gilpin, who served as State Police colonel at the time of Hand’s arrest.
“The Gilpin family made it their mission to see that justice was done on behalf of Tracy,” Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said in a statement following the sentencing. “They never gave up hope in this pursuit, and today we got that justice.” The family’s persistence over four decades helped keep the case active even during the years when leads ran dry. Hand’s defense attorneys, Paul Lonardo-Roy and Craig Tavares, declined to comment or could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night. The conviction represents a rare resolution of such an old cold case, made possible by advances in investigative techniques and the suspect’s eventual admissions.
The case highlights the challenges investigators face in cold case prosecutions, where physical evidence may be limited and witnesses’ memories fade over time. Hand’s confession proved crucial to securing the conviction, as prosecutors relied heavily on his statements to police during the 2018 interviews in North Carolina. The successful prosecution also demonstrates the commitment of multiple law enforcement agencies — Plymouth Police, Kingston Police, and Massachusetts State Police — to pursuing justice regardless of how much time has passed. Cold case units across the country often cite such long-delayed resolutions as validation for their continued efforts on seemingly unsolvable crimes.
Hand is now serving his life sentence without the possibility of parole, ensuring he will spend the remainder of his life in prison for the murder. The conviction brings closure to a case that haunted the South Shore community for decades and provides some measure of peace to the Gilpin family. With Hand’s conviction secured, the case officially closes one of the longest-running homicide investigations in Plymouth County history, demonstrating that the passage of time does not diminish law enforcement’s commitment to seeking justice for victims and their families.
