MIDDLEBURY — A Bridport youth and Middlebury Union High School student pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Addison Superior Court, criminal division, to second-degree murder, in connection with the shooting death of his father at their home at 748 Swinton Road, Bridport on Jan. 24, 2024.

The accused — 18-year-old Stephen Nuciolo Jr. — was ordered held on $100,000 bail and returned to the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, where he can continue to receive special services. Nuciolo Jr. has been diagnosed with autism and has been functioning at the equivalent to a 6-7-year-old child, according to court records.

The $100,000 bail could be rescinded if Nuciolo Jr. can be released into the custody of a responsible adult, at a residence pre-approved by the court.

Presiding Addison County Superior Court Judge Robert Katims at Wednesday’s hearing also endorsed an effort by the youth’s counsel — Addison County Public Defender James Gratton — to have Nuciolo Jr. adjudicated as youthful offender. This could result in the case being transferred to family court. Nuciolo was 17 when he is alleged to have shot and killed his father, 44-year-old Stephen Nuciolo Sr., by shooting him in the head with a shotgun. Police say that the 17-year-old told authorities that his dad had committed suicide.

Courthouse law enforcement escorted a handcuffed Nuciolo Jr. into the main courtroom of Middlebury’s Frank Mahady Courthouse. He stared straight ahead, expressionless, rocking back and forth while Gratton spoke on his behalf.

Representing the state of Vermont at the proceedings were attorneys Michael Novelli and Franklin Paulino of the Vermont Attorney General’s office.

Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos is unable to represent the state in the Nuciolo case because she’s alleged to have been under the influence of alcohol while surveying the crime scene on Jan. 25, 2024. Vekos has pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge. Her case is slated to be heard in Chittenden County later this spring.

Vekos watched Wednesday’s hearing as part of the small courtroom audience.

Nuciolo Jr. faces a minimum jail sentence of 20 years if convicted of second-degree murder.

Detective Sgt. Steven Gelder of the Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit has taken the lead in the Nuciolo Sr. death investigation, which authorities had originally labeled a “suspicious death.”

THE AFFIDAVIT

Gelder and his colleagues continued to probe the case, however, even as multiple DNA tests on the Mossberg 590 shotgun — the instrument used in Nuciolo Sr.’s death — failed to yield conclusive results, according to court records.

The break in the case came more than 14 months later — this past Sunday, April 13 — when Nuciolo Jr.’s then-foster parents reported the youth had confessed to killing his father in their Bridport home, according to Det. Sgt. Gelder’s affidavit summarizing his investigation.

Nuciolo Jr., according to the affidavit, allegedly confessed to one of his foster parents.

“The big reveal was that it was him, that he (Nuciolo Jr.) pulled the trigger” as opposed to his dad, the foster parent told investigators, according to Gelder’s affidavit.

The foster parent also alleged that Nuciolo Jr. had told him that his father “was looking in the mirror when he (Nuciolo Jr.) came up behind him,” according to court records.

Nuciolo Jr. is also alleged to have described undisclosed details of the evidence, including that there was one slug in the chamber of the shotgun used in the alleged murder, according to court records.

Investigators allege Nuciolo Jr. initially told them he’d been in his bedroom when he’d heard a “loud bang” from his dad’s bedroom at around 12:10 a.m., the night of the incident.

“Nuciolo Jr. said he rushed to Nuciolo Sr.’s bedroom and found him bleeding on the floor. Nuciolo Jr. told us he immediately left the room, then locked the door so nobody else would see the scene. Nuciolo Jr. said he went back to his bedroom and tried to reach his friends online, however, he did not receive a response. Nuciolo Jr. explained that he fell asleep around 2:45 a.m. and awoke at 6 a.m., due to his alarm clock,” reads Gelder’s affidavit.

The youth told police he’d taken the school bus to MUHS that morning, allegedly telling the bus driver and school staff about the suicide upon his arrival.

That suicide account began to unravel as authorities scrutinized the evidence, according to Gelder’s affidavit.

On May 21, 2024, Chief Medical Examiner Elizabeth Bundock filed an autopsy report on Nuciolo Sr. indicating “immediate cause of death was a gunshot wound of the head, (but) the manner of death was listed as undetermined,” according to Gelder’s affidavit.

Bundock confirmed the fatal gunshot had entered the left side of Nuciolo Sr.’s head, with the exit wound on the right side of his head.

Nuciolo Sr. was right-handed.

Authorities interviewed several people during their investigation, including MUHS officials, Nuciolo Jr.’s foster parents, and former partners of Nuciolo Sr.

One of those partners, who asked that her name be withheld, was at Wednesday’s court hearing.

“He’s a 7-year-old in a grownup’s body,” she said of Nuciolo Jr. “With a schedule and great environment (at MUHS), he’s a happy, well-adjusted individual. It’s unfortunate that his home life was not in line with that.”

John Flowers is at [email protected].