A man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday after he was convicted for the 1986 murder of a Kingston teenager, prosecutors said. Michael Hand, 69, was found guilty on one count of first-degree murder and received a mandatory life sentence without parole, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. Hand was charged in connection with the killing of Tracy Gilpin, 15, in a case that went cold for more than 30 years. Gilpin was reported missing by her family Oct. 2, 1986, and her body was found 20 days later in Myles Standish State Park in Plymouth, according to prosecutors. She died from a massive skull fracture, and her death was ruled a homicide. The case lay dormant for more than 32 years, but detectives from Plymouth, Kingston, and the Massachusetts State Police continued to investigate and eventually determined that Hand was a potential witness. In March 2018, State Police traveled to Troutman, North Carolina, where Hand lived at the time, to interview him, the DA’s office said. During multiple interviews conducted over several days, Hand made statements that “could be construed as admissions to the crime,” prosecutors said. He told investigators that he lived in Kingston at the time, knew Gilpin, and held a gathering at his home the night that she was last seen. Hand’s statements placed him at the crime scene, and he claimed that he picked up a 73-pound boulder, which he identified to investigators in evidence photos, and dropped it on Gilpin, according to the DA’s office. He was arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping, and assault to rape a child. The kidnapping and assault to rape charges were dropped in June 2019 because the statute of limitations for those charges had expired, court filings show. Gilpin was the sister of former State Police Col. Kerry Gilpin, who held that position 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 the statement. “They never gave up hope in this pursuit, and today we got that justice.” Paul Lonardo-Roy, one of Hand’s attorneys, declined to comment Tuesday night. Craig Tavares, another attorney representing Hand, could not immediately be reached for comment.
https://www.boston.com/news/crime/2026/03/24/man-convicted-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-40-years-after-teenager-found-dead-in-plymouth-forest/
