STATE OF VERMONT 

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY 

VERMONT STATE POLICE 

  

CASE#: 20B103532                                                    

RANK/TROOPER FULL NAME: Detective Sgt. Frank Labombard / Detective Trooper Jason Lengfellner 

STATION: Westminster                              

CONTACT#: 802-722-4600 

  

INCIDENT: Death investigation/homicide

  

VICTIM: Robert S. Phelps III 

AGE: 43 

CITY, STATE OF RESIDENCE: Guilford, VT 

 

ACCUSED: Kaleb Sherman

AGE: 39

CITY, STATE OF RESIDENCE: Brattleboro, VT

  

  

SUMMARY OF INCIDENT: 

Following continued investigation, the Vermont State Police has arrested a suspect in the August 2020 death of Robert S. “Zach” Phelps III, 43, of Guilford.

 

The suspect is identified as Kaleb Sherman, 39, of Brattleboro. He was taken into custody Wednesday evening, Feb. 3, 2021, by detectives with the Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit and Bureau of Criminal Investigations and troopers with the Field Force Division.

 

Sherman is scheduled to be arraigned at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in Brattleboro on suspicion of second-degree murder and aggravated assault. Investigators have determined that the death of Phelps was the result of an altercation with Sherman that occurred at a home in Guilford in July 2020.

 

The New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner’s Office subsequently ruled Phelps’ death a homicide and identified the cause of death as sequelae of blunt impact abdominal injuries.

 

Sherman was ordered by the court to be jailed without bail Wednesday at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.

 

State police investigators worked closely on this case with the Windham County State’s Attorney’s Office.

 

No additional details are available. The affidavit of probable cause will be filed with the court and made public following Sherman’s arraignment. Members of the media should call the Court Clerk’s Office prior to arraignment to confirm details of the hearing.

 

 

***Initial news release, 5:15 p.m. Aug. 24, 2020***

The Vermont State Police is investigating the untimely death of Robert S. “Zach” Phelps III, 43, of Guilford. 

 

A family member of Mr. Phelps notified state police on Aug. 2, 2020, that Mr. Phelps was in critical condition and comatose at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, as a result of injuries he sustained in late July. The state police is investigating how the injuries occurred. 

 

Mr. Phelps died at DHMC on Aug. 15. 

 

Investigators with the state police are working in conjunction with the New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner’s Office and the Windham County State’s Attorney’s Office. There is no indication of a threat to public safety.  

 

The death investigation is active and ongoing, and no further information is currently available. Anyone with information that may be relevant to the case is asked to call the Vermont State Police in Westminster at 802-722-4600. 

 

Updates will be issued as new information becomes available. 

 

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