WRENTHAM, Mass. — Daniel McIsaac was a U.S. Army officer who served in Vietnam. He died this month at 75 years old and the family gathered over the Memorial Day weekend for his funeral in Wrentham.
"Oh man, it was a really emotional day," his daughter, Maryfran Randall, said.
But while the family was at the funeral, their Wrentham home's alarm started going off.
"The alarm has never gone off, the whole time we had it," Randall said. "So when we got the call, we were like, 'something is probably going on because it has never gone off.'"
On a hunch, they also called Franklin police because they knew McIsaac's home was also listed in the public obituary with the date of the funeral.
"They found somebody in there, so they were waiting for him to come out," Randall said.
When Franklin police went around to the back of the condo, they say Daniel Lennon was right there. When they asked him what he was doing, he told officers he was from Stoughton, taking a leisurely drive and was trying to find a place to go to the bathroom.
Police say Lennon had a notebook with him. In that notebook, they found addresses in multiple towns including Wrentham, Foxboro, Taunton, Canton and Hingham with addresses connected to other families who recently lost someone.
"It breaks my heart because you are in such an emotional state and then all of a sudden you can't even do what you need to do to remember your family member because now you are dealing with a whole other entity," Randall said.
Lennon's attorney told the judge his client recently lost his job. According to court documents, Lennon has 45 previous cases dating back to 2000. Police say they also found drug paraphernalia with Lennon.
McIsaac's family is thankful Franklin police responded so quickly to their hunch.
"I feel a little thankful because I don't think we were first or last on the list. Hopefully, we stopped somebody else's heartbreak," Randall said.
Milford police say they are investigating two recent cases involving break-ins while families were at funerals. The chief says they are looking to see if Lennon is connected to those crimes. Holliston also reports one.
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