Daniel LaPlante’s story begins in Townsend, Massachusetts, where he was born on May 15, 1970, to parents Claude and Elaine LaPlante. The household was far from stable. Claude, described as a violent man, allegedly abused young Daniel, yelling and striking the child from as early as age two. Court records confirm that by 1974, when Daniel was just four, Claude was incarcerated for the rape of a woman, a crime that cast a long shadow over the family. Elaine, possibly fearful of her husband, remained married to him for another year before moving in with her sister and filing for…