Editor’s Note: This investigation includes strong language and depictions of violence and may not be suitable for all readers

On Feb. 10, 2024, Allie Standish, a 37-year-old Wolcott woman, was killed after being run over in her driveway by James Sadlowski, a friend of her boyfriend, Brandon Hamel. Allie’s friends and family believe that in the months leading up to her death, Hamel had been physically and financially abusive, and they have argued that in the immediate aftermath of her death, Hamel and another friend of his, Ed Pratte, made multiple attempts to defraud her estate.

Allie’s father, Scott Standish, a Newtown resident and retired correctional officer, believes members of the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office mishandled charging Hamel and Sadlowski in his daughter’s suspicious death. He further alleges that members of both Waterbury and the Danbury State’s Attorney’s Office improperly let Pratte, who allegedly attempted to use a fraudulent death certificate and power of attorney documents to empty Allie’s investment account, and her credit card to buy $600 worth of auto parts, walk free.

“I think the Wolcott police did an excellent job,” said Standish. “I think the Waterbury court is the one that kept on telling them that they couldn’t get a conviction. That’s why they’re plea bargaining everybody — they didn’t want to go to trial. That’s the bottom line.”

Standish, who is currently in the middle of two civil suits to ensure his family receives the proceeds from his daughter’s estate, believes the problem is bigger than any one judicial district, but is emblematic of statewide dysfunction and politicking in the criminal justice system.

Standish remembers receiving the phone call from Wolcott Police Lieutenant Leonard Greene that his daughter was dead.

“When Lt. Greene called me up on that Saturday morning and said, ‘This is Lt. Greene from the Wolcott Police Department, I said, ‘The son of a bitch killed my daughter,’” said Scott. “He never told me that my daughter was dead, I told him.”

Standish recalls Greene being surprised, asking how he knew. Standish said he knew because he had been telling his daughter she needed to leave for months by that point.

“Probably May or June before she died, in 2023, I said, ‘If you don’t get him out of your house and out of your life, he’s going to kill you,’” said Standish. 

Standish described Allie as “sweet” and a “happy-go-lucky kid willing to help anybody.”  She worked as the assistant manager of an auto parts store and part-time as a bus driver for children with disabilities. The two shared a passion for muscle cars, and Allie often worked on them with her father.

In the years before her death, Allie was impacted by two tragic life events. On March 3, 2017, she was involved in a major accident with an oil truck, leaving her with leg injuries that permanently altered her mobility. On Aug. 27, 2021, her then fiancée, Michael Skorupski, died in a motorcycle accident in New Britain, just minutes after his 35^th birthday. 

“She was a train wreck,” said Standish. “If you could access her Facebook page, anything after Michael’s death, her posts were all always about Michael.” 

Standish said it didn’t take long for Hamel to swoop in. 

“He started within days after Michael had died,” said Standish. “Next thing you know, she’s got no friends and she’s separated from her family. It became all about him and his buddy Eddie Pratte.”

By the time of her death, Allie had been dating Hamel for two years, though she had been living with him for six. Hamel, who was jailed in 2011 for sexually assaulting a five-year-old boy, was granted parole in 2016 on the condition that he be sponsored.

“His family wanted nothing to do with him, he couldn’t get anybody to sponsor,” said Standish. “Her and her fiancée, Michael, sponsored him so that he could get out of jail.”

Standish believes the two met when Allie lived in Thomaston, the town Hamel is from, around 2010. Allie and Skorupski, who rented a house in New Britain at that time, let Hamel live on the second floor while they helped him find work. Hamel was “gainfully employed for a short period,” said Standish, but eventually filed a workman’s compensation claim for a hand injury and “then never went back.”

Police incident reports presented to Inside Investigator by Standish shed light on the investigation that was conducted by Wolcott Police in the immediate aftermath of the incident. 

On the night of Feb. 10, 2024, Sadlowski, Hamel and Allie drank together at Johnny B’s Roadside Saloon in Wolcott, CT. The three wound up calling the police while at the bar, requesting support dealing with a patron who allegedly caused a scene after being cut off by the bar. Wolcott police officer Alex Zambetti responded to the bar and found Hamel and Allie accosting the patron in the parking lot. Zambetti noted, “both Hamel and Standish appeared to be intoxicated at the time of my interaction.”

Around 3:10 a.m., Wolcott Detective Richard Hamel, of no relation to Brandon, was called to the station by Lt. Greene to respond to Allie’s untimely death. When Det. Hamel arrived at the Bristol Hospital Emergency room around 4:20 a.m. Hamel was reportedly being kept in the back of another officer’s car.

Det. Hamel examined Allie’s body, then reviewed the hospital’s security footage. According to the report, the footage showed Hamel arriving at 2:21 a.m., “walking calmly” between the hospital and the car to try and get Allie out on his own, asking for help when he couldn’t, and then obstructing medical staff when they came to retrieve her. Allie was ultimately taken out of the car and rushed into the ER at 2:28 a.m. Hamel was reportedly refused entry into the emergency department, “due to his behavior.”

At 4:48 a.m., Det. Hamel and Det. Robert Virgulto interviewed Brielle Shepard, one of the ER technicians who helped retrieve Allie from Hamel’s car. 

“Shepard stated she could see that Standish’s lips were blue,” wrote Virgulto. “Shepard stated B. Hamel was hovering over Standish in the car doorway moving slowly saying multiple times, ‘Don’t look at her chest.’”

At that time, Shepard and other staff repeatedly told Hamel that they “got it from here and asked him several times to move,” but Hamel was “putting up a fight.” She described Hamel as “aggressive, mostly verbal, but trying to swing at us,” before nurses moved him out of the way and brought Allie inside.

“Shepard continually stated how B. Hamel was delaying their treatment of Standish by standing in their way as they were attempting to initiate care,” wrote Virgulto.

Hamel was questioned three times over the course of the investigation. 

He was first questioned by Bristol Police at the hospital at around 2:39 a.m. Hamel told officers that he, Sadlowski and Allie went out for drinks and said that when he and Allie returned home, he went inside to use the bathroom while Allie stayed outside to smoke a cigarette. He said he found Allie “laying at the end of the driveway,” and that he did not know what happened. He also claimed Sadlowski wasn’t with them at the time.

Hamel was questioned again by Wolcott police at 7:15 a.m. the next morning, in an interview that lasted 17 minutes. This time, he told Wolcott detectives that Sadlowski was there and that he helped put Allie into Hamel’s car. That interview ended when Hamel “started to get frustrated and asked if he needed to call his attorney,” reads a case report by Det. Jackson. 

Wolcott police questioned Sadlowski the next day at Ground Zero Airsoft, where he was scrapping with Nate Cartwright and James Burrow

Sadlowski told detectives he drank with the couple at Johnny B’s, “dropped off some stuff” at Allie’s house, and then “took off” after “two or three minutes max.” When Jackson asked Sadlowski if the two were arguing, he replied, “as always.”

“I asked if he heard about anything happening with them last night and he said ‘No, I’ve been trying to get a hold of him all day,’” wrote Jackson. “When I told them that [Allie] passed away last night, Sadlowski rubbed his head and appeared shocked. Burrow said, ‘Are you fucking kidding me? From what? Him beating the shit out of her?’ I said, ‘We don’t know’ and I told Sadlowski that Brandon said that he (Sadlowski) helped put her (Alexandra) into the car. Sadlowski shook his head and said ‘No, I took off from the driveway.’”

Sadlowski mentioned the fact Allie “got a huge ass settlement a few years back” before walking away to “call some friends, to tell them what happened.”

Around 6:30 p.m., Hamel gave a third statement to Wolcott Police, in which he fully pinned the blame on Sadlowski.

“I’m more clearheaded than I was yesterday,” Hamel reportedly told Det. Hamel. “There’s two things I want to tell you about cause I remembered it literally like an hour ago.”

Hamel told detectives that when he walked back out to the driveway after using the bathroom, Sadlowski yelled to him, “I ran her over, I killed her.” He said he wanted to tell detectives because “it’s going to be on that camera,” referring to the Ring camera Allie had on her front door. He said when he found her on the ground, “I lost my shit.” He insisted that he rushed to Bristol Hospital and ran in and out of the hospital upon arrival.

The next day, Feb. 11, 2024, Burrow called Jackson at 9 a.m. 

“Burrow said Sadlowski was lying yesterday about how long he was at Allie and Brandon’s house,” wrote Jackson. “Burrow told me that he has screen shots on his phone proving this. He said he’ll show me when he brings Sadlowski to the police department.”

At 10:10 a.m., Sadlowski came with Burrow to the station to give a statement. Shortly after they arrived, Det. Hamel took Sadlowski to the interview room, allowing Jackson to speak one-on-one with Burrow in the lobby. 

Burrow pulled out his phone and showed Jackson screenshots taken from Life 360, a location-sharing app that Allie and Hamel used. Burrow received them from Natalie Burke, an ex of Sadlowski’s and a friend of the group, who was also on their Life 360 plan. The screenshots show that Sadlowski was at Allie’s from 1:23 a.m. to 2:09 a.m. while Hamel was there from 1:41 a.m. to 2:10 a.m. At that time, Hamel drove to Bristol Hospital.

“Brandon hit the top speed of 98 miles an hour on the way to the hospital,” wrote Jackson. “Burrow said there was too much of a time span in there and he believed something more happened at the house.”

In the interview room, Det. Hamel asked Sadlowski to explain what happened again. Sadlowski gave mostly the same story but admitted he may have been wrong regarding how much time he spent at Allie’s. 

“I asked Sadlowski if he was only there for three minutes like he told us yesterday,” reads the report. “Sadlowski said they all have GPS in their phones, and he looked and he was actually there for 20 minutes. When asked about the big difference from what he told us yesterday, when he said he was there for 3 minutes and now it was 20 minutes, Sadlowski said – sorry I was cocked. Sadlowski continued with the same story, he already told us.”

Det. Hamel asked Sadlowski if “at any point did he get out of his truck while at the house.” 

“Sadlowski blinked numerous times, rubbed his head and said – I don’t think so, I got out to hand her the jackets, maybe,” wrote Jackson. “Det. Hamel told Sadlowski that the cameras were working at the house and that we know that something happened while you (Sadlowski) were there. Sadlowski said, ‘I’d like an attorney please.’”

After his interview ended, Sadlowski walked outside while detectives continued to speak to Burrow in the lobby for another twenty minutes. Burrow then walked out to speak with Sadlowski in the parking lot, and the two returned two minutes later.

“He wants to tell you something,” said Burrow.

Sadlowski entered the interview room alone with Det. Hamel, while Jackson talked to Burrow again in the lobby. Burrow said Sadlowski told him what happened, and Burrow then urged him to “go back inside and tell the truth.”

“I asked Burrow if he wants to come clean,” wrote Jackson. “Burrow said they walked outside and Burrow asked Sadlowski, ‘Why did you do that?’ Sadlowski said, ‘It’s not good, they have the Ring footage camera’. Burrow said he asked Sadlowski, ‘So what happened?’ Sadlowski answered, ‘I killed her.’”

After Sadlowski waived his rights, Jackson interviewed him again at 11:00 a.m. 

“Sadlowski said he handed her the jackets and then they got into a little spat over chains that were in the back of his truck,” wrote Jackson. “The chains were for pulling items out of the woods, where they are scrapping. Sadlowski said he thought [Allie had] walked back to the house and he backed up and backed over her.”

Sadlowski said when he stepped out of the truck afterwards he “flipped the fuck out.” He said she was still alive at that time, but only “blinking and mumbling here and there.” When Hamel walked outside, Sadlowski said he insisted they call 911, and Hamel yelled “No, just help me get her into the car.”

“Sadlowski said Brandon was cussing her out, because she’s sitting there blinking and shit. He’s (Brandon) thinking that she’s playing games and shit,” wrote Jackson. “Det. Hamel asked if Brandon said anything to her. Sadlowski said Brandon said, ‘Knock your shit off babe, get up.’”

After he helped Hamel get her into his car, Sadlowski said that Hamel told him he would take her to the hospital and told him to “take off.” 

“I asked Sadlowski why Brandon would stick up for him so much, if you just hit his girl,” wrote Jackson. “Sadlowski said ‘I don’t know, it was an accident, I did it.’”

Sadlowski said he only found out she had died when the officers told him at Ground Zero Airsoft. He admitted to having drunk “four or five beers and a shot with each one” at Johnny B’s prior to the incident. He said he only had one short phone call with Hamel after the incident, in which he asked Hamel if he wanted him to come to the hospital, and Hamel told him no. He said he hadn’t spoken to Hamel since. 

When Jackson asked how it felt to have withheld the truth until then, Sadlowski said: “Like shit.”

While Standish recognized the signs of abuse Allie had shown before her death, he says her isolation from him obfuscated the details. As officers continued to investigate Allie’s death, however, Standish said he learned just how bad things had gotten.

According to a February 2024 report written by Detective Jackson, police were called 31 times in the two years Allie and Hamel lived together; 26 calls came from their residence, four came from neighbors, and one of the calls was for the fracas at Johnny B’s. 

While many calls were innocuous, such as reports of a potential gas leak or drones flying overhead, others were for arguments, injuries, or physical altercations. From Nov. 18, 2022, to Feb. 8, 2024, seven calls were made for loud arguments that occurred on the property: six between Allie and Hamel, and one between Allie and Sadlowski. On Sept. 19, 2023, police found Allie’s glass front door shattered. On Jan. 14, 2024, Allie asked police to remove two machetes she found in her foyer. 

Allie and Hamel were each arrested once. On November 18, 2022, Allie was arrested for second-degree breach of peace and third-degree assault. Two days before Allie’s death, on Feb. 8, 2024, Hamel was arrested. It marked the third time officers were called to the house that week.

Hamel called Wolcott Police to report that Allie “bit and assaulted him.” Sgt. Gulick and Officers Scott Pelletieri and McCormack responded to the scene. 

“Upon arrival, Brandon was on the front porch with an aggravated demeanor,” read the report. “He stated that he would go back to jail again and that he needs to get out of the home. Brandon would not answer any further inquiries of what happened and told officers to ask Alexandra. I did not notice any injuries and there were none reported.”

Pelletieri spoke to Allie at the front door and “immediately observed a red and blue bump in the middle of her forehead, a white powdery substance consistent to dry-wall on her clothing and she pointed to a red colored injury on her leg that was caused from this incident.”

Per the report, Allie told Pelletieri that things “became physical” after an argument over bills. 

“She was standing outside the bedroom door and Brandon busted it down,” reads Pelletieri’s report. “This resulted in the door hitting her in the head making her fall back into a wall. She then entered the bedroom and Brandon had her on the ground and was hovering over her. This is when she bit him in what she claimed to be self-defense. During this altercation, a bag of white powder for cats spilled and covered her. Alexandra also reported a scratch on her big toe. She refused medical treatment.”

Hamel was taken into custody; Hamel reportedly told the other officers that he kicked the door down. Hamel was processed and then released on a $1,000 bond, with his conditions of release stipulating, among other things, that he could not drink or use drugs, return to the home, or contact or approach Allie. Hamel was set to appear at court at 9 a.m. the next day, Feb. 9. Standish doesn’t know if he ever went. 

“And February 10, she was dead,” said Standish. “And they threw the charges out because she was dead and couldn’t testify against him.”

Standish said that he’s since gathered evidence from some of Allie’s old friends; texts and photographs she sent of injuries allegedly sustained from abuse. One photograph showed a deep gash on her scalp. Another text accused Hamel of beating her.

“Brandon punched me in the face, broke my nose, gave me two black eyes and split my lip on top of whatever the hell happened to my chest that renders me unable to function normally,” wrote Allie. “BRANDON WILLIAM HAMEL DID THIS TO ME! AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT!”

The day after Allie’s death, Standish, his brother Peter, and two of his nephews went to her house to retrieve a 1972 Plymouth Duster out of her garage. Standish said the house was still taped off as a crime scene, so they needed the police’s permission to go. When they arrived that morning, they encountered Hamel, Pratte and Burke.

Pratte allegedly told Standish he had “no business here,” and tried to kick him off the property. Standish explained to Pratte that the house was in his daughter’s name, not Hamel’s. Standish instructed one of his nephews to call the police because Hamel and his friends weren’t supposed to be there.

“Natalie Burke held up a key and I said, ‘You don’t live here, what are you doing with a key to my daughter’s house?’” said Standish. “And then I took it from her.”

Standish said when police finally let them into the house, it was “trashed,” with empty food containers and vomit on the floor. This description is in-line with that of Det. Hamel when he searched the house after Allie’s death, who wrote that it was “in complete disarray, with clothing strewn about, dog, cat, and bird feces and urine on the floors.”  Standish also noticed blood splatter on some of the house’s walls and floors, and an ominous message written on the back of the front door, signed off on by his daughter.

“NOTHING LEAVES THIS HOME NOR THIS SURVEYED MARKED PROPERTY without HOMEOWNERS concent!” wrote Allie. “Brandon William Hamel 8/24/87 DOES NOT LEAVE THIS premice [sic] with anything, including a phone, watch or clothes. I, Alexandra Rose Standish, own 99.9% of everything in this dwelling, as well as most of what Hamel claims be his. I bought everything. Only thing he owns is clothing and his Mothers Ashes!”

Ultimately, three officers arrived, and Standish says he told Pratte, Hamel and Burke that all of Allie’s property was off limits until the Waterbury Probate Court declared an administrator to her estate. Standish ultimately was granted administrator status on March 7, 2024.

“I told them that Sunday, ‘You touch nothing,’” recalled Standish. “’You don’t use her bank accounts. You don’t try and touch her money in her investment accounts. You don’t use her credit cards, and you take nothing out of the house. This all has to go through probate.’” 

In the month following Allie’s death, however, Standish said Hamel and Pratte worked to prevent him from entering his daughter’s house. Standish claims he had to “drill all the locks out” to access the home, as Hamel had them replaced. 

“They had changed all the locks on the house, a house that wasn’t theirs,” said Standish. “They changed the mailbox. They put a locked mailbox on it so I couldn’t get my daughter’s mail. I went to the post office to change my daughter’s address, and they said it was going to take a couple of weeks, and they’d hold my daughter’s mail. I was going every two days to pick up her mail.”

Pratte allegedly went to the Newtown post office, identifying himself as Eddie Hamel, and said “he wanted me arrested for stealing his brother’s mail,” said Standish. Nothing ever came of it, as Standish noted that what he did was perfectly legal.

“The funny thing is that I live in Newtown, and the postmaster for Waterbury lives in Newtown,” said Standish. “He came into Dunkin Donuts to grab a cup of coffee on his way to work, and he told me what happened.”

Standish had to wait until after Hamel was injured in the crash before he was finally able to clean the house out. Standish said it was “freaking trashed,” with doors knocked off hinges and blood splattered on the walls. Standish spent thousands of dollars to replace doors, rebuild the deck, and fix the house’s electrical box and burst pipes, both of which occurred because of the power being cut off due to unpaid electric bills. Standish also discovered that the house had overdue property taxes.

“When we went in that house, it was so bad that all I did was get two dumpsters and throw everything out,” said Standish. “We took nothing out of the house. We threw everything away.”

In 2021, Allie had received a $1.9 million settlement because of the oil tanker accident that left her with severe injuries. In September 2021, she reached out to James Wallace, an investment banker who was working for Newtown Savings Bank at the time, to deposit somewhere between $750,000 and $800,000 into an investment account. At the time, her father and mother were the sole beneficiaries of the account. In June 2022, Allie’s sister and niece, Jillian and Juliana, as well as Hamel, were added as equal beneficiaries.

In October 2023, Wallace began working at Steward Partners, and Allie inquired about transferring her investment portfolio to maintain Wallace as her advisor. On Oct. 23, 2023, Allie and Hamel met with Wallace to make Hamel the sole beneficiary of the account, meaning if Allie died, 100% of the funds would go to him. At the time of Allie’s death, her account was worth $645,871. From Dec. 15, 2023, to Jan. 5, 2024, a 22-day span, Allie withdrew $25,000 from the account. Standish said when he cleaned out the house, he discovered receipts that showed Hamel used $22,000 of Allie’s money to pay back child support for “a daughter that we never knew he had.” 

That same month, Allie purchased a life insurance policy through TransAmerica Life Insurance, worth $50,000, with a $50,000 accident rider. Hamel was made the sole beneficiary.

Allie died on a Saturday. That following Monday morning, 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 12, 2024, Hamel called Wallace from Pratte’s phone, asking how he could access the account. On the same day, Hamel called Jason Wells, a salesman at TransAmerica Insurance, and initiated a claim for Allie’s life insurance policy. 

“Brandon called Jim and told him Alexandra was hit by a car and passed away,” reads a Feb. 27, 2024, report by Det. Jackson. “Brandon said he was the one that found her. Brandon asked what he needed to do to get the money from the account.”

Standish said he found out Hamel spoke to Wallace after meeting him at his office.

“I wanted to let Jim Wallace know my daughter died and went over to the office,” said Standish. “He met me at the door and said, ‘Scott, I’m sorry,’ and I said ‘How did you find out?,’ and he said ‘Brandon called me up this morning from Eddie Pratte’s phone to tell me that Allie was dead and he wanted to close the account,’ and I said ‘Don’t you dare, freeze that account, he’s a suspect in her death,’ and he was shocked.” 

Wallace told Hamel that if he brought a death certificate into the office, “he could receive the money just a couple days afterwards,” reads Det. Jackson’s report. On the morning of Feb. 20, Hamel and “a friend, who Brandon called a brother, showed up unexpectedly” at Wallace’s office. 

“Jim [Wallace] met the men in the front lobby and believes the guy with Brandon was named Ed,” wrote Jackson.

Wallace told Jackson all this information over the phone on Feb. 27, 2024. The account was ultimately frozen, preventing Hamel or Pratte from receiving the funds.

The same day, Wolcott police were notified that Hamel got into a severe motorcycle accident the night of Feb. 26. Standish told Inside Investigator he was driving one of Allie’s motorcycles that he took out of her garage. The accident left him with a traumatic brain injury, a broken pelvis, two broken femurs, and other “serious injuries to his legs, arms, wrists and other body parts,” per an incident report written by Det. Hamel.

On March 7, Wallace called Jackson to tell him that Pratte showed up at his office, alone, with a death certificate for Allie, one which Wallace said, “didn’t look authentic.” 

“Wallace stated the Certificate of Death did not contain Standish’s social security number and listed the manner of death as Pending Investigation,” wrote Det. Hamel. “It should be noted that Eddie Pratte is not related to Hamel or Standish and has no legal right to either investment account or insurance policy.”

Wallace told Pratte he had no right to the money and that he would need Hamel’s power of attorney to access the account. On March 15, Pratte produced a power of attorney over Hamel’s finances, who was recovering at St. Francis Hospital’s ICU at the time, and presented it to Wallace, who, in turn, notified Det. Jackson. The document required several sections, which had to be initialed by Hamel and were filled in with the initials “BH.” The last page of the document, however, required Hamel’s full signature.

“It should be noted the signature on this document does not match B. Hamel’s signature from in house arrest paperwork obtained by the Wolcott Police Department,” wrote Det. Hamel. 

Furthermore, the last four digits of Hamel’s Social Security number included on the document were incorrect. The document, which required notarization and two witnesses, listed a Lisa D’Amato as its notary, and a Brian Zukowski and Ruth Anderson as witnesses. On March 20, Detectives Jackson and Hamel visited D’Amato at her place of work in East Hartford. D’Amato told the officers she was “not present at the hospital” when the document was allegedly signed by Hamel, and that she “knew it was illegitimate.”

“D’Amato stated she knew it was wrong to notarize the document without being present when it was alleged to have been signed by Hamel,” wrote Det. Hamel. “That the only reason she did it is because Pratte, who she calls ‘Buddy,’ is a friend, and Zukowski is her boyfriend who’s been living with [her] for the past 20 years.”

Pratte’s alleged attempts to defraud Allie’s finances did not stop there, however. On April 11, Standish visited the Wolcott police department to let them know he received a statement from his daughter’s Capital One card, showing that a $637 purchase was made on March 4. The purchase was made out to Integrated Engineering, a Utah auto shop that sells tuning upgrades for Audi vehicles. While Hamel was an authorized user for the card, he was being treated at St. Francis Hospital for his motorcycle accident at the time of the purchase.

“Scott believes Hamel’s friend, Edward Pratte 12/27/1982, made this purchase,” reads an April 15, 2024, incident report by Det. Hamel. “Scott stated he called Integrated Engineering and was told the items purchased were for an Audi automobile. That Integrated staff would not give him any further information in regard to this purchase.”

Det. Hamel spoke to an Integrated Engineering representative and learned that Pratte purchased two tuning upgrades for his girlfriend’s car. The representative emailed Det. Hamel later that day, telling Hamel that he declined another attempted purchase by Pratte. 

On May 10, 2024, Waterbury Superior Court Judge Hunchu Kwak signed a warrant for Pratte’s arrest. He was charged with illegal use of a payment card, payment card fraud, and fifth-degree larceny. Meriden police arrested Pratte at his place of work, The Gentleman’s Barbershop in Meriden, on June 14. Wolcott police brought him from the Meriden police station back to the Wolcott precinct, charged him, and released him after he posted a $5,000 bond. His court date was set for June 25, 2024. 

On Nov. 1, 2024, Standish again reported Pratte at the Newtown Police Department, as Wolcott Police had only charged him for the attempted use of Allie’s credit card. After Pratte skipped a scheduled meeting with Newtown police in February 2025, they applied for an arrest warrant through the Danbury Superior Court. The warrant was granted, and on May 20, 2025, Pratte turned himself in to the Newtown Police, where he was charged with two counts of second-degree forgery and two counts of criminal attempt to commit larceny. He was released after posting a $20,000 bond and given a court date of June 12, 2025.

Standish said he has spent “the last year and a half” in court because of his daughter’s death and the subsequent attempts by Pratte to allegedly defraud his daughter’s estate. 

On April 11, 2024, Sadlowski was the first person to be arrested for Allie’s death. He was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter, evading responsibility which resulted in death, interfering with an investigation, as well as several motor vehicle violations. 

On May 28, Hamel, who had been locked up since his release from the hospital for violating the terms of his parole, was transferred from Hartford Correctional to Waterbury Superior Court to be charged with interfering with an investigation and intentional cruelty to persons. 

“Local police were looking to get a murder charge,” said Standish. “They said there’s enough circumstantial evidence to get a murder charge on both of them.”

Inside Investigator reached out to Wolcott Police to confirm this claim but received no response. Standish said Wolcott officers have agreed to testify for his civil suit, “saying that it shouldn’t have been a plea bargain.”

“Tim Jackson said, ‘We have tried so hard to get the state to prosecute this guy for a murder, but they won’t do it,’” said Standish.

Per Connecticut’s General Statutes, “any person who intentionally tortures, torments or cruelly or unlawfully punishes another person or intentionally deprives another person of necessary food, clothing, shelter or proper physical care” is guilty of intentional cruelty. It is considered a class D felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $5,000. State law defines murder as when the accused “causes the death of a person” with the intent of doing so. It is a class A felony, and if convicted, one can receive 10 years to life in prison, as well as fines of up to $20,000.  

After Wolcott police were unable to convince Waterbury prosecutors to charge him with murder, Standish said officers tried to get him charged with tampering, interference with a police investigation and manslaughter, but were unsuccessful.

“Then they knocked it down to intentional cruelty to a human being, which Brandon took real, real quick, because they made the deal to run concurrent with his four years of violation of probation,” said Standish. “He jumped right on that.”

Essentially, Hamel has had no time added to the sentence he already served for his parole violations. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 14, 2024. 

Standish believes the death of his daughter was not premeditated, but that Hamel’s actions before, during and after Allie’s death, show that he saw the opportunity her death presented and then quickly acted on it in a way that merits greater punishment from Connecticut’s justice system. 

“I think she was trying to get away from Brandon, and I think Sadlowski was a victim of circumstances, that he was backing out of the driveway under the influence, ran her over and then drove over her again because he pulled back in the driveway after he hit her,” said Standish. “Brandon saw the opportunity — ‘Now I’m getting rid of her.’”

Standish believes that Hamel saw the message Allie left on his front door when he entered the house that night, and that it set him off. Standish noted that it was the first time Hamel entered the house since being booked by Wolcott police for assaulting Allie a few days prior.

“He hadn’t been in the house,” said Standish. “He goes in the house and sees that? I think he saw that, and he went after Allie, Allie ran away and Sadlowski ran her over.”

Standish believes the facts show that Hamel did not care about Allie and that he tried his best to ensure she died that night.

Standish cited Hamel not calling 911, initially covering for Sadlowski when interviewed by police, his interference with medical personnel, and his choice to drive her to Bristol Hospital instead of St. Mary’s, which is closer, as evidence of his claim. Standish said he and his brother drove the speed limit from her house to St. Mary’s to see how much quicker it would be.

“We drove from her house, I-84 to St Mary’s Hospital, in six and a half minutes,” said Standish. “Why would you drive to Bristol Hospital unless you were waiting for her to die in the car?”

According to Waze, Bristol Hospital is 9.5 miles from Allie’s house, an estimated 18-minute drive in the early morning hours. St. Mary’s is 5.5 miles away and estimated to take 12 minutes.

Standish said he spoke to Waterbury’s Chief State’s Attorney, Maureen Platt, and Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney, Don Thurkildsen, to air his grievances. He told Thurkildsen that if the two of them sat down with Sadlowski, they could “get Sadlowski to talk.”

“He didn’t do anything,” said Standish. “He didn’t say anything, he didn’t agree with me.”

He said he sat down with Platte, who told him, “I’m so sorry, we’re gonna do everything we can.” 

“It was just all bullshit,” said Standish. “I just have to sit here, day after day after day — to know that my daughter suffered, laying on the floor of that front seat dying, while that son of a bitch was just thinking about the money.”

Standish believes prosecutors were dead set on structuring a plea deal from the start, leading to lesser charges for Hamel and Sadlowski.

“It’s because they didn’t want to go to trial,” said Standish. “If you look at all the circumstantial evidence, everything that transpired — the money being missing, the mobile transfers, throwing me off of the property after my daughter’s dead with them knowing that my daughter owned the house all on her own — It was all planned for Brandon to get everything.”

Standish also stressed that if the DOC’s Division of Parole and Community Service had not failed to lock up Hamel for his parole violations, his daughter’s death could have been prevented. Standish said Hamel’s parole was originally registered in New Britain, but that it was transferred to Waterbury when he moved with Allie to Wolcott. Standish said that Hamel’s failure to meet work requirements, and any number of the 31 calls made to the house, should have been enough to pull his parole, but that Hamel was only violated shortly after his daughter died.

“The State’s Attorney in New Britain said, had they not transferred [his parole], had he still been in New Britain, because that’s where his initial probation officer was, she says he would have been locked up,” said Standish.

On Dec. 9, 2025, Sadlowski pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular manslaughter and evading responsibility of death. He was given five years in prison and five years’ probation, with the stipulation that his prison time runs concurrently with any time he might receive from a separate sexual assault case, for which he was arrested in May 2024. Per the state’s conviction docket, Sadlowski appears to have pleaded guilty to the charges. 

Waterbury prosecutors originally told Standish that they would offer Sadlowski a 15-year sentence, in which he would serve ten years in prison and receive five years of probation, said Standish.

“I said, ‘That’s fine,’” said Standish. “The day that he pled guilty in court, it was knocked down to five years. That’s when I got up and I walked out and I told them I wouldn’t be back. It was a joke.”

While Hamel and Sadlowski are both serving time behind bars for Allie’s death, Pratte, whom Standish considers the “brains behind the operation,” is a free man. 

“Eddie Pratte knew Allie had money, and Brandon, was not very smart,” said Standish. “I think Pratte saw the opportunity. My true feeling is that Eddie Pratte was the brains behind all of this to take my daughter’s money, and when it was all gone, they were all going to bail.”

Standish noted that the night of Allie’s death, Hamel went home with Pratte. He believes it was then that Pratte gave Hamel the idea. 

“He goes home with Eddie Pratte because he wasn’t allowed back at the house, because the house was a crime scene,” said Standish. “Him and Eddie Pratte compiled this whole story together.”

Pratte’s case in Waterbury for credit card fraud was dropped around October 2025 after Pratte brought a letter into court, signed by Hamel, stating he had permitted Pratte to use the card. Standish said he presented the letter on the day he was supposed to plead guilty to the charges.

“He showed up in court with his lawyer, with an affidavit from Brandon Hamel saying that he gave him permission to use the credit card,” said Standish. “This was a matter of seven or eight days after Brandon had crashed the motorcycle, with a traumatic brain injury and a slew of broken bones. A person suffering from a traumatic brain injury can’t give anyone permission to do anything!”

Standish also claimed that any meeting between Hamel and Pratte would technically have been illegal, given Hamel was a felon and Pratte was an accused felon at the time. Standish said he stood up in the court to call the letter “bullshit,” and a “a friggin’ lie.”

“He either took that credit card at the accident scene, or he took it at the hospital, and Brandon was in no condition to give him access to that card,” said Standish. “How’s somebody suffering from a traumatic brain injury give you permission to use a credit card?”

Standish said Thurkildsen then asked to nolle the charges “pending further investigation,” and the charges were dropped. Standish was given the number of an investigator at the Waterbury State’s Attorney office, who Thurkildsen said was “very, very good.”

“I called the guy once he never called me back,” said Standish. “He never did any investigation.”

Pratte’s charges in the Newtown case, for the fraudulent death certificate and power of attorney, were nolled on Jan 8, 2026. 

“Based on the evidence we gathered and documentation provided to us by the defense, we did not believe the case could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” said David Applegate, Danbury State’s Attorney, per Newstimes.

“That’s not what they told me,” said Standish. “They told me because I was suing Brandon Hamel, that they wouldn’t prosecute Pratte because he didn’t get the money.”

Standish provided a transcript of the hearing at which Pratte’s Newtown charges were nolled. An attorney from the Danbury State’s Attorney’s Office admitted that they had evidence of wrongdoing, but insisted the charges be dropped due to Standish’s civil suit.

“While there’s – was clear action of forgery, Your Honor, the funds themselves, there’s an open question at the moment, based on actions in the civil case that proceeded recently, whereby the financial institution holding those funds turned them over to the civil court,” said Attorney Matthew Kopf, of the Danbury State’s Attorney Office. “The criminal court is not the place to be, you know, arguing over the funds.”

Standish forwarded Inside Investigator an email he sent to Danbury’s Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney, Deborah Mabbett, on Jan. 27, 2026.

“The evidence is quite clear that Pratte was attempting to gain control and steal what was left of my daughter’s money before probate and before Hamel was arrested,” wrote Standish. “If I hadn’t put a freeze on her account Pratte would have made that money disappear. I would like a meeting with you before the court date or have the case continued until we can arrange a meeting as maybe you can explain what state statute covers what the assigned attorney gave for an excuse and why I can’t get justice for my daughter in Connecticut.”

Inside Investigator requested comment from Hamel and Sadlowski via Securus, the messaging system used by Connecticut to contact incarcerated people. Hamel did not respond, likely due to Inside Investigator’s communication being “censored” by DOC officials. Sadlowski at first asked what information Inside Investigator would like to know, but his account was marked as “blocked” before a response could be sent. Pratte was reached via phone and stated that Standish’s accusations were “absolutely false and untrue.”

Standish has since filed two civil suits: one against Hamel and Raymond James Financial Services, on May 2, 2024, and one against Hamel and TransAmerica Life Insurance, on March 3, 2025. The two suits will determine whether Hamel or the Standish family will receive the $645,871 remaining in Allie’s investment account and the $100,000 payout from the life insurance, respectively.

In both suits, Standish argues that Hamel’s persistent abuse of Allie before her death, and the granting of sole beneficiary status to Hamel just months before her death, indicate that “Hamel was named beneficiary as the result of undue influence, duress, and/or coercion.”

If Standish wins these suits, the life insurance money would go to him and his wife, and the remaining balance of Allie’s investment account would be split evenly amongst Jillian, Juliana and his wife, Diane. Standish said the suits aren’t about money for him.

“This money is going to my wife, my daughter and my granddaughter,” said Standish. “I don’t need the money. It’s going where it should have gone.”

When asked why he believed his daughter’s story was important for people to know, he responded bluntly. 

“I think the public needs to know that if they’re expecting justice in Connecticut, they’re not going to get it,” said Standish.

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