A man who raped and almost killed a woman in a brutal sex assault in Burlington is about to end his 24-year prison sentence.
Essex police and the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations are alerting the public that Craig Yandow will be released next week and is expected to live in Essex. Police said they’re considering Yandow a “high risk” sex offender with a moderate to high risk of reoffending.
That’s because Yandow refused to participate in sex offender treatment while he was in prison. Additionally, Yandow will not be monitored by parole officers because he served his maximum sentence.
Essex police are holding a virtual community meeting Friday at 6 p.m. where the public can express concerns or ask questions. Yandow is scheduled to be released on Oct. 13.
Kami Calevro, the survivor of this attack who told the media she wished to be identified, issued a statement on Yandow’s release. She said she’s “grateful” he served his sentence but she’s also disappointed that he did not seek treatment.
“I have watched, read, ruminated, and prayed over this release. It has been a years’ long process. Initially I wanted to hide from it. But this is a part of my life and running from it at the conclusion is not how I would have it end,” Calevro said.
“In coming full circle with a statement as myself, as Kami Calevro, I wish to send these words: Let us assure our girls and women that there is no shame in rape, let them know that there is a full life after violent crime, and let us remind everyone that no matter the outcome we all must come together for the greater good of society,” she added.
“I am grateful for the 25 years served yet disappointed that these years were spent untreated,” she said. “It would benefit all involved if he were to accept the assistance offered by the Restorative Justice Center. My hope is that he successfully reintegrate into society and for the community to stay safe from anything like this ever happening again.”
Yandow attacked Calevro when she was 23 while she was walking down North Champlain Street in Burlington on a snowy Valentine’s Day evening in 1996.
Yandow bashed her head into the ground repeatedly, fracturing her skull, according to news reports from the time. He raped her in the snow and left her half-naked and unconscious in freezing temperatures. A dog alerted a nearby neighbor to the woman’s plight.
“If the neighbor hadn’t gone out to find out why the dog was barking, the victim, more likely than not, would have perished,” said Tim Charland, a former Burlington police detective who was the lead investigator on the case. He retired from the force in 2011.
It was the worst crime he witnessed in his career, he told VTDigger on Thursday. It was a uniquely “brutal” crime due to Yandow’s violence and the randomness of the attack, he said. Charland and other police have noted that sexual assaults typically involve a victim and perpetrator who know each other.
The case has also stayed with Charland because of Calevro’s “incredible strength.”
“To this day, she is just an unbelievably strong person,” Charland said. “I can’t speak highly enough of the victim in this matter.”
The attack made national news because Yandow’s parents refused to cooperate with police in the investigation, arguing that there is a sacred trust between parent and child that should be protected. Arthur and Geneva Yandow spent 41 days in jail for refusing to testify against their son.
Charland first heard about Yandow’s release from Calevro, who had been notified by the Department of Corrections that her attacker would be walking free 24 years later.
Calevro told Seven Days in 1997 that she has no memory of the incident because of the head trauma she suffered in the attack. She said the assault led her to become constantly hyper-vigilant.
“I get very angry that I have to think about it, that I have to be watchful at all times,” she told the newspaper at the time. “I’ve always prided myself on my freedom. But recently I was talking with a friend and she said, ‘You always thought you had that freedom; you never really did.’”
Essex Police Chief Ron Hoague said his department and the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations decided it was important to notify the community about Yandow’s release, and make space for a conversation about it, because of Yandow’s decision to not seek treatment and the fact that he won’t be supervised.
Hoague said he’s “moderately concerned” about Yandow reoffending.
Charland said that, while Yandow won’t be monitored by the state corrections system, he thinks society will monitor him to ensure that he isn’t a threat.
Still, Charland said, “[Yandow] deserves the constitutional protections of all individuals. He deserves not to be harassed by the public nor by the police. That’s his right.”
Penny Shtull, a professor of criminal justice at Norwich University, said it’s difficult to assess whether a sexual offender is likely to reoffend because it depends on a number of factors.
She noted that some research suggests that sexual offenders are less likely to commit crimes as they get older. Yandow, who was 26 when he was convicted, is now 51.
The likelihood to reoffend also depends on a person’s personality, their use of substances and how much peer and community support they get when they are released.
The fact that Yandow has been labeled a high-risk offender doesn’t mean he’s going to reoffend, Shtull said. The community should be wary, but not necessarily fearful, she said.
“We need to put this into perspective in some ways without minimizing the crime, or the damage, the harm that’s been done to the victim and the community,” Shtull said. “It’s not black and white.”
