Winchester Detective Recalls Finding Lost Boy Two Decades Ago

Twenty-three years ago, Paul DeLuca was just doing his job. Now a detective for the , back then DeLuca was an officer, only on the force for a few years.

It was a Saturday morning in 1988 when DeLuca was on his way to a job. He was going to work a detail at the . Driving on Washington Street at 7:30 a.m., Deluca saw an 18-wheel tractor trailer off to the side of the road, blocking traffic.

As DeLuca slowed down to see what was going on, that’s when he saw Brian Carpenter. The toddler was walking down the street, by himself.

“My first thought was that somebody was going to grab the kid,” DeLuca recalled. “There was this little baby walking down Washington Street with a soiled diaper.”

Having on his uniform and needing to still get to his detail, DeLuca couldn’t risk picking up Brian and messing up his uniform.

“I knew he couldn’t have gone too far,” DeLuca said. “So, I took his little hand and we walked down the street.”

They walked down Eerie Street, and according to DeLuca, about three to four houses down there was a home that had its backdoor wide open.

“I went to the back door and knocked,” DeLuca said. “His mother came wrapped in a blanket, like she’d been sick. I asked, ‘Is this your little guy?’  She said, ‘Oh my God, thank you’ and she snatched him up and closed the door.”

DeLuca continued on to the bank to work his detail.

It wasn’t until that following Christmas that DeLuca heard from Brian’s mother again – Lisa Watkins Carpenter. He received a Christmas card from her. And for the next 12 years, DeLuca received a card from her, thanking him for returning her son.

“I never contacted her after that,” DeLuca said. “It’s just nice to know that I was able to help somebody.”

DeLuca was also invited to Brian’s high school reunion a few years ago and he had heard that he joined the Air Force. But that was a while ago and DeLuca didn’t hear anything again until this past fall.

Lisa emailed DeLuca on the 23rd anniversary and wanted to thank him again for bringing Brian home and to inform him that she now has a grandson.

“It’s a happy ending,” DeLuca said. “She’s been forever grateful because she has a grandson and her son is a live today.”

For DeLuca, he was just happy he saw Brian walking along Washington Street.

“It feels good because it’s the part of the job they you don’t get to do,” DeLuca said. “When people think of cops they think of guns, breaking doors down and making arrests. Stuff like this makes the job worthwhile. It feels good.”