Grief, Anger and Questions Persist After Fatal Crash

By Cynthia Drummond

December 9th 2025

HOPKINTON – The crash early last Saturday morning in Hope Valley that took the life of a Richmond musician continues to elicit anger, much of it focused on the woman behind the wheel, Shannon Godbout, who had previously been arrested more than 100 times.

Hopkinton police reported that Godbout was driving on Spring Street at 7:20 a.m. when her Jeep left the road, hitting two utility poles before striking Roderick “Rory” MacLeod, who was walking his dog, Kip. MacLeod, 70, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.  Kip was unharmed and ran home.

The Police Response

Hopkinton Police Chief Mark Carrier described the scene when he arrived. (Hopkinton police are leading the investigation locally.)

“It was still a very fluid scene,” he recalled. “The fire truck and ambulance were on-scene.  The suspect was actually in the back of one of our police cars. She had already been taken into custody and I diverted my attention to our police investigation at that point.”

Carrier noted that MacLeod had already been transported to the hospital.

The accident occurred near the Richmond town line. The two police departments often help each other, and that was the case on Saturday.

Richmond Police Chief Elwood Johnson said Richmond officers were at the scene and had attempted to revive MacLeod but were unsuccessful. He declined to name the officers, citing the traumatic nature of the incident.

“It’s difficult to render first aid, or CPR, to somebody when they’re so seriously injured and they don’t survive,” he said. “I greatly admire that officer for taking those actions.”

A Shocking Arrest Record

Godbout, 41, is a resident of Canonchet Cliffs in Hopkinton.

“She’s well-known to every member of the department,” Carrier said. “As soon as they called me on Saturday morning, they didn’t have to explain to me who she was.”

Godbout has been arrested more than 50 times in Hopkinton and had been charged with numerous offenses, most of them misdemeanors, in other Rhode Island municipalities.

“Her record, being arrested over 100 times, is astonishing,” Carrier said. “You know, how many people do you know that have been arrested over 100 times? I know a lot of people that have been arrested, and they finally learn their lesson, but this person really was not afraid of the courts, she was not afraid of when a judge said, ‘this is your next court date.’ She had over 80 bench warrants issued for her arrest for not appearing when she was told to appear.”

Godbout is at Rhode Island Hospital, Carrier said on Monday, and is expected to remain there “for a few days.” She will appear in court when she is released from the hospital.

Carrier noted that police had found narcotics in Godbout’s car.

“We’re charging her with possession with intent to deliver,” he said.

Police are also determining whether Godbout was impaired when her Jeep struck MacLeod.

“That’s another thing we’re looking into,” Carrier said. “With the evidence that we have collected, we got a search warrant for her blood. Her blood will be analyzed. … We tried to get a DRE [drug recognition expert] to go to the hospital, but she’s getting treatment because of the accident. She’s in a neck collar, so you can’t perform the normal tests you would if somebody wasn’t in an accident. If she’d just been pulled over for a traffic violation, we could run her through those narcotic tests.”

The Public Reacts

People from across Rhode Island and beyond are mourning the loss of MacLeod, a generous neighbor and talented, Grammy-nominated musician. However, some are taking  to social media to rage at the state judicial system for allowing someone with more than 100 arrests to remain at large.

One woman posted, “F***ng  b***h, murderer, should be in prison!!!Hope the judicial system is happy with THEIR decisions to keep her on the streets!!!”

Johnson said,

“I understand the frustration, maybe, from the public’s point of view. We don’t have control over what dispositions there are, except for putting cases together that are honest and accurate, and then waiting for those cases to work through the court system through pre-trial and trial, pleas, NOLO pleas, those are really in the hands of the court. … I knew who the person was. We had had prior contact, obviously, in this area, Hopkinton had contact with that person, and I was heartbroken that somebody died as a result of a crash from what appears to be reckless driving.”

A new social media post on Monday provoked even more outrage, and, at the time of this writing, more than 2,600 comments. That post was a fake.  

Posted by “The Robbie Harvey,” an image depicting Godbout standing at the crash scene was AI-generated, prompting Hopkinton police to issue the following statement:

“Please be advised there is a photograph circulating, depicting an accident investigated by this depertment [sic] which occurred on December 6, 2025. This photograph is AI generated and was not created or published by the Hopkinton Police Department. The only two photographs released are a previous mug shot and a photograph of the involved vehicle.”

The Community Mourns

Richmond resident Jessica Purcell, a neighbor of the MacLeods, posted a short tribute on her social media page on Tuesday.

“We are just a few among the countless people who loved Rory and were shaped by his generosity, talent, and warmth,” she wrote. “Rory was vibrant – his spirit energetic, positive, and endlessly creative. He was a natural steward of music, land, and community, someone who brought people together and made them feel at home.”