European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday february 11, 1986 the stars and stripes Page it it she was buried near her son in the town cemetery. Her heart was broken said Perry s Cousin Kathy Mooney. Thompson twice divorced and father of three Young children returned to Wayland in june to become executive director of the housing authority in this Boston suburb of 12,500 residents. Thompson oversees 202 Low income apartments a staff of seven and a $327,000 budget. Wayland officials say they knew about Thompson s past when they hired him Over 29 other applicants. In one interview he was questioned about the murder and he spoke at length of his regret and rehabilitation. It was the most difficult decision i be had to make housing authority chairman Linda Thompson no relation said afterwards. I feel comfortable with it and Don t regret it Tor one  those who work with Albert Thompson say he has gone a Long Way to Clear up a mess handed Down by his predecessor. He is organized and responsive says one town official. I am constancy amazed at his efficiency says Robert King president of the local tenants organization. At first King adds i Felt like the others did. Maybe hiring him was a mistake. But i changed my mind. It takes a lot of courage to come Back. He surely knew it was going to  Thompson thinks about people like Bob King when he answers the phone and hears child killer you re going to die or when he gets unsigned letters calling him crazy. He spends a lot of time in his bedroom listening Torock v Roll music and thinking. His favorite song begins How can i convince you what you see is real i will never forget what i did. I will never Stop being sorry for it he said in a recent interview. There in t an april that goes by that i Don t go to the boy s grave and i Don t apologize to him and cry and Pray. But i feel like i be paid my dues for it. I be contributed so much Good in my life. I be helped a lot of individuals. Thompson him with hit Mother in the same Small yellow House where he grew up at the end of a Rural dead end Road that slopes toward a swamp. He had been a Gawky kid with a severe stutter who tried hard to make friends. When Thompson was 8, the town condemned the family s dilapidated House and burned it to the ground. He helped his Stepfather build a new one on the same spot. Thompson says his Stepfather who died in 1983, was a Day labourer who drank heavily beat him almost every night with a leather strap or wire Hanger. His famous words were Stop crying or i la give you something to cry about he was just a cruel Man Thompson said. By the time i was 12 years old i was not a Normal  playing by himself in the Woods he would imagine sticking his boy scout knife in his Stepfather s Chest or slitting his own wrists. When he was 11, he stole a bottle of thorazine from the Medicine Cabinet at a neighbor s House. He swallowed the pills ran Back to his House curled up under his bed and waited. He awoke in the Hospital emergency room where doctors were pumping his stomach. He was Back at school two Days later. The suicide attempt was never discussed at Home he said. Andrea Jones was friends with Thompson then. He was very confused but he was always looking for friends she recalled  on april 26,1967, at Thompson asked his new neighbor if he wanted to play after school. Mark Duplus said he would. The boys wandered through the nearby Woods and settled in a Thicket near a Small Pond. Thompso started a game of mumble Type. He flipped the knife into the Damp Earth near Mark who was sitting Cross legged a few feet away. I remember reassuring him that i would t hit him that i would t Hurt him. He was excited and impressed and the whole bit Thompson says. It Slike i got overconfident with the knife. I just flicked it one time like i had the previous time and it hit him in the Chest. It kind of lingered there for a second and then the weight of it pulled it out and it fell. I was really scared. I could Tell it had t gone in very deeply. My first feeling was to get him Home but he was screaming As if i was t there. He was trying. It would have called for a few stitches that s All. I m sure it was awful painful. I kept trying to pull him up but he would t Budge. He just kept screaming and crying. I Don t remember the thought that passed through me. I remember picking up the knife and stabbing him and throwing the knife away and running away. They say i stabbed him 26 times. I be spent agonizing hours and Days going Over Itin my mind and All i can think is that every time i right new today i m to glad Ift out Short to to Toon and talked about openly. For Iho tint Elmo in my lift fool la a who a human  Albert Thompson. Cried my father would beat me up to shut me up. And i think i must have been mimicking what was done to me when i cried. I Don t think i consciously thought that. I was just very scared. I had so much anger and violence it had to come out  it was t Long after Mark s Mother reported him missing that his body was found in the Woods a few feet from Al Thompson s knife. The police arrested Al that night. In August 1967, after a series o court appearances and psychiatric exam.,. Thompson was found delinquent by reason of manslaughter and sent to a maximum Security juvenile prison in Bridgewater. For the first three years Thompson cleaned toilets read comic books and smoked cigarettes. Halfway through his stay he was Given a new Counselor a Young woman who became his first Lover he says. She restored a lot of caring and softness and gentleness in myself because i had never been exposed to that before and All of a sudden Here it was and i liked it he said. Not Only did i like it Buti wanted to be that  Thompson was released from prison at 17. He rented a room in Plymouth and started scooping ice Cream at a Howard Johnson s restaurant. In the mornings he went to High school where he studied photography. Before Long he had a part time Job taking pictures for the local newspaper. A married at 18, keeping his past a secret. She was the first woman who liked me in the outside world and paid any attention to me he said. The were divorced seven months later. For the next two years Thompson says he bummed around the country. He took a Job in photo lab in Boston then quit and hitchhiked to California and Back. He worked at a Harvard Square clothing store and a Burger King and spent a few months begging for change in Boston common. There Are no real friends in that life he said.  Thompson said his life changed direction when he saw an advertisement for a government Job training program. He signed up the next Day and later got a Job As a Counselor in a health clinic for the elderly in the Boston suburb of Somerville. Three years later he was assistant director of the City s Council on aging. That s where i started learning about human services in managing Thompson said. I was very successful at  Thompson married again in 1979 and had three children before another divorce five years later. A lot of it was me i admit that he said. One sunday afternoon he spotted the and for the Wayland housing authority director in a Boston newspaper. Hit Flat it tit at town Hall went smoothly. Then in late june the Wayland town crier newsroom started getting phone Calls. Some were from the curious asking if he was the same person editor Andrea Haynes later recalled in an editorial. Some were from angry people. How could the housing authority subject tenants to this some wherefrom people who told us that tenants were  Haynes and another reporter confronted Thompson in his office. He denied everything and a article was not printed. I had no intention of admitting it he said. I had lawyers. I was ready to fight it to the supreme court if i had to. My records were  several weeks later Thompson agreed to talk to a reporter from Boston Magazine he said he was tired of dodging rumours and angry stares. I agonized Over it. I pictured these headlines like housing authority director linked to child slaying he said. But i just wanted to Clear it  the Story confirmed the gossip in Wayland. Markd Puls murderer was Back. In Early october a 9-year-old girl named Sarah Pryor vanished fro her Wayland Home. Thompson went Home from work Early and waited for the Policeto arrive. That was my one dreaded fear that a child would disappear he said. I freaked out. I was sure they were going to question me. I had my Calendar read to show where i was All  the police never came. He was never a suspect officer Stephen Williams says