Informant in Billy Smolinski case on the run after escaping from Waterbury halfway house

By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
Investigations Editor
A man who gave police information that led to a massive, unsuccessful search for the body of missing man William “Billy” Smolinski Jr. in Seymour has fled from a halfway house where he was serving the remainder of his sentence, an official said Friday.
Department of Correction spokesman Andrius Banevicius said Chad Hanson, 32, escaped from a community release program Dec. 19. Hanson had been in a program at Bishop House in Waterbury.
“It was an escape from a halfway house, a work-release program where they have jobs, and go to the halfway house at the end of the day to eat and sleep,” Banevicius said. “He was supposed to come back and didn’t.”

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