After 20 Years, Woman Squatter Faces Eviction
A judge on Wednesday ordered the eviction of a 72-year-old woman who has been living for nearly 20 years in a ramshackle homestead on the proposed site of a state park.
Doris Gagnon was granted an automatic 20-day stay, and Superior Court Judge Karen Sequino said it is likely the woman will be found eligible for a stay of up to nine months.
During a hearing Tuesday, Gagnon said she preferred to live with dozens of animals at her makeshift home on state property than move to senior citizen housing.
Gagnon has been fighting the state since the mid-1960s, when efforts began to establish a park on the 200-acre site along Long Island Sound. Her cottage was demolished in 1971, but she refused to leave the area.
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