Brooks and Buchanan spent the remainder of the night drinking, and the next morning Brooks showed off Joshua Spooner's silver shoe buckles engraved with his initials. Once the murder was discovered, the three men were arrested in Worcester within 24 hours. When Ross was discovered hiding in the attic of a tavern, he asked for a confessor. The trio implicated Bathsheba Spooner and three of her household servants in the crime. Brooks was charged with the assault on Joshua Spooner, Buchanan and Ross with aiding and abetting in the murder and Bathsheba Spooner with inciting, abetting and procuring the manner and form of the murder. All were arraigned and pleaded not guilty.