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Homicide

No bail: Newton man arraigned in connection to triple homicide

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Christopher Ferguson was ordered held without bail for the alleged “senseless murders” of three elderly Newton residents the DA said were slain in their home in a pre-dawn attack by the shirtless, shoeless suspect.

Ferguson, 41, was arrested late Monday night in connection with the deaths of Bruce D’Amore, 74, Gilda “Jill” D’Amore, 73 and Lucia Arpino, 97, who were found by a friend stabbed and beaten to death in their Nonantum home Sunday morning.

“When the friend got to the residence, she saw that the side door was unlocked,” Middlesex ADA Nicole Allain stated. “She went in, called out and nobody answered. And in a bedroom she discovered both of the D’Amores as well as Mrs. D’Amore’s mother Lucia Arpino, apparently deceased all in the same bedroom.”

Ferguson was charged with murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and burglary and is expected to be brought up on two additional murder charges once the autopsies on the two remaining victims are completed, Middlesex DA Marian Ryan said Monday. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The defendant appeared in the courtroom on Zoom, after the arraignment was delayed several times through the morning and into the afternoon. He had posted a selfie of himself on Facebook that has now gone public.

Defense attorney Dmitry Lev assented to the prosecution’s request to hold the defendant without bail and was granted a request to allow the defendant to appear by Zoom again at the next court date.

The slain family members were found by a friend just after 10 a.m. after they failed to show up for church Sunday morning. The D’Amores were planning to renew their vows in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary and celebrate with friends and family at the church.

The discovery of their bodies kicked off a two-day search for the killer, with police warning residents to lock their windows and doors and remain vigilant.

Police identified Ferguson on a video of a shirtless, shoeless man apparently staggering four-tenths of a mile from the crime scene around 5:20 a.m., Allain said. A warrant for his arrest was issued after investigators obtained a search warrant for his footprint, matching it to a bare footprint discovered on tile at the scene.

Investigators also found a pair of black boots on a porch on Albemarle Street and a suitcase and backpack with Ferguson’s ID nearby, the probable cause statement said.

Investigators spoke with Ferguson’s ex-girlfriend, who said Ferguson had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had been in a manic episode since February 2023, and his sister, who described his recent behavior as “erratic,” the statement said.

Saturday night, a person — whose name is redacted — was with the defendant until “they argued and he left around 10:36 p.m.,” the statement detailed. That evening, they did a series of apparently ordinary activities, the unnamed person told police, going to Target, driving by a prospective new apartment, picking up liquor and planning to do laundry.

On Monday, the statement reads, police had Ferguson taken for a Section 12 evaluation — the emergency hospitalization of a person who may be at risk of serious harm due to mental illness — at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. He also had a cut on his right hand consistent with holding a knife, the statement noted.

The defendant has had only one prior offense from 2005 on record, which was dismissed, the prosecution said.

Several family members of the victims gathered in the courtroom Tuesday, faces drawn as the prosecution recited the harrowing details of the case.

The victims’ Our Lady Help of Christians church community has spoken out since the family’s deaths, noting their decades-long, exceptional role in the church.

“This week and for the weeks, months, and years ahead, the brutal and senseless murders of Gilda D’Amore, her husband, Bruno D’Amore, and Gilda’s mother, Lucia Arpino, will stay with us as we come to terms with this unimaginable loss,” Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement Tuesday. “They lived their Catholic faith proudly and in service to the Church.”

The next court date is scheduled for July 25 in Newton District Court.

Christopher Ferguson (Photo via Facebook)
Christopher Ferguson (Photo via Facebook)

Couple celebrating 50th wedding anniversary among 3 stabbed to death outside Boston

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A 41-year-old man has been arrested after the murder of three elderly residents in their Newton home over the weekend, Middlesex DA Marian Ryan announced after the slayings rattled the community.

“Today, I am back to tell you that just a few minutes ago, we were able to place under arrest an individual named Christopher Ferguson, age 41, from Newton,” said Ryan around 8 p.m. Monday. “Mr. Ferguson is right now charged with murder, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and burglary in connection to the incident that occurred yesterday.”

The arrest ends a two-day manhunt for the killer after Jill D’Amore, 73, her husband Bruce D’Amore, 74, and her mother, Lucia Arpino, 97, were found apparently stabbed and beaten to death in their home Sunday morning.

Ryan said Ferguson has only been charged with one count of homicide because the medical examiner has so far only conducted an autopsy on Jill D’Amore and ruled her death a homicide. After the two other autopsies, which are expected to be conducted tomorrow, Ryan said she expects the suspect will be faced with “additional charges.”

The victims were found just after 10 a.m. Sunday morning when a neighbor came to check on them when they failed to show up for church and the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary celebration, Ryan said.

All had suffered from apparent knife injuries and blunt force trauma, with over 30 stab and trauma wounds identified on Jill D’Amore, Ryan said. By 10:20 a.m. Sunday, they were pronounced dead on scene.

Police identified signs of forced entry in the basement, a struggle in one of the bedrooms and a bloody knife in the kitchen, Ryan said.

They also found bloody bare footprints on the tile hallway floor, which can be matched to a suspect like fingerprints, the DA said, and potentially usable fingerprints on removed window screens.

Police obtained a video four-tenths of a mile from the crime scene and about 100 feet from the residence believed to be Ferguson’s, she continued. On it, officers saw a shirtless, shoeless male figure apparently staggering around 5:20 a.m.

“Several officers when shown that video were able to make identification of the individual depicted on the video as Mr. Ferguson, who was known to them,” said Ryan.

The footprints taken from the tile floor were matched to an impression from Ferguson, Ryan said, leading the police to issue the warrant for his arrest.

Ferguson was hospitalized after he was placed under arrest, Ryan said, and details of the arraignment are not yet available, as of Monday night.

Ferguson has long lived in the Newton community, Ryan said, and authorities have not yet found any connection between the suspect and the slain family.

The DA and police thanked the community for their help during the search and the investigators for their tireless work finding the suspect.

“Newton is a safe city,” said Newton Police Chief John Carmichael at the press conference. “However, this is a reminder that senseless acts of violence do take place in cities such as ours, and it is very important that we remain vigilant.”

Carmichael added that the community will gather from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday evening in the Horace Mann Elementary School auditorium to “sit down and have a community conversation relative to our response to this, as well as how we heal as a community following this tragic event.”

The victims were identified and lovingly remembered in a letter from their relatives to their Our Lady Help of Christians church community sent Monday afternoon.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share that the terrible tragedy that happened yesterday in Newton hit very close to home… impacting our faith community and our own family,” the letter said.

The pastor at Our Lady Help of Christians Father Dan Wiley said the three were “salt-of-the-earth, wonderful people” and “full of warmth and hospitality.”

“We’ll all particularly feel the loss of these three people,” Wiley said.

The family’s letter noted how Jill D’Amore spent “endless hours” taking care of the church’s flowers and decorating for the liturgical seasons.

Bruce D’Amore, the letter said, “was known for his big voice and his exuberant personality and as ‘head chef,’ he proudly flipped the burgers at the parish picnic.”

Lucia Arpino never missed a 10 a.m. mass up until the pandemic, attending for over 60 years, and faithfully walking in the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Festa procession each year.

To celebrate their 50th anniversary, the couple would’ve been blessed and renewed their vows in front of the congregation and celebrated with their family and friends, Wiley said.

In just the last day, the community’s response to the tragedy has been “phenomenal,” Wiley said, with members gathering and offering support to one another and for the family.

“In the midst of horrible evil, there’s been incredible, generous good,” the pastor said.

The church is planning to host a gathering to remember the three parishioners, Wiley said, which they will announce to the community shortly.

“Many in our faith community are grieving this great loss,” the family said in the letter. “We ask for your prayers for them, most especially for their three children and their five grandchildren.”

 

Rick Sobey contributed to this report.

Newton homicide investigation: 3 ‘elderly’ people found dead, police search for suspect

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Three “elderly” people were found dead inside a Newton residence Sunday morning, as police investigate the apparent homicide and search for the alleged triple murder suspect.

The victims, who included a couple celebrating their golden wedding anniversary, were found stabbed and with signs of blunt force trauma said Middelsex DA Marian Ryan in an update from the Newton police station Sunday night.

Ryan said the suspect remains at large and that investigators have not found a link to the victims.

Ryan said there was evidence of a break-in at the house and that there was also a report of a break-in earlier on nearby Brookside Avenue in Newton.

“We really need the public’s help,” Ryan said, urging nearby residents to check any home surveillance video, including doorbell and other systems. “Please check your video if you see anything that appears unusual, call the Newton Police Department.”

Police responded at around 10:14 a.m. to a Broadway Street residence after “three elderly persons were found dead inside the home from an apparent homicide,”  Ryan’s office said in an earlier statement.

“At this time police are actively searching for the person or persons responsible,” the DA’s Office added Sunday afternoon. “This is a very active and ongoing investigation.”

Ryan said Sunday night the investigation was in its very early stages and details were limited. She said police were still working to positively identify the victims.

The area of Broadway Street between Churchill and Linwood Avenue remained closed, and people were being asked to avoid the area.

“Residents of the Nonantum area should expect to see an increased police presence,” Ryan’s added. “As always, residents are asked to remain vigilant, check door and window locks and report any suspicious activity to Newton Police at 617-796-2123. In an emergency call 911.”

At the scene Sunday afternoon, neighbors looked on in shock and confusion as police gathered in clusters in the taped off block of Broadway Street.

“Why them?” said a neighbor who lives two doors down from the crime scene and chose to remain unnamed. “Why a nice couple like them? Why this neighborhood? Nothing like this happens in this neighborhood.”

The neighbor, who said he’s lived in the area for the last 20 years, described the area as a safe family neighborhood where everyone says good morning to each other. The victims, he said were a “very, very nice couple” in their 70s and the woman’s mother.

“It’s really unsettling, because you don’t know if they’re going to come invade your home next,” he said. … “They didn’t deserve this.”

BOSTON, MA. June 25: District Attorney Marian Ryan, right, talks to a unidentified woman as Police in Newton work in front of the home where three people were found dead Sunday, June 25, 2023, on Broadway Street, a quiet in residential neighborhood in Newton, Mass. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, right, talks to an unidentified woman as police in Newton work in front of the home where three people were found dead. (Jim Michaud/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA. June 25: Just after 5pm a large mobile command center from the Massachusetts State Police backs down the street parking in front of the house where three people were found dead Sunday, June 25, 2023, on Broadway Street, a quiet in residential neighborhood in Newton, Mass. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)
The Massachusetts State Police Incident Command center arrived at the Newton crime scene on Sunday. (Jim Michaud/Boston Herald)
A 20-year resident who lives two doors down from the home where three people were found dead Sunday in Newton, said neighbors all know each other and it's a very quiet area. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)
A 20-year resident who lives two doors down from the home where three people were found dead Sunday in Newton, said neighbors all know each other and the neighborhood is a very quiet area. (Photo by Jim Michaud/ Boston Herald)

 

Emeryville man charged in S.F. killing of tech executive; police say they knew each other

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SAN FRANCISCO — An Emeryville man was arrested and charged Thursday in the April 4 stabbing death of tech executive Robert Lee — and the suspect and the victim knew each other before the killing, authorities said.

Nima Momeni, 38, was arrested Thursday morning in Emeryville by San Francisco police, who served multiple search warrants in the East Bay and San Francisco, officials said at a news conference. The arrest of Momeni, the owner of an Emeryville tech company known as Expand IT, was first reported by Mission Local.

San Francisco police Chief Bill Scott said at the news conference that Momeni and Robert “Bob” Lee had known each other before the killing, but he would not say how they were connected.

Scott declined to provide details about the killing, deferring on questions about a possible motive or a murder weapon. He repeatedly cited the ongoing investigation into the killing in turning down questions.

Lee, the creator of the CashApp payment service and an executive at MobileCoin, was fatally stabbed about 2:30 a.m. April 4 in the 300 block of Main Street in the Rincon Hill neighborhood. He was pronounced dead at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

Scott would not say Thursday how detectives had developed information that led them to Momeni as a suspect.

“We can confirm that Mr. Lee and Mr. Momeni knew each other,” Scott said, declining to share any other details “regarding evidence that confirms that information. … We still have work to do, and our job is to provide the best evidence possible to the District Attorney and her team so we can bring this case to justice.”

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said that Momeni had been charged with murder, with an enhancement that the killing was committed with a knife. Momeni was scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon; Jenkins said her office would ask a judge to order Momeni held without bail.

Both Scott and Jenkins took time to offer condolences to Lee’s family and friends.

The killing quickly drew attention in national media, both due to Lee’s prominence in the tech community and to political debate over the issue of crime in big cities like San Francisco.

Asked about the use of the killing to portray San Francisco as especially lawless and violent, Scott said in part that “this is more about human nature, human behavior than it is about our city. … This is not about San Francisco. … Facts show that most people who commit homicide know the people that they kill.”

Jenkins also blasted prominent media figures criticizing the city, saying that such a narrative “negatively impacts the pursuit of justice for victims of crime as it spreads misinformation at a time when the police are trying to solve a very difficult case,” Jenkins said.

Lee had been chief product officer at MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency and digital payments startup, since 2021. Previous posts included chief technology officer at Square — where he created CashApp, originally known as Square Cash — and software engineer at Google. He also invested in and advised numerous startups.

A website for Momeni’s company, Expand IT, could be viewed Thursday morning but was taken down later in the day. A call to the phone number listed on the company website was not returned.

In a social-media post, Lee’s brother Timothy Lee called Bob “a loving Son, brother and father.” That statement continued as follows:

He positively affected millions of people throughout his life. He had an overarching need to make technology accessible, and to help out everyone. Bob’s dream was to make technology free and available.

From a modest upbringing in the midwest, he started out programing and making web pages for the small business that bordered his parents own store. Many people may not know, in the early days of tech one of the first computer viruses, Code Red, shut down the world. A young Bob created the solution unpaid and then gave it to the world for free. That’s who Bob was.

He spent the rest of his career on that same path. Through his help in creating Android, he made a cheaper and widely used OS. With Square, later block, he was able to solve a major problem for small businesses and help them to democratize cost effective payments. With Cash App, he helped the all people access the digital payments world. What attracted him to MobileCoin was their idea to connect business and payments around the world.

Bob loved being in San Francisco, and San Francisco loved Bob. Walking down the street would sometimes be difficult because every young person with a dream would search him out, and he would make time for every one.

After our Mom’s passing 3 years ago, Dad moved in with Bob to share in his life and support. Bob’s new job took him to Miami, Dad came along as well. His love for his Family and San Francisco kept him coming back.

Personally, Bob felt it was important to not judge based on someones beliefs. This caused so many people to love him from a Burning Man Camp to San Francisco to Miami and across the world. This philosophy afforded him friends from every walk of life. His love of music and art created an amazing group of truly individual and loving people. This community has been extremely supportive in his passing.

Every day around the world, people interact with technology that Bob helped create. Bob will live on through these interactions and his dreams of improving all of our lives.

As a family, we’re very thankful to the hard working Detectives at the SFPD for bringing his killer to Justice. Our next steps will be to work with the District Attorney’s office to ensure that this person is not allowed to hurt anyone else or walk free.

From the Family of Bob Lee

‘She cheated on me’ is no longer a defense for men charged with murder in Massachusetts: Supreme Judicial Court

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“She cheated on me” is no longer a reasonable defense for husbands and boyfriends who are accused of murdering their wives and girlfriends in the Bay State, according to a recent ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court.

The top court in Massachusetts rejected its precedent for this argument in certain cases, as justices ruled that the murder defense based on cheating has a “shaky, misogynistic foundation and has no place in our modern jurisprudence.”

The SJC was ruling on an appeal involving a man who was convicted of first-degree murder for killing his 9-months pregnant girlfriend in Salem after she had told him he was not the father of her baby. Peter Ronchi in May 2009 repeatedly stabbed his girlfriend, Yuliya Galperina, killing her and her viable fetus.

During the trial, there was no question that Ronchi had stabbed Galperina. Ronchi had argued that the murder charge should be reduced to manslaughter, blaming his girlfriend’s infidelity for the homicide.

A Superior Court jury ended up convicting Ronchi of two counts of first-degree murder.

“In this appeal, the defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions of murder in the first degree, on the ground that no rational juror could have found that the stabbings were not the result of a heat of passion upon reasonable provocation,” the SJC wrote about the appeal this week.

Ronchi was asking the SJC to reduce the verdicts to manslaughter. The SJC upheld the murder convictions, and also rejected its precedent for these cases.

“We also take this opportunity to disavow our precedent on reasonable provocation based on sudden oral revelations of infidelity, and, relatedly, lack of paternity,” the SJC wrote.

“The exception rests upon a shaky, misogynistic foundation and has no place in our modern jurisprudence,” the top court later added. “Going forward, we no longer will recognize that an oral discovery of infidelity satisfies the objective element of something that would provoke a reasonable person to kill his or her spouse.”

Associate Justice Elspeth Cypher in a concurring opinion noted that U.S. women are more likely to be killed by homicide during pregnancy or soon after childbirth than to die from the three leading obstetric causes of maternal mortality (hypertensive disorders, hemorrhage, or sepsis).

“It is important to emphasize that the brutal facts of this case are not an anomaly,” Cypher wrote. “The disconcerting frequency of lethal violence against pregnant women warrants concomitant response from our justice system. This court’s acknowledgement that oral revelations, on their own, cannot induce a reasonable person to kill their pregnant partner is a laudable first step.”

She added, “I would take it one step further and reject the principle that discovery of infidelity, whether oral or through personal observation, can amount to adequate provocation to kill a partner, standing alone.”

Infant in Duxbury tragedy has died, the DA’s office says

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The last of the three Clancy children at the heart of the Duxbury tragedy has died.

“Today, at approximately 12:30 p.m., The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner contacted Massachusetts State Police assigned to our office to report that at 11:18 a.m. today, the third Clancy child was pronounced deceased at Children’s Hospital in Boston,” the Plymouth District Attorney’s office announced Friday afternoon. “The victim has been identified as Callan Clancy.”

Callan, just 7 months old, held on for three days. His older siblings, Cora, 5, and Dawson, 3, were pronounced dead Tuesday night after Duxbury first responders found them unconscious at the home at 47 Summer St.

The events of Tuesday night, from husband Patrick calling 911 at 6:11 p.m. to report that his wife, Lindsay, had attempted suicide to first responders finding all three children unconscious has dominated headlines since that evening.

In a press conference the next day, Plymouth DA Timothy Cruz said that preliminary investigation indicated that the children had been “strangled.” Final determination of their cause of death is in the hands of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, he said.

An arrest warrant was issued for Lindsay Clancy that evening. The Plymouth District Court had no further information to release Friday afternoon.

The warrant shows Clancy, who remains in a hospital, with eight counts: two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation or suffocation and three counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon. It is not immediately clear if the death of Callan will bring a fresh charge.

The “unimaginable, senseless tragedy,” as Cruz described it mere hours after first responders arrived at the home, shook the small bedroom community nine miles north of Plymouth.

First responders who worked the scene or coordinated and dispatched efforts were placed on leave to recover from what they had seen and endured, department heads announced Wednesday, and area churches opened their doors for all to heal together.

A vigil was held Thursday night.

Community members and others from near and far have contributed monetarily, as well, for Patrick to do what he needs to do, with more than $443,000 raised in just a day to a GoFundMe drive with a $700,000 goal.

“On behalf of the extended Clancy Family we invite you to offer support for Patrick as he navigates an unimaginable tragedy,” organizer Matthew Glaser, of Wakefield, wrote on the page, which he added “is intended to help Pat pay for medical bills, funeral services, and legal help. This assistance is especially needed because Pat will be unable to work for the foreseeable future as he weathers this painful, life-altering tragedy.”

Glaser could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.