Sunday, May 3, 2009

DA: Lynn man stabs girlfriend to death in Braintree motel



The Patriot Ledger
Posted Apr 30, 2009 @ 12:58 AM
Last update Apr 30, 2009 @ 05:51 PM

BRAINTREE —

A Lynn man stabbed his girlfriend to death in a Braintree motel before hanging himself, the Norfolk District Attorney said.

The murder-suicide occurred Wednesday at a Union Street motel, a short distance from Route 3 and the Braintree MBTA station, notorious for drawing drugs and prostitution to town.

Luis Garcia, 52, killed his girlfriend Linda Auger, 42, in the room they were sharing at the Motel 6, the District Attorney said. Auger had previously lived in Braintree, and had just moved back to Massachusetts from Maine.

Garcia then hung himself in his room, according to a preliminary report from the chief medical examiner in Boston, the District Attorney said.

The murder-suicide is the latest in a busy, violent few weeks in the area. Police said that a pregnant Quincy mother killed her daughter and unborn child, one week after  a 23-year-old Milton man  killed two of his sisters before being shot dead by police.

"This is the sixth alleged domestic violence homicide in Norfolk County in five weeks: two siblings, two children, an aunt and now a girlfriend," District Attorney William R. Keating said in a statement. "In the decade that I have served as District Attorney, we have not had six homicides in five weeks until now."

A motel worker discovered both bodies after entering a room in the rear of the Motel 6 about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The Motel 6 consists of a pair of two-story buildings between the Union Street rotary, the Braintree MBTA station, and the former Braintree landfill.

Police say the motel’s proximity to the highway makes it especially attractive to drug dealers and prostitutes. “Some of these higher-level drug dealers can come here, dispense their drugs then get right back on the highway,” Police Chief Paul Frazier said today. “Prostitutes can take the T, walk across the street, meet their clients then go back home on the train.”

Braintree police make arrests at the motel on a regular basis.  

When the bodies were found Wednesday, Braintree police responded and were soon joined by State Police detectives attached to Keating’s office and officers from Crime Scene Services section of the State Police.

The bodies were taken to the tate medical examiner’s office in Boston. Autopsies will be performed. Information on the cause and the manner of the deaths will not be released until the autopsies have been done, Traub said.

Meanwhile, Braintree Mayor Joseph Sullivan wants to meet with management from the motel chain to talk about the ongoing problems at the Union Street motel. Frazier said his department is preparing a report for the mayor on how often police are called to the motel and the number of arrests made there in recent years.

Sullivan, Frazier said,  “wants to address the issues and hopefully they can help us resolve some of the problems we’ve been having there.” 

The last murder in Braintree was nearly two years ago. Michelle Durham, 28, was shot to death in her apartment in the Braintree Village complex on May 17, 2007.

The latest slaying brings to six the number of homicides in Norfolk County in as many weeks.  The five previous homicides all involved domestic violence.

Randall Carpeno was charged with fatally stabbing his blind aunt, April Mackie, 56, and hiding her body in a closet in her Plainville home on March 23.

Five days later, Samantha “Princesse” Revelus, 17, and her 5-year-old sister, Bianca, were stabbed to death by their brother, Kerby Revelus, 23, at their home in Milton. Kerby Revelus was shot and killed by police as he attacked his 9-year-old sister, who survived.

Authorities say Fang Chi-Xue, 38, stabbed to death her 9-year-old daughter, Wen Xue, in their Wollaston home on April 16. They say she then turned the knife on herself, killing the 7½-month-old unborn child she was carrying.

Judge Diane Moriarty ordered Chi-Xue to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at Worcester State Hospital.  She is tentatively scheduled for arraignment Wednesday.

Fred Hanson is at fhanson@ledger.com.


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