A Massachusetts man accused of fatally stabbing his pregnant girlfriend in her Salem apartment over the weekend appeared in court on Wednesday to face a murder charge.
Peter Ronchi of Marblehead was ordered held without bail during his arraignment in Salem District Court.
Ronchi is charged with killing 42-year-old Yuliya Galperina in her apartment on Pope Street early Sunday morning.
She was nine months pregnant. Her unborn baby did not survive.
Ronchi, 45, allegedly stabbed Galperina after she told him the baby was not his, according to a police report.
Prosecutors say Ronchi went to Galperina's apartment with a hunting knife and stabbed her to death while her two children, ages 3 and 8, slept in the next room. "(He had) gone to the home with a hunting knife, and once he was there, he stabbed her numerous times," said prosecutor Jean Curran.
Curran says after the stabbing, Ronchi cleaned his hands, changed his clothes and fled.
Galperina's two other children, who were not hurt in the attack, were left alone overnight and woke up to find their mother stabbed-to-death on the floor.
After the alleged stabbing, Ronchi fled Massachusetts before turning himself in to police in Norwalk, Conn. later Sunday.
The state is waiting for information from the medical examiner's office to charge Ronchi with the murder of Galperina's unborn child.
Ronchi is scheduled to appear in court again on June 16.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
No comments:
Post a Comment