Mattapan, MA: Woman, boyfriend found dead in Mattapan

By Richard Weir and Laura Crimaldi

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Fearing the worst, a panic-stricken woman broke down the door of her sister’s Mattapan apartment yesterday morning and found her beloved sibling and her boyfriend dead in a macabre scene a police source called an apparent murder-suicide.

Neighbor Ashley James, 18, told the Herald yesterday that the slain woman’s sister had been trying desperately to contact her before she raced to the apartment at about 8 a.m. and made the gruesome discovery. James said they both called 911.

“I heard music last night,” said James, who noted it started at about 9 p.m. She was awakened in the morning by the sister’s loud bangs on the apartment door.

“The sister called this morning and (the boyfriend) answered the phone, but he would not put (her) on. Later, she kept calling and calling and calling, and nobody answered the phone. That’s why she came here,” James said.

Boston police responded to the fourth-floor unit at 50 Fairlawn Ave. in the Fairlawn Estates Apartments at 9:05 a.m. for a well-being check. They found a man and woman lying dead inside. Investigators believe it was a murder-suicide, a source told the Herald.

Police withheld the dead couple’s identities. The cause and manner of death are pending the outcome of the autopsies, police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

“Preliminary investigation suggests that this was a domestic incident, and we are not looking for any additional suspects,” she added.

James described her neighbor as a quiet and pretty woman with light brown hair. For Christmas, she decorated her door with a “Merry Christmas” banner.

James said she’s never seen her neighbor’s boyfriend but often heard them arguing in Spanish and English.

“They had problems,” said James, adding the boyfriend did not live in the apartment. “They fought a lot.”

Lee Winston, 33, who lives on the basement level, said he told investigators he didn’t hear anything after he came home from church at 2:30 a.m. yesterday.

Winston said the four-story building is normally quiet and safe. Residents have to buzz in their guests.

Said Winston: “I’m not opening up the door for nobody.”