SAUGUS, Mass. — Essex Landing overlooks a stretch of Route One where dimly lit motels offer a foreboding promise of respite.
The apartment complex, on the other hand, offers an expensive promise -- with units renting from $2,000 to $3,500 a month, according to its website. But high rent proved no obstacle to heinous crime this past weekend. Authorities found a murder victim Saturday around 9:30 PM in an apartment at 44 Collins Avenue -- the upper of the buildings that make up Essex Landing.
The Essex County District Attorney’s office is now handling the investigation. On Monday, the victim was identified as 26-year-old Michael Norton.
But Arianna Nelson, who’s lived at Essex Landing since April, said she knew the victim and his family.
“I was just friends with the family,” Nelson said. “His dad has a dog, so I walk my dog with their dog. I don’t know them incredibly well. Just enough to know they’re wonderful people and everyone here gets along with them.”
Nelson said the victim was a young male, about 25-years-old who was looking forward, along with the rest of the family, to the birth of a nephew.
“He was just a personable young man. Always smiling and joking,” she said. It’s horrible. I can’t imagine what his parents are going through right now. I cannot imagine what it’s like to bury a child.”
What the neighbors also can’t imagine is how the crime could have happened, given the security of the buildings. First, all the apartments have inside entrances.
“You can’t get access to the building unless somebody buzzes you in or you have a key fob,” Nelson said.
She is also surprised nobody heard anything.
“I mean our units are pretty thin-walled,” she said. " You can hear stuff. So it’s scary that it can happen in an apartment building and could go unnoticed.”
Nelson said this is not the first time Essex Landing has seen police activity since she’s lived there.
“There have been SWAT team incidents,” she said. “There was a shooting outside.”
But this time, a violent crime made its way inside.
“I think a lot of us are in shock trying to absorb that this actually happened,” Nelson said. “I mean, I think it feels like a nightmare, a living nightmare, for a lot of us.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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