NEWTON, Mass. — The man charged in connection with the random killings of a husband and wife celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, as well as the woman’s 97-year-old mother in Newton over the weekend was ordered held without bail Tuesday afternoon.
Christopher Ferguson, 41, also of Newton, was arraigned via Zoom in Newton District Court on charges of murder, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and burglary in the deaths Gilda D’Amore, 73, Bruno D’Amore, 74, and Lucia Arpino. A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.
Officers responding to a 911 call placed by a friend of the couple around 10:15 a.m. Sunday found all three of the victims suffering from apparent stab wounds and blunt-force trauma inside their home at 49 Broadway Street, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.
There were obvious signs of forced entry into the home on Broadway, including broken glass and missing screens from the basement windows, according to police. Ryan added that there were also obvious signs of struggle in one of the bedrooms, including broken furniture and a crystal paperweight covered in blood.
“The reason for the friend going there was because there was a planned 50th-anniversary celebration and Mass that morning which was supposed to start at 10 a.m.,” a prosecutor told the court during Ferguson’s hearing. “The couple that was supposed to be there, Gilda and Bruno D’Amore, were not at the Mass. When the friend got to the residence, she saw that the side door was unlocked...In a bedroom, she discovered both of the D’Amores, as well as Ms. D’more’s mother, Lucia Arpino, apparently deceased all in the same bedroom.”
All three victims were pronounced dead minutes after officers arrived at the scene. Authorities noted that Arpino still had a knife “embedded in her body.”
A subsequent sweep of the home revealed bloody, bare footprints on the hallway floor between the bedroom and kitchen, leading in the direction of an exterior door, forensics investigators said. Blood droplets and fingerprints were also lifted from the scene.
The couple hadn’t been heard from since about 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Ferguson was later identified with help from a neighbor’s video, which prosecutors say caught him walking on Albemarle Road, a short distance from the Broadway home around 5:20 a.m. Sunday.
Ferguson is charged with murder in Gilda D’Amore’s killing after an autopsy revealed her death was a homicide, although Ryan noted that additional murder charges are likely after the other two autopsies are conducted.
Gilda D’More is said to have suffered over 30 stab and blunt force trauma injuries, primarily to the upper part of her body and head.
Ferguson has had at least one previous encounter with law enforcement, an assault and battery arrest in 2005.
He is due back in court for a probable cause hearing on July 25.
An investigation remains ongoing.
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