An 18-year-old high school senior in Massachusetts has been arrested for the murder of a 68-year-old ICU nurse in her Danvers home. Authorities say the attack was random, with the suspect confessing to planning such an act for a long time. The nurse was found dead after a home invasion on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, March 11, Janet Swallow, a 68-year-old ICU nurse, was fatally stabbed in her home in Danvers, Massachusetts. According to police reports, Anthony DeMayo, an 18-year-old senior at Bishop Fenwick High School in nearby Peabody, broke into her residence through a kitchen window while searching for a place to invade. Court documents detail that DeMayo found Swallow sleeping in her bedroom and began stabbing her in the neck. When the knife became stuck, he allegedly pulled her from the bed to the floor and left her to bleed out before driving back to his home in Lynn.
DeMayo was apprehended the following day, Thursday, after Ashley O'Brien spotted him walking in her neighborhood carrying a large knife with blood on it. O'Brien described him to investigators as appearing "unhinged, and I think mentally unwell," noting that he made stabbing motions at bushes. She recounted to local media, "He looked right in my eyes, and I just kind of looked away. And once he left, I just knew I had to call the cops because, I mean, he was definitely looking to hurt somebody."
Upon arrest, DeMayo confessed to officers that he had killed a woman in Danvers the previous night. Cellphone data placed his device stationary in the area between midnight and 1 a.m. on Thursday. He reportedly told investigators that he had planned to kill someone "for a long time."
Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker described the incident as a "random" murder with "no connection" between DeMayo and Swallow during a Thursday press conference. Swallow leaves behind two adult sons. DeMayo faces charges of murder and home invasion and was scheduled for arraignment in Salem District Court on Friday. Bishop Fenwick High School made counselors available to students and staff in response to the news.
