Local News
“This is not only a tragedy for the town, for the school, this is just a very difficult case because of the randomness of this violence.”
Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker speaks to reporters in 2023. (Jaime Campos/Pool)
A high school senior is facing murder charges after a woman in her 60s was found dead in her Danvers home Thursday afternoon, prosecutors announced.
Janet Swallow, 68, was found in her single-family home on Amherst Street in Danvers Thursday “with wounds consistent with a homicide,” Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker said in a press conference Thursday night.
Anthony DeMayo, a senior at Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, is charged with her murder. DeMayo, who lives in Lynn, is expected to be arraigned in court Friday.
There appears to be no connection between DeMayo and Swallow, Tucker said, “and what we believe at this point is this was random.”
Bishop Fenwick High School, a private, Roman Catholic school, did not return a request for more information Thursday night.
Police allegedly find high schooler with bloody knife
Lynn police first responded to a 911 call about a man, later identified as DeMayo, walking on Standish Street with a knife, which officers said appeared to have a “reddish brown stain on the knife consistent with blood,” Tucker said.
Due to his “erratic behavior,” DeMayo was taken to Salem Hospital. Investigators then searched his home, where evidence led officials to 17 Amherst St. in Danvers, Tucker said. Swallow was found dead in the home.
Standish Street in Lynn, where DeMayo was found by police, is more than seven miles from Swallow’s home on Amherst Street in Danvers.
“As of now, the investigation has not found any connection between the defendant and the victim. We also believe, as of this point, that DeMayo acted alone,” Tucker said. “This terrible tragedy has struck the Swallow family, the town of Danvers, and the Bishop Fenwick community.”
More information about the crime is expected to be revealed at Friday’s arraignment.
The Swallows are “long-time Danvers residents,” Danvers Police Chief James Lovell said, saying that her two sons had been notified of her death.
“This is not only a tragedy for the town, for the school,” Tucker said. “This is just a very difficult case because of the randomness of this violence.”
Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.
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