Crime
Phyllis Palazzola allegedly told her friend she wanted to drive them both off a bridge, adding, “I was gonna kill us both.”
July 10, 2026 | 4:49 PM
2 minutes to read
A Gloucester woman faces felony charges and a pair of civil lawsuits after she allegedly used a rag soaked in WD-40 to try to kill a childhood friend to whom she owed money.
Phyllis Palazzola told lifelong friend Marianna DiMercurio she had planned to drive them both off of a bridge “so we could go together,” according to a lawsuit DiMercurio filed in Essex Superior Court Tuesday.
The lawsuit states Palazzola borrowed more than $160,000 from DiMercurio to help cover her legal fees in an unrelated insurance fraud case. (Palazzola later pleaded guilty to those charges in exchange for three years of probation and a suspended prison sentence, court records show).
Starting in July 2022, DiMercurio said she repeatedly asked Palazzola to pay her back with $20,000 interest, as they had purportedly agreed. However, she alleges a year and a half passed before Palazzola invited her to a local bank, ostensibly to withdraw money and settle up.
According to the lawsuit, Palazzola picked DiMercurio up on Jan. 3, 2024, but drove to her own home instead of the bank. Palazzola allegedly ran inside the house, returning to the car with a WD-40-soaked rag that she forcibly held against DiMercurio’s face.
DiMercurio said she escaped the car and fell to the ground, running inside Palazzola’s house to wash her burning, blurry eyes. DiMercurio then attempted to flee, according to the complaint, but Palazzola gave chase as DiMercurio ran to her own car parked down the street.
DiMercurio feared for her life and began to record on her cellphone as Palazzola got into the vehicle and explained that she had wanted to sedate DiMercurio, according to the lawsuit.
“I figured that I’d drive off and … [it] would look like an accident that we both died,” Palazzola allegedly said. According to the lawsuit, she later reiterated her intent by stating, “I was gonna kill us both.”
DiMercurio further alleges that Palazzola threatened to kill herself if DiMercurio told anyone what happened. According to court filings, DiMercurio was left with scratches on her face and arms, chemical eye burns, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
She filed a separate lawsuit against Palazzola in February, alleging breach of contract and seeking $520,000 in damages. In her official answer to the February complaint, Palazzola flatly denied that an attack had occurred.
In addition to the two civil suits, Palazzola was indicted last week on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, attempted murder, and two counts of witness intimidation in connection with the alleged attack on DiMercurio.
Palazzola is scheduled for arraignment July 21. Her attorney did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.
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