A Massachusetts teacher and young mother found dead over the weekend had been having marital troubles before her brutal killing — and her husband is the prime suspect in her death.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Andrew MacCormack, 29, has been charged in the death of his wife, Vanessa MacCormack, 30. The woman was found dead in her home in Revere on Saturday afternoon.
The husband has insisted on his innocence, and his defense attorneys argued at his arraignment on Wednesday that investigators should continue to search for suspects.
“I think the police should be spending more time making sure they have the right guy,” Attorney John C. Hayes said in court, according to the Boston Herald.
“It’s very easy to say the husband did it. It’s easy to focus and turn the lens on one person and make innocent things look bad.”
But evidence suggests that things were quite bad between the husband and wife in the weeks leading up to Vanessa’s death.
According to court documents obtained by the Boston Herald, Vanessa sent a text to her husband on August 31 indicting she was planning on leaving the marriage.
“I hate you so much you’ve ruined (our daughter’s) life because she won’t have her parents together…,” Vanessa reportedly wrote.
“I’ll talk to (real estate agent) tomorrow about listing the house and I’ll look into divorce lawyers.”
Andrew reportedly replied: “Ur crazy … I’m not signing anything to sell the house or get divorced.”
MA State Police: "The facts and evidence led to one person."
Andrew MacCormack arrested on murder charges in death of his wife, Vanessa. pic.twitter.com/PhJA5n0VKj— Lisa Hughes (@LisaWBZ) September 27, 2017
A police timeline has reportedly revealed that before his wife was discovered dead on Saturday, Andrew drove with the couple’s one-year-old daughter to the home of a drug dealer, where he bought $100 worth of cocaine.
The drug dealer reportedly told police that Andrew, a union drywall installer, spends up to $500 a week on cocaine.
The Boston Globe reports that the family had been experiencing financial difficulties, presumably as a result of Andrew’s expensive drug habit. Andrew had pawned multiple items of jewelry, and Vanessa’s $13,000 engagement ring had gone missing. The suspect also reportedly claimed that someone had hacked his bank account and stole thousands of dollars.
At the arraignment, prosectors argued that the tension in the marriage came to a head last Saturday, and that Andrew attacked his wife before cleaning up the crime scene with bleach.
Investigators reportedly found a grisly scene after Andrew called 911, saying that he had found his wife injured in their home.
According to police affidavits obtained by the Boston Globe, Vanessa was found lying face-up, bloodied, on the floor of a bedroom with “multiple sharp force injuries to her neck” and missing teeth.
The home reportedly smelled strongly of bleach, and Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum told the Boston Herald that the bathroom had been cleaned so thoroughly that a sweep turned up only the footprints of the responding officer.
MacCormack’s defense attorney argued at the arraignment that efforts to clean the crime scene point to an outside intruder, not someone who lived in the home.
The lawyer reportedly said that his client’s DNA and fingerprints would be found “all over the house anyway. … So why would he be bleaching the house?”
Despite the attorney’s request for $50,000 bail, Andrew MacCormack is being held without bond. He is due back in court on October 17 for a probable cause hearing.
Feature photo: Facebook
