Police shot and killed the boyfriend of a Massachusetts woman who was believed to be a person of interest in her death on Tuesday.
Police were searching for Matthew Davis, 34, in connection with his girlfriend Mary Anderson’s death, which they described as suspicious.
Davis was detained in 2009 for stabbing the boyfriend of the mother of his children, according to Vermont State Police.
After going missing over the previous weekend, Anderson’s body was discovered early on Tuesday morning inside her truck on Elliot Street in the Vermont town of Brattleboro.
Davis, who police said they were looking for and trying to speak with, was found at 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday by state troopers and local police in West Brattleboro.
Police shot Davis, who had a knife in his hand, “during an attempt to speak with” him, though they did not specify how the situation got worse.
At after 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Anderson was last seen near Hudson, New Hampshire, roughly 70 miles from where she was discovered, driving her navy blue 2017 Toyota Tacoma.
Around 12:55 a.m. on Tuesday, her truck was discovered in Brattleboro, in the neighbouring state.
The Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy before determining Anderson’s cause of death.
According to Mary’s mother, Sheila Anderson, the pair dated for three years before calling it quits in November.
In November, they suddenly split up, Anderson told WCVB. After three years of dating, she said, “I’m done,” because of something that transpired in their relationship.
Anderson noted that her daughter had been out with friends in the New Hampshire town where she was last seen on Saturday night and was expected to be returning home that evening.
She remarked that her family sends continuous information on their whereabouts, thus Mary’s absence that night worried her.
On Sunday night, Mary Anderson’s relatives reported her missing.
That her daughter might have been alone in her final moments devastated the mother’s heart.
‘The sad part for me as a mom … whatever she experienced these last four days. Just heart-wrenching. She was alone. She wasn’t with her mom or her siblings. I think that’s the devastating part. Not knowing what she was going through the last four days,’ she said.
Davis reportedly has a criminal history.
He spent several years in prison after being found guilty in 2009 of a brutal stabbing that involved the mother’s boyfriend.
According to a police report, Davis was hiding in his former girlfriend’s bedroom closet when he jumped out and stabbed the new lover. Police located him in a snow bank after a few hours of searching.