Neighbor, 41, suspected of ‘arbitrary’ murder of elderly couple who were stabbed to death
A neighbor has been arrested in the “random” murder of an elderly couple who were stabbed to death in their Massachusetts home before they had a chance to renew their wedding vows.
Christopher Ferguson, 41, was arrested Monday night for the triple murder of Jill and Bruno D’Amore, as well as Jill’s 97-year-old mother Lucia Arpino, at their family home in Newton.
The couple would renew their vows on Sunday at Our Lady Help of Christians Church for their 50th wedding anniversary. But when they didn’t show up, a concerned friend went to check on them and found them and Arpino stabbed to death.
Authorities described the scene as bloody on Monday, with clear indications that the D’Amores, who are both in their 70s, got into a fight in an attempt to stop their killer.
Massachusetts State Police found fingerprints, as well as a bloody bare footprint that matched Ferguson’s, seen on surveillance footage in the area Saturday night.
Jill and Bruno D’Amore were found dead in a home in Newton, Massachusetts, after planning to renew their vows for their 50th wedding anniversary. They are pictured in a photo provided by their family
Jill’s 97-year-old mother Lucia Arpino was also killed in the brutal attack
Christopher Ferguson, 41, was arrested Monday night as a suspect in the murders in what prosecutors have described as a ‘random’ attack
“Like fingerprints, the skin on people’s feet is unique,” Middlesex prosecutor Marian Ryan said at a news conference Monday night.
She added that he was seen “staggering” in the area at 5:20am on Sunday with no shoes and no shirt. It’s unclear if that was before or after the alleged murders, but Ryan said it was about 100 yards from his home and about four-tenths of a mile from the crime scene.
Authorities said Ferguson did not personally know the D’Amores or Arpino and they believe the stabbing was “random.”
Ryan also said Ferguson was previously “known to the police,” although it’s unclear if he had been arrested before.
He is now charged with murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and burglary. Ryan said she expects further charges once autopsies are completed on all three victims.
As of Monday evening, only the autopsy on 73-year-old Jill had been completed.
A medical examiner found she suffered more than 30 stab wounds when Ferguson allegedly broke into her home on Saturday night.
Police on the scene found a torn screen in the basement and blood on the floor. They also found a bloody knife in the kitchen.
There were also apparently signs of a struggle, including broken furniture and a crystal paperweight covered in blood.
Investigators said they matched a bloody footprint from the crime scene with Ferguson’s. They also had him on video as he stumbled back to his nearby home early Sunday morning, officials noted.
Ferguson is in a hospital, Ryan said, but it’s unclear what injuries he may have sustained in the altercation.
He will be arraigned on Wednesday.
The three victims were found stabbed to death at their home in Newton, Massachusetts, on Sunday morning
Police on the scene found signs of a struggle, including broken furniture and a crystal paperweight covered in blood. They were able to match a bloody footprint at the scene with neighbor Christopher Ferguson, 41, who was ‘known to police’
The D’Amore’s would renew their wedding vows on Sunday at Our Lady Help of Christians Church for their 50th wedding anniversary
The couple never showed up at the church, where Arpino attends mass every Sunday
The D’Amores were remembered Monday as “fantastic Italians who wouldn’t hurt a soul.”
Jim Sbordone, a retired lieutenant of the Newton Fire Department who was also close friends with the D’Amores, told The Boston Globe the family had long been patrons of the nearby Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Help der Christianen church.
“They would do anything for anyone,” Sbordone told the paper. “These were great people.”
“This is not the kind of thing that happens in the neighborhood,” he said. “I hope it never happens to anyone again.”
Cousins of the D’Amores, Paul and Ginny Arpino, noted in a tribute that Jill’s mother Lucia hadn’t missed mass in over 60 years before Covid.
“She and her husband Alberto were in the North End section of our church,” they wrote. According to an obituary published in the Boston Globe, Alberto left her widow after her death in 2014, at the age of 87.
A neighbor who lives near the couple but wishes to remain anonymous also expressed confusion and shock at such a seemingly random act of violence.
“Why her?” she told The Boston Herald. “Why a nice couple like her?” Why this district? That doesn’t happen in this neighborhood.’
He said the victims were a “very, very nice couple.”
Middlesex prosecutor Marian Ryan said at a news conference Monday that she expects further charges to be brought against Ferguson once autopsies are completed on all three victims.
Police said they matched a bloody footprint from the crime scene to Ferguson’s
The pair visited the church regularly and the website states that Jill was involved in the decoration ‘in accordance with the liturgical seasons’.
“Jill had taken on the task of beautifying the surroundings of our church. Without a single day of liturgical training, she simply followed her heart, tending the flowers and decorating for the liturgical seasons. She spent endless hours caring for our church,” the couple’s cousins, Paul and Ginny, wrote in tribute.
The pastor of the church, Rev. Dan Riley, told The Globe he had known the family since moving to the Roman Catholic parish over six years ago.
Riley described them as “simply the best vision you can have from a Catholic Italian-American family.”
‘They had family warmth, an outdoor tomato garden, hospitality. They were just great people,” he added.