Anthony DeMayo Confesses He 'Wanted To Kill,' Allegedly Stabs 68-Year-Old Janet Swallow To Death

Authorities say Anthony DeMayo, an 18-year-old senior at Bishop Fenwick High School from Lynn, has been charged in the death of 68-year-old Janet Swallow and is being held without bail.

“An 18-year-old high school student from Lynn will be sent to a state psychiatric hospital for evaluation after he was arrested on suspicion of slaying a 68-year-old Danvers woman in her own home in what authorities are describing as a “random” attack”

Boston Herald

Local and regional reporting states he is accused of stabbing Swallow to death in her Danvers home; prosecutors have formally charged him with murder and court proceedings have followed.

Boston Herald

The Essex County District Attorney’s Office and multiple outlets described the attack as a random act and said Swallow was found dead at her 17 Amherst St. residence.

Multiple witnesses and 911 callers reported seeing DeMayo walking in Lynn with a knife and erratic behavior shortly after a crash, which prompted police response and his subsequent detention.

Witness accounts include a description of him holding a large knife and acting 'unhinged,' and police radio transmissions place an earlier car crash near the time he was observed walking through neighborhoods.

CBS News

Officers who encountered him sought medical attention for a psychiatric evaluation as they took him into custody.

Investigators say physical evidence recovered from DeMayo’s Lynn residence and data from his phone linked him to Swallow’s home, where officers found her dead with wounds consistent with homicide;

“SALEM — Bishop Fenwick senior Anthony DeMayo, 18, was held without bail Friday afternoon in the killing of 68-year-old Danvers resident Janet Swallow, which police are calling a random act of violence”

Gloucester Daily Times

Prosecutors said clothing with stains consistent with blood and undisclosed phone evidence pointed them to 17 Amherst St.

They reported that DeMayo apparently entered Swallow’s home by climbing through a window and stabbed her while she was in bed, and authorities have said they do not believe anything was taken from the home.

Court testimony and a forensic psychologist’s evaluation prompted a judge to order DeMayo to be held without bail and sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for a 20-day psychiatric evaluation to assess his competency and criminal responsibility.

In a roughly one-hour interview, psychologist Joyce Perrotta said DeMayo showed depressive symptoms — including restricted affect, anhedonia and suicidal ideation — and while he demonstrated 'adequate factual understanding' of proceedings, there were concerns about his rational understanding and legal decision-making capacity.

The Boston Globe

Janet Swallow was remembered by colleagues and community members as a longtime Danvers resident, an ICU nurse at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and a mother of two; the hospital’s chief nursing officer called her 'a beloved and valued member' of their community.

“SALEM — Anthony DeMayo, an 18-year-old Catholic high school student who allegedly stabbed a 68-year-old woman to death on Wednesday night as she slept in her Danvers home, confessed to the apparently random crime when he spoke to police on Thursday, according to court records”

The Boston Globe

Local residents gathered at her home to grieve and tie sunflowers to a front yard tree, and school officials at Bishop Fenwick said the incident occurred off campus, involved no other members of the school, and did not pose a threat to the school community.

Us Weekly