Background: News footage of the scene at Janet Swallow's home in Danvers, Mass., where she was found dead on March 11 (WBTS). Inset: Janet Swallow (GoFundMe).
A Massachusetts teenager was arrested for murder after a woman spotted him walking around her neighborhood with a bloody knife.
Anthony DeMayo, 18, was charged with murder and home invasion after police said he confessed to fatally stabbing 68-year-old Janet Swallow in her Danvers, Massachusetts, home on Wednesday. According to reporting by The Boston Globe, DeMayo was arrested on Thursday after a woman saw him walking down her street, carrying a large knife and making stabbing motions in the bushes. She told the paper that the young man looked "unhinged, and I think mentally unwell." She called 911.
Police soon caught up to the young man, later identified as DeMayo, who allegedly told officers "he had killed a woman in Danvers the night before."
According to court documents obtained by The Boston Globe, DeMayo confessed to driving around Danvers, looking for a home to break into. He settled on Swallow's home and told police he broke into the home through a window in the kitchen. After looking through a few rooms, DeMayo said he found Swallow sleeping in her bed and started stabbing her in the neck, according to the documents.
DeMayo allegedly told police that when his knife became stuck in Swallow's neck, he pulled her off her bed and onto the floor. After allegedly leaving her to bleed to death, DeMayo drove back to his home in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Police said they were able to track DeMayo's cellphone location to Danvers, where it reportedly did not move between midnight and 1 a.m. on Thursday.
The Boston Globe reported that after DeMayo was arrested, he indicated to investigators that "he planned on committing this act for a long time, and wanted to kill someone for a long time."
The woman who called 911, Ashley O'Brien, spoke to local ABC affiliate WCVB about seeing DeMayo the afternoon after he allegedly murdered Swallow. O'Brien said, "He looked right in my eyes, and I just kind of looked away. And once he left, I just knew I had to call the cops because, I mean, he was definitely looking to hurt somebody."
During a press conference on Thursday, Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker called the alleged murder "random" and said that there was "no connection" between DeMayo and Swallow.
Swallow was an ICU nurse who left behind two adult sons. Local NBC affiliate WBTS reported that DeMayo was a high school senior at Bishop Fenwick High School. The school's president, Tom Nunan Jr., said counselors were available on the campus for any students or staff who needed assistance.
DeMayo was scheduled to be arraigned in Salem District Court on Friday. He was charged with murder and home invasion.
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