Teen who allegedly murdered Danvers woman found mentally incompetent

A Lynn teen who allegedly killed a woman in March has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, court records show.

Anthony DeMaio, 18, was arrested last month for fatally stabbing Janet Swallow, 68, after breaking into her Danvers home. Lynn police said they found DiMaio, a student at Bishop Fenwick High School, walking on Standish Road with a bloody knife in his hand.

DeMayo has since been indicted by an Essex County grand jury on murder and home invasion charges, court records show. He allegedly confessed to the killing while speaking to police, telling them he planned the operation and “wanted to kill someone for a long time.”

After DeMayo was arraigned, he was held without bail and transported to Bridgewater State Hospital to evaluate whether he was competent to stand trial. Dr. Joyce Perrotta, the state’s forensic psychologist, said in court that she had observed DiMaio to have long-standing depressive symptoms, “including restrictive affect, AnhedoniaAnd thinking about suicide.”

At a hearing Wednesday in Salem District Court, a judge ruled DiMaio incompetent to stand trial based on the hospital’s evaluation, records show. He will return to Bridgewater and is scheduled to appear in court on May 13.

Kevin Redington, DeMayo’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night. However, he said Boston Globe His client will continue treatment at Bridgewater for the next six months, when he will be re-evaluated.

“It’s a very tragic case, no matter how you look at it,” Reddington told the newspaper. globe. “The human mind has many corridors, some well-lit, some dark. We do not know.”

Prosecutors said DeMayo and Swallow did not know each other and that the alleged murder was a random act. During an interview with police at Salem Hospital, DeMaio allegedly told investigators that he was driving around the surrounding communities before choosing Swallow’s home to break into.

DeMayo allegedly found Swallow sleeping in the bedroom and stabbed her to death. He then left her house and drove back to Lynn where he changed his clothes and stayed the rest of the night.

Swallow, a longtime Danvers resident, was a nurse at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington. She is survived by two sons, a stepson, a granddaughter and two brothers.