BOSTON, September 27, 2017—Vanessa MacCormack’s husband was ordered held without bail at his arraignment earlier today in her murder, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

ANDREW MacCORMACK (D.O.B. 3/2/88) of Revere was arraigned today in Chelsea District Court on a charge of murder in connection with his wife’s murder inside their Grand View Avenue home.  At the request of Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, chief of the DA’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, Judge Ina Howard-Hogan ordered MacCormack held without bail.

Polumbaum told the court that evidence collected by State Police detectives assigned to Conley’s office and Revere Police detectives suggests that MacCormack murdered his wife inside their home on Saturday and took a series of actions to cover up his crime, which came approximately one month after Vanessa MacCormack told her husband by text message that she intended to contact a divorce attorney.  MacCormack allegedly responded, “Ur crazy, I will never sign anything.”

Prosecutors allege that Andrew MacCormack murdered his wife on Saturday before traveling to a location in Saugus to complete a carpentry job – bringing his baby daughter along with him to the worksite.  During the course of the day, MacCormack received phone calls from his wife’s family who had grown concerned after they were unable to reach her by phone.  MacCormack also sent text messages to his wife’s phone, which prosecutors say he had with him at the time.

He left the worksite after the baby soiled her diaper.  Rather than picking up a change of diapers, however, MacCormack traveled to East Boston, where he withdrew cash from an ATM in order to purchase cocaine, prosecutors said.

MacCormack received another phone call from a member of his wife’s family as he arrived at the couple’s Revere home.  Upon finding Vanessa MacCormack’s body – which showed obvious signs of trauma – Andrew MacCormack told the relative to call 911.  The relative did so; MacCormack, however, did not call 911 until a few minutes after the relative, prosecutors said.

When police arrived, the house smelled strongly of bleach, and areas of the home appeared to have been freshly cleaned.  MacCormack had a rash covering his upper body that he blamed on a change in laundry detergent brands, which police said was contradicted by evidence at the scene.  The victim’s body also had chemical burns that suggested bleach was poured on her.  A medical examiner found that Vanessa MacCormack had blunt head trauma, stab and slash wounds to the neck, and signs of both strangulation and suffocation, the latter possibly from a trash bag that may have been used to cover her head.

Based on evidence collected during the course of the investigation, including interviews with those who interacted with MacCormack on the day of his wife’s murder, cell phone records and surveillance video from numerous locations, MacCormack was placed under arrest yesterday afternoon at Revere Police Headquarters.

The victims of any crime, including domestic violence, should call 911 in an emergency. SafeLink, a statewide DV hotline, can be reached at 877-785-2020. SafeLink is answered by trained advocates 24 hours a day in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as TTY at 877-521-2601. It also has the capacity to provide multilingual translation in more than 140 languages.

Kate Lagana is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  MacCormack is represented by John Hayes.  He returns to court Oct. 27.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.