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Lynn teacher’s husband is charged with her death

Vanessa MacCormack.Facebook

REVERE — The husband of a slain 30-year-old Lynn elementary school teacher was arrested Tuesday and charged with murdering her, authorities said.

Andrew MacCormack, 29, is being charged in the death of Vanessa MacCormack, who was found dead in her home Saturday afternoon.

“The evidence suggests that her murder was a crime of domestic violence, committed in the very place where she should have been safest — her own home,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement.

MacCormack is to be arraigned Wednesday in Chelsea District Court.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Vanessa’s family,” Revere police Chief James Guido said in the statement. “To the community, we offer special thanks for their cooperation and patience during this trying time.”

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Vanessa MacCormack was a second-grade teacher at the William P. Connery Elementary School, where colleagues remembered her as a talented, passionate, and kind educator.

Police recovered footage from private surveillance systems and public safety cameras, executed a search warrant, interviewed multiple witnesses, and examined phone and other records, authorities said.

Police and emergency medical personnel went to the home just after 3:30 p.m., Saturday, following a 911 call made by Andrew MacCormack, authorities said.

The medical examiner’s preliminary findings were that she had suffered “blunt force injury to the head, sharp force injuries to the neck, and asphyxiation. Evidence suggested that the killer made concerted efforts to clean up the crime scene and dispose of related items,” authorities said.

The families of Vanessa and Andrew MacCormack could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. The couple, who married in 2015, had a 1-year-old daughter, authorities said.

News of the killing, and Andrew MacCormack’s arrest, disturbed residents of the quiet street near the Malden line.

Lou Falzarano, 52, who has lived across the street from the MacCormacks home for more than a decade, said the couple seemed to be “normal, quiet, coming and going, like all the other neighbors.

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“I wouldn’t know if they were happy or not, because you never really see them together,” said Falzarano, who said he often saw Andrew MacCormack coming and going from the house during the daytime. “I didn’t see anything that would have indicated anything different. Never heard them arguing.”

A car was in the driveway of the MacCormacks’ home Tuesday. Andrew MacCormack is accused of killing his wife, a 30-year-old Lynn teacher.Jeremy C. Fox for The Boston Globe

But his wife, Debbie, said that about two weeks before Vanessa MacCormack was killed, she had arrived home to find a disturbance at the couple’s home.

“We had just gotten back from dinner, and we pulled up and there was a lot of yelling and screaming going on,” she said.

“To the point where we were like, ‘Should we go find out what’s going on? Do you think everything’s all right?’ ” she said.

She expressed deep sympathy for the victim and her family.

“I just think it’s, like, completely disturbing,” she said. “Everybody that I talk to, we’re just like, our heart is on our sleeves for this poor girl. This is terrible. . . She was a beautiful girl. Really, my heart just breaks over this whole thing.”

Debbie’s teenage daughter, Julia, said her window faces the MacCormack home.

Julia said she saw a woman leave the MacCormack home on Saturday who appeared to be very emotional.

“She got really sick,” she said. “She was really upset, and throwing up.”

Julia said she had seen Andrew MacCormack outside the house punching the trunk of a car that was parked near the front door.

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“He had his shirt off. He just got really violent,” she said.

Falzarano said he arrived home Saturday afternoon to see “a distraught family” including Andrew MacCormack and several other relatives outside the home. He said he had brought water for the family members, and allowed some to use his bathroom.

Falzarano said at that time MacCormack “was shaking, crying, saying, ‘What am I going to do without her? I can’t believe somebody . . . Did this to her.’”

Chris Coronado, 21, who previously lived across the street and now visits often to see relatives there, said he didn’t know the family but sometimes saw Vanessa MacCormack outside the home.

“She looked like a very professional woman,” Coronado said. “I thought she was like a banker or something. I never knew she was a teacher.”

Other neighbors also expressed surprise that such a violent crime could happen in their neighborhood.

“It’s typically a very quiet street,” said Tarin Norkum, 35, who lives across Grand View Avenue from the MacCormack residence. “Nothing ever really goes on around here, which is nice.”

One neighbor said it came as a relief that an arrest had been made.

“Everyone’s been on their toes,” said Michael Gonzalez, 19. “It’s shocking that something happened, especially in this neighborhood.”


Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox.