Andrew MacCormack Found Guilty Of Murdering Wife, A Lynn School Teacher
BOSTON (CBS) – A jury found Andrew MacCormack guilty of murdering his wife, a Lynn school teacher, after nearly a full week of deliberations. Vanessa MacCormack was found dead inside her Revere home in 2017.
Monday marked the seventh day of deliberations in the trial. The first-degree murder verdict was announced in Suffolk Superior Court.
Vanessa was killed in September 2017 during what the Suffolk County District Attorney said appeared to be a case of domestic violence. Vanessa, who taught second grade at Connery Elementary School in Lynn, was found dead in her home. Andrew was arrested several days later.
"We can't say we're happy. You can never be truly happy after you've experienced this. But my daughter can rest in peace now. Justice was served," said Karen Masucci, Vanessa's mother. "It's a part of your heart that you lose that you'll never get back. It's something you don't understand unless you've experienced it, and I pray that no one ever has to experience what we've experienced."
Prosecutors argued during the trial that Andrew exploded on Vanessa, who threatened to leave him after he blew thousands of dollars of the couples' cash and valuables on a drug habit.
In a videotaped police interview presented to jurors, Andrew admitted to having a prior drug addiction but said he had been clean for six years. He also denied any marital issues.
Andrew was accused of using bleach to clean the crime scene, causing a rash on his body. A State Police lieutenant testified that during a second interview at the suspect's home, there was a strong smell of bleach and a large knife was missing from a butcher block.
For Vanessa's family, the verdict brought closure.
"What this verdict does is give us peace of mind, knowing that Andrew MacCormack can never do this to anyone else again," said Vanessa's aunt, Maria Masucci. "He will now have to pay for what he did to Vanessa. So did we get justice today? Yes, by the laws of the court, and a big thank you to the jury for that. But no in the fact that this evil animal is alive and breathing while Vanessa is not."
Vincent Masucci, Vanessa's father, said that as deliberations dragged on, he began to worry there would be a hung jury and his family would have to go through another trial. He called his daughter's death "totally needless."
"My daughter didn't deserve this. No one deserved what happened," he said.