Police searching for Christopher Keeley, wanted for killing Marshfield couple Carl and Vicki Mattson

MARSHFIELD - State and local police are looking for a man who they say brutally murdered a couple in their home in Marshfield. Authorities said 27-year-old Christopher Keeley should be considered "armed and dangerous."

Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said officers were called to the home of Carl and Vicki Mattson on Gotham Hill Drive at 9:19 p.m. Tuesday for a well-being check and found the married couple dead. Cruz said both were stabbed and bludgeoned.  Carl Mattson was 70 years old and Vicki Mattson would have turned 71 Wednesday.

The district attorney said investigators later put out an alert to be on the lookout for Keeley, who knew the couple.

"This appears to be a targeted attack against these two individuals," Cruz told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning. "The individual that we are looking for right now, we consider him armed and dangerous."

According to court documents, the victims were found just inside their home with evidence of a struggle including an overturned bookcase. The couple was likely attacked last week, and it was a friend of Keeley's who asked police to do a check on the home telling them Keeley had been living with the couple as a favor to a family member, but had recently been asked to leave.

The documents say Keeley told a friend it was an argument over a barking dog that led to the attack, and that Keeley had been recently acting "psychotic" and told the friend he was feeling an urge to hurt people, including the couple he lived with, and was known to carry knives.

According to the documents, Keeley was angry and fearful he would end up homeless after a woman who had considered letting Keeley stay with her in Weymouth threw him out.  

Keeley was last seen driving a black, 2019 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited that belonged to the Mattsons, but Cruz said he has left the area. Just after noon Wednesday, investigators said the Jeep had been "recovered unoccupied" in an Avon parking lot.

Marshfield Police Chief Phil Tavares said Keeley may have changed his appearance and dyed his hair red.

State Police described Keeley as white, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He's about 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. His last known address was on Pleasant Street in Weymouth, according to police. Cruz said he believes Keeley has "mental health issues" and a "prior involvement with the court system."

Anyone with information is asked to call police immediately.

Police sealed off the street and remained at the home through the night into Wednesday. Two bodies were seen being put into a medical examiner's office van around 7 a.m. 

Cruz refused to describe how the couple and Keeley knew each other, only saying he was an acquaintance of the Mattsons. 

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