Lawrence Teen Held Without Bail In Decapitation Of Classmate
LAWRENCE (CBS) -- A Lawrence teen charged in the murder of a classmate whose headless body was found last week was arraigned Monday.
Matthew Borges, 15, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Lee Viloria-Paulino, 16. Borges was arrested early Saturday morning at his Oxford Street home. He has been ordered held without bail.
Borges is being tried as an adult.
Police say they were called to the bank of the Merrimack River near McCabe Court at about 2:45 p.m. last Thursday after a woman walking her dog found a body that was missing a head. The head was discovered nearby.
That body was identified Friday as that of Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino, who went missing on November 18.
In the police report, Lawrence Police said Borges had smoked marijuana with Viloria-Paulino on the day the teen went missing.
They said a witness told investigators that Borges told that witness he did "something bad," and that he had stabbed and decapitated a kid.
Police said surveillance video shows Paulino and Borges leaving the victim's house together around 5:30 p.m. on November 18. Borges told police he went to smoke pot by the Merrimack River with Paulino, and said he left Paulino around 7 p.m. and went straight home.
Borges and Paulino were sophomore classmates at Lawrence High School. Lawrence Public Schools said they'll be providing students and faculty with support.
"Extra school counseling staff, supplemented with additional personnel from area agencies, is on site and available school-wide throughout this week," the district said in a statement Monday.
One of Paulino's classmates, Miguel, told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens they are scared.
"I'm very paranoid," he said. "Now, I can't even walk the streets without looking back. I'm very scared."
Due to the gruesome nature of the murder, there was heavy security at the Lawrence courthouse Monday.
Friends and relatives of Viloria-Paulino packed the courtroom.
The arraignment lasted about one minute.
Afterward, Paulino's mother was asked what justice would mean in this case.
"It won't bring my son back at all, so I don't even like that word," she said. "And I don't even know what hope means anymore."
She criticized police for not doing more to look for her son.
"To the mayor, to the chief of police, to every police officer and detective in our police department--if it was their kid, would they have waited two weeks to look for him?" she asked. "We knew he wouldn't run away, and from very early on, who they have in custody now, we knew had left with my son and we knew that his story did not make sense."
Classmates who know Borges describe him as quiet.
"It was shocking. It scared me. I don't know if he did it or not," Neurys Medina told WBZ.
Lee"s mother says her son was not a troubled teen and desperately wanted to get him out of the city of Lawrence.
"I had years that I was trying to have him leave Lawrence because I didn't like Lawrence. And I thought that he let himself be influence too easily. He thought everyone was nice and naïve as him," Paulino said.
Borges is due back in court January 10 for a probable cause hearing.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
