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The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • B3

Publication:
The Boston Globei
Location:
Boston, Massachusetts
Issue Date:
Page:
B3
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 The Boston Globe Metro B3 Police seek help in unsolved Andover slayings i 1 John and Geraldine Magee (above) were found shot to death Dec. 14, 2011. The couple's car, a Lexus SUV, had been set on fire in Boston's North End after being stolen from their home. "Someone out there knows something," Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett (left) said Monday. "We are asking you to search your memory and your conscience, pick up the phone, and call us." PAT GREENHOUSEGLOBE STAFF get.

He left around 4:30 p.m. The couple's daughter called 911 around 9:20 the next morning. Blodgett declined to speculate on possible suspects or motives but said authorities have conducted more than 50 interviews with friends, neighbors, employees, and business associ-ates. They have combed through the couple's financial records and computers and searched their homes in Andover and Jupiter, numerous times, he said. They have also searched the cars of family members and those associated with Magee Construction.

In addition, investigators have reviewed "countless hours" of surveillance video and followed leads to four states and 20 communities in in Andover, an affluent town north of Boston, in the past 25 years. "Understandably, the community was and continues to be concerned," he said. "At the time of the murders, the circumstances were such that we believed there was no further threat to the public's safety, and we believe that this is still the case." Keefe said solving the murder remains a top priority. John Magee, 69, owned and operated Magee Construction with his son, and by all accounts was a "fair and honest businessman," Blodgett said. He paid his subcontractors on time and treated his colleagues and employees well, he added.

Geraldine Magee, 67, was a devoted grandmother who vol- unteered for various groups and enjoyed traveling. The couple were high school sweethearts who had been married for 39 years, and friends have said they could not imagine who would want to hurt them. In a statement, the Magee family wrote that the couple is deeply missed, and they hoped the release of new information would spur someone to come forward. "We miss Jeri and Jack very much and not a day goes by without us thinking how blessed we were to have them in our lives," they wrote. "But the perpetrators of this crime are still out there and they need to be brought to justice.

Please help us solve this crime." The family said they missed spending the holidays with the couple and their "warm, generous, loving nature." They had prayed that pertinent information about the killings would come to light. In the new timeline, authorities said John Magee spoke with his son about picking up materials in Boston and bringing them to the construction site in Reading the next day. A longtime employee helped him clean out his truck for his son to use. John Magee reportedly left the site around 3 p.m. Geraldine Magee spoke on the phone with her daughter around 4:25 p.m., by which point John Magee had apparently returned home.

The couple's son, also named John, was at his parents' home looking up information about the supplies he needed to Innocent black man tells of stop by police By Peter Schworm GLOBE STAFF ANDOVER Four years ago next week, John Magee went to a construction site in Reading where his company was building homes and spoke with his son about picking up some building materials in Boston, then dropping them off the next day. His wife, Geraldine, meanwhile, chatted with her daughter, Holly, on the phone and made plans to watch their grandchildren while Holly did some shopping. Christmas was just around the corner. But when Holly came to drop off her children the next morning Dec. 14, 2011 she found her parents had been shot to death.

The couple's car, a Lexus SUV, had been set on fire in Boston's North End after being stolen from their home. The mysterious slaying remains unsolved, and authorities Monday renewed their calls for the public's help in finding those responsible, releasing new details about the couple's final day in hopes of generating fresh leads. "Someone out there knows something," Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said at a news conference at the Andover Police Department. "We are asking you to search your memory and your conscience, pick up the phone, and call us." The couple was apparently targeted, and Andover Police Chief Patrick Keefe sought to reassure residents that the lack of an arrest is no cause for fear. It was just the second murder Chism expressed remorse, expert says By Maria Cramer GLOBE STAFF SALEM Philip Chism said he regretted listening to the voices that commanded him to kill his 24-year-old math teacher, a psychiatrist testifying for the defense said in Essex Superior Court Monday.

Had he ignored them, the family of Colleen Ritzer could have been spared "the difficulties that he caused," Dr. Richard Dudley recalled during cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDou-gall, who sought to undermine the testimony of the New York-based psychiatrist. "Caused the difficulties that he's caused, Dr. Dudley?" Mac-Dougall asked in a voice that was both soft and disdainful. "I think it's pretty hard for him to talk about this," Dudley said.

Chism, now 16, was a high school freshman when prosecutors say he raped, strangled, and stabbed Ritzer in a girls' bathroom at Danvers High School on Oct. 22, 2013. Dudley has testified that Chism was in the throes of a psychotic episode at the time of the crime and was under the command of voices that had be-come more intense, violent, and insistent in the days leading up to the killing. In her cross-examination, MacDougall peppered Dudley with tough questions about his written conclusions about Chism. "Eighty or 90 percent of your opinion relies on Philip Chism, doesn't it?" MacDougall asked.

Dudley calmly replied that his opinion was based on Chism's statements and his examination of other sources of ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE Dr. Richard Dudley testified Monday that Philip Chism told him he regretted listening to the voices that commanded him to kill Colleen Ritzer, his 24-year-old math teacher. the Greater Boston area, Blodgett said. Essex investigators have been in contact with the State Police; the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and Homeland Security. The Magee family has been highly cooperative with investigators, he said.

Blodgett declined to say why certain details were not being released but said investigators hoped the release of new information in the case would generate more tips. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Andover police at 978-470-3864. Peter Schworm can be reached at schwormglobe.com. Follow him on Twitter globepete. tigation, noting that in some situations "it's just as important for us to rule people out of an incident as it is to rule people in." He said Locke's account depicts an interaction in which all parties treated each other with courtesy.

He said police "don't focus on race," and in this case were working on the details they had about the suspect. "We understand that people may feel uncomfortable, and we would encourage them to be patient, and to be respectful as this individual was," McCarthy added. "The outcome can be as good as it was here." Locke said he hopes his account will provide some insight to readers. 'There was a tremendous amount of surprise from people that this could happen. But this happens all the STEVE LOCK Professor who wrote about being questioned about a crime because of his appearance "I wrote not to vilify anyone or be negative about anyone," Locke said.

"I just have read very few first-person accounts of what it feels like to be in that situation. It wasn't a policy piece or a think piece. It was an emotional response to that situation." Locke said he hopes the post conveys the helplessness that he felt. "The struggle to be believed in that moment was very, very disheartening," he said. "You can prove who you are, where you came from, and still that may not be enough." After the stop, Locke was shaken up.

"Nothing I am, nothing I do, nothing I have means anything because I fit the description," Locke wrote in the post. Police are still investigating the reported break-in attempt and have not made any arrests, McCarthy said. Aneri Pattani can be reached at aneri.pattaniglobe.com. Follow her on Twitter apattani95. By Aneri Pattani GLOBE CORRESPONDENT Steve Locke acknowledged that the police officers were do-ing their jobs when they stopped him on the street and questioned him in an attempted break-in Friday in Jamaica Plain.

But that didn't ease his nerves. His hands were shaking so much he had to clasp them together to stay still. The interaction with Boston police had such a profound effect on him that Locke felt he should share an account of the fear that ran through his mind as a black man dealing with law enforcement. Since Friday, his blog post, entitled, "I fit the description," has been shared thousands of times on Facebook and circulated widely on Twitter. It received more than 700 comments both supportive and hostile before Locke disabled the feature.

What surprised Locke most was the number of people who seemed shocked by the account's depiction of the officers' initial reluctance to take Locke at his word. He said he showed police his Massachusetts College of Art and Design faculty ID and explained that he had not been in the area at the time of the crime. Still, he had to wait for a detective to arrive before he was allowed to leave. "There was a tremendous amount of surprise from people that this could happen," Locke said in an interview. "But this happens all the time." Locke, a Dedham resident and assistant professor at the college, had just gotten lunch when officers approached him on Centre Street near Hyde Square.

They told Locke that he matched the description of a suspect in the nearby incident 5 foot 11, black male, 160 pounds, wearing a knit hat and a puffy coat. Locke's account of the tension and fear he felt comes at a time when the relationships between African-Americans and police are a topic of intense discussion. Lieutenant Detective Michael McCarthy, a Boston police spokesman, said Monday afternoon that Police Commis-sioner William B. Evans reached out to Locke to discuss the incident, but the two had not yet spoken. McCarthy complimented both the officers and Locke on their conduct during the inves- Three medical experts are expected to testify for the prosecution Tuesday.

The defense asked to put the superintendent of Bridgewater State Hospital on the stand to testify about the conditions Chism would be kept in should the jury find him not guilty by reason of insanity. Bridgewater is run by the state Department of Correction and houses mentally ill inmates. Lowy rejected the request. "It would confuse the jury into thinking that this is something they should be considering," Lowy said. But Lowy agreed that a recent state Supreme Judicial Court ruling recommends judges provide more specific information about the consequences of a not guilty by reason of insanity finding in their instructions to jurors before they begin deliberations.

That ruling states judges should tell jurors that a person found not guilty for lack of criminal responsibility could be held in a locked facility for life if a court deems that the person's mental condition continues to make them a threat to others. Maria Cramer can be reached at maria.cramergIobe.com. purchases "Online Safe Zones" outside department headquarters. Similar programs exist in several states across the country. Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

Alexandra Koktsidis can be reached at alexandra.koktsidis globe.com. Follow her on twitter akoktsidis. information about the teenager. MacDougall noted that Dudley said nothing in his report that he looked for signs that Chism exaggerated or made up symptoms of psychosis a phenomenon known as malingering. "You never even discussed malingering in your report, did you?" MacDougall asked.

Chism told Dudley he began hearing voices at age 10. During her cross-examination, MacDougall asked Dudley whether that was unusual. "Early onset is not common," Dudley replied. "He was telling people he was hearing voices at 5 or 6, maybe even 2," MacDougall said. "Two would be extremely rare," he said.

The defense also called as a witness Yael Dvir, a Worcester psychiatrist who specializes in children and the early development of psychosis in the brain. "Psychosis does occur in children," Dvir testified. Very early onset schizophrenia can strike children under 13 but the likelihood is small, Dvir said. "It's 1 in 10,000," she testified. Dvir did not evaluate Chism and only testified about her general knowledge of psy- Craigslist and other websites, at little cost to the city, according to the plan.

O'Malley will offer the resolution at a council meeting Wednesday. He said Police Commissioner William B. Evans supports the proposal. "People can make any arrangements they could be comfortable with," O'Malley said. "This is an opportunity for chosis and young children.

But her testimony helped buttress Dudley's belief that Chism's symptoms grew worse when his mother moved him from Tennessee to Massachusetts in 2013. Dvir testified that an acute episode of psychosis can be triggered by a major life event. Dudley has said he believes Chism's symptoms resemble those of people with schizophrenia and other disorders, though Dudley said he did not have enough information to give Chism a specific diagnosis. After the aggressive cross-examination from MacDougall, Chism's defense attorney, De-nise Regan, asked Dudley whether he checked for the possibility that Chism was making up symptoms. Dudley said he had.

"It's a required piece of the assessment," Dudley said. "In some kind of legal proceeding where there would be an advantage to being ill one would have to consider that's going on." Dudley and Dvir were among the last witnesses to testify in the case, which Judge David A. Lowy said could go to the jury as early as Thursday or Friday for deliberations. for online them to take advantage of a safe space." The resolution notes that people can feel vulnerable meeting a stranger to pick up a purchase and that designated safe spaces could include police stations, lobbies, and other sites that are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In July, police in the town of Georgetown designated two 'Safe spaces' envisioned By Alexandra Koktsidis GLOBE CORRESPONDENT City Councilor Matt O'Mal-ley is offering a resolution to establish safe spaces in Boston where people could receive goods they purchase online.

E-commerce exchange zones, as they'd be called, would provide "a safe, well-lit and neutral location" for completing transactions made on.

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