New details have emerged regarding the Winchester Murders of a wife, grandmother and two young children in Winchester this week. After the man charged with the Murders, Thomas Mortimer IV, was arrested the other day, Middlesex County prosecutors have revealed that they have discovered two letters, purportedly written by Mortimer, confessing the murders.
The bodies of Mortimer’s two young children, as well as his wife and mother-in-law, were found late Wednesday morning this past week after local authorities conducted a forced entry into the Winchester home at the request of family members concerned for their well-being. Specific details regarding the ‘horrific’ murder scene have not been disclosed, but Middlesex County prosecutors have reported that the four-year old child was lying with his mother; the mother-in-law was found in the living room; and the two year old was found upstairs in her crib.
One letter was reportedly handwritten and left on a coffee table, while the other letter, identical in substance but typed, was found in the kitchen. Paraphrasing the contents of the letters, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office reports that Mortimer allegedly wrote that he is responsible for those horrible things, and that his acts were selfish and cowardly. He also wrote that he “murdered my family.”
Given these purported admissions confessing to having committed the crimes of Murder, I would suspect that Thomas Mortimer will be evaluated by psychiatrists and an Insanity Defense would be complicated if/when this case goes to trial.
The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office also reports seizing ‘apparent weapons’ from inside the home where the murders occurred. Although the type of ‘weapons’ have not yet been disclosed to the public, prosecutors suggest that Mortimer may have also attempted to commit suicide. It had previously been reported, however, that when Mortimer was arrested in Bernardston, there were no apparent injuries to his person.
Thomas Mortimer was reportedly transferred by the Bernardston Police to the Winchester Police Department yesterday afternoon following his arrest, and he is scheduled to be arraigned in Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn this morning on four counts of Murder.
Boston Criminal Lawyer Lefteris K. Travayiakis has extensive experience in defending persons charged with a wide variety of Crimes of Violence, and can aggressively defend those charged with the crime of