North Adams Man Charged in Stabbing Father to Death
Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue describes the murder as a tragedy, saying the lack of mental health care is leading to 'awful situations.'
His son, David Louis Boucher, 48, had walked into the police station at 11:49 a.m. and told police he had killed his father.
"The victim had been stabbed multiple times, with different objects, sharp objects," said Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue after Boucher's arraignment for murder on Tuesday morning. "Multiple wounds. Struggle in the bedroom, struggle in the kitchen. The decedent struggled and fought hard. It was a brutal scene."
The attack is believed to have happened on Tuesday, May 5, based on initial evidence including the state of the body and statements made by the defendant, according to the DA's Office.
Boucher had not-guilty pleas entered on his behalf and he is being held without bail at the prosecution's request. He is being held at the Berkshire County House of Correction and is scheduled to appear again in Northern Berkshire District Court on June 12.
Shugrue said it was unclear why Boucher waited a week to inform police but noted the investigation is barely 24 hours old.
The younger Boucher lived downstairs and his father upstairs in the multi-unit family home on Walnut Street.
The DA said the motive isn't clear but it might have been about a gambling debt. He said the younger Boucher has a minor criminal record and that there were indications he had "thoughts about hurting himself, there's evidence of that."
"I think there's some mental health components to this case as well, so we'll be investigating that further," he said, saying family members had indicated as much. "As we've found out, in our rural communities, we do have a great problem with mental health care that lead to these awful situations and family tragedies."
He credited the North Adams Police and members of his office for working overnight "to pull this all together." The street around the home had been blocked off shortly after noon on Monday and investigators worked through the night after executing search warrants at about 11 p.m.
"Everybody worked well together," he said. "They were up all night. ... I finally received the reports about 6:30 this morning. ... It's been a long 24 hours."
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner took custody of the body. Law enforcement involved in the investigation include the North Adams Police Department; the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit; State Police Crime Scene Services Section; and the State Police Crime Laboratory.
He noted his office has had about nine murder trials in the past two years that have resulted in first and second-degree convictions, including Tuesday morning's conviction in the first degree for Luis Rosado, who killed Jillian Tatro in 2022.
"I built a tremendous legal staff here, I said I was going to build the best law office in Western Massachusetts, I believe I've done that," he said. "When I took this job, I inherited a lot of murder cases and we're going through them quickly. ...
"Unfortunately, we resolved one today and we arraigned one today."
About a half-dozen Boucher relatives were waiting patiently for hours at court as a jury session delayed the arraignment. They declined to comment to press afterward.
Shugrue consoled them, saying, "we're here for you as well. We'll get you through this."
Tags: murder,
