Pregnant woman tied up during Quincy home invasion
"Man held on $100,000 bail in Quincy home invasion case; Suspect thwarted by teen on cellphone" by Peter Schworm Globe Staff December 09, 2015
QUINCY — The woman, six months pregnant, was resting in her bedroom Tuesday afternoon when she heard footsteps charging up the stairs, according to police. Suddenly, a tall man in a black ski mask and puffy jacket loomed over her, gun in his hand.
He covered her eyes, grabbed her by the collar, and dragged her downstairs, according to documents filed in Quincy District Court Wednesday. He asked if anyone else was home, and she said no, according to a police report, but as two assailants bound her and put a gun to her head until she told them where the money was, her stepdaughter hid upstairs and called the police.
“Please hurry,” the teenager told the dispatcher. “I think they’re hurting her.”
The man in the ski mask escaped with more than $40,000 from the Quincy home, police said.
When officers arrived on Presidents Lane, Kevin Murphy, a 22-year-old construction worker from Revere, was standing in front of the house, police said. After a foot chase, they caught up to him; one trained his gun on Murphy and the other ordered him to put his hands up. According to the police report, as officers went to handcuff Murphy, he said “I give up, you got me.”
On Wednesday, Murphy was held on $100,000 bail on charges of kidnapping and armed assault.
After the arrest, police found a stolen semiautomatic pistol discarded nearby. Murphy told police “no one had a gun,” although he also said he was alone.
Murphy was carrying a knife and a roll of tape, according to police.
Police established that there were two assailants, and that they had targeted the home. The victim’s husband, who was not at home at the time, said he owns a bakery called Kozy Desserts and often has large amounts of cash on hand.
When ordered to turn over the money, the victim initially told the assailants to take her purse, but the unknown suspect kept asking “Where is the money?” After the suspect put a gun to her head, she told them it was in a dresser drawer in a first-floor bedroom.
Murphy’s lawyer, Cynthia Siu, said Murphy was not likely to flee, and said he had no record of violence.
The accusations are “out of character,” she said in arguing for lower bail. “He’s a hard worker” who has a child on the way, she said.
Prosecutors said Murphy, who has been summonsed to court in the past, had often failed to show.
Murphy was sent for treatment for substance abuse.
Police found that the assailants had broken into the house through the basement door, which was damaged.
During her emergency call to police, the teenage stepdaughter whispered to avoid detection. “They’re downstairs, they’re coming up,” she said. “I can hear them.” She told the dispatcher there were two or three people in the house. Later, the dispatcher told her “Hon, the officers are out front.”
The woman and her stepdaughter were hospitalized overnight.
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NDU:
"A 39-year-old woman and a teenage boy are suspected in the deaths of two children whose bodies were found inside a storage unit in Northern California, in a case that came to light after police checked on a 9-year-old girl who was found starving and injured but alive, authorities said. The investigation began Friday with a call about a possible child abuse case in the small town of Quincy, where authorities found the starving 9-year-old girl at a house."
