Slain Schoolteacher's Husband Found Guilty Of Her Murder

REVERE, MA — A Revere man was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, a beloved Lynn elementary school teacher. Andrew MacCormack, 31, was convicted of strangling, beating and stabbing his wife, 30-year-old Vanessa MacCormack, in their Revere home on Sept. 23, 2017.

Vanessa MacCormack was found unresponsive following a 911 call placed by her husband. Her body showed "obvious signs of physical trauma," the Suffolk District Attorney's office said at the time. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities quickly homed in on Andrew MacCormack, whose drug habit was costing the family thousands of dollars a week, prosecutors said at his arraignment in 2017. His wife, with whom he shared a 1-year-old daughter, had threatened divorce unless he got clean and stopped draining the family's finances.

Prosecutors said the couple's daughter was home at the time of the murder.

Text messages showed that in the month leading up to her murder, Vanessa MacCormack told her husband she was going to sell their house and find a divorce attorney, prosecutors said. Earlier that year, Andrew MacCormack forged checks to himself from his wife's bank account and took her credit card, which she reported stolen.

MacCormack also pawned his wedding band for $120, and his wife's wedding ring and replacement ring both went missing, according to prosecutors.

The day of the murder, MacCormack left home but returned after his mother, who lived with the family, left the house. He strangled, stabbed and "viciously" beat his wife in their bedroom and tried to clean the scene with bleach, causing chemical burns to his wife's body and his own, according to authorities.

MacCormack drove around in random routes for several hours after the murder, prosecutors said. He then brought his daughter to finish a carpentry job at a friend's home in Saugus and drove to East Boston, where he bought $100 in cocaine, according to prosecutors. He texted his wife on the way to carpentry job to feign ignorance of her death, authorities said.

Throughout the day, MacCormack received multiple calls from his wife's parents, who were worried when they could not reach their daughter. He was on the phone with his wife's mother when he arrived home and pretended he had just discovered her body, according to authorities.

The defense argued that though the couple had their issues, they were largely happy. MacCormack's lawyers claimed he was out with his daughter at the time of the murder and said there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene.

"Vanessa Masucci's future was violently ripped away from her by the person who took an oath, promising to love and care for her. I will not refer to Vanessa by her married name because the man who took her life will not also take her identity," District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. "Vanessa’s loved ones – her parents, her siblings, and her daughter – have been left with a void in their hearts and questions that can never be answered."

Vanessa MacCormack was a popular second grade teacher at Connery Elementary School in Lynn for five years. Connery School Principal Mary Dill described her as a "talented, dedicated and passionate educator and a loyal, kind and compassionate friend and colleague" in a statement after her death.

MacCormack's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 2 at 9 a.m.