Waltham Murder Suspect Derrick Lopez Indicted By Grand Jury

WALTHAM, MA — The Middlesex Grand Jury charged Derrick Lopez, 18, of Waltham, with the strange murder of a woman on Adams's Street this summer, the District Attorney announced today.

Lopez, a recent Waltham High School graduate was held on $500,000 bail in August in Waltham District Court in connection with the suspected murder of Christin Tobin, 36, of the unit block of Adams Street in July.

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About 2:39 a.m. on July 15, two men flagged down a police cruiser in front of the Adams Street address then decided they didn't have anything to say. It took a minute before one of the men told police that his cousin, later identified as Lopez, was inside the rooming house with a woman who had locked him inside. The cousin said something about three cell phones, but before the officer had the chance to figure out what he meant, the cousin's phone rang.

Officer Aucoin said in his police report he heard the man say into the phone, "What happened? You did what? You stabbed her?"

When police made their way into the home eventually, they found Tobin, dead. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later ruled the cause of death to be sharp force trauma to the head, neck, and upper torso.

Lopez told investigators he went into her home to use the bathroom early Saturday morning, but she stole his phone and wouldn't let him leave for more than 2 hours. He said he got angry, and managed to grab a knife from Tobin and then stabbed her with it.

Family members outside the courthouse in August told reporters they believed Lopez was innocent.

An indictment does not mean a conviction.

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From the Waltham Newswatch Channel's footage of the arraignment in July.