Woonsocket Man Denied Bail On Charge Of Killing Elderly Woman

WOONSOCKET, RI — A Woonsocket man indicted for the murder of an 81-year-old woman who was stabbed more than 70 times in 2016 was denied bail during a hearing on Wednesday. Judge Richard Raspallo denied bail for Matthew Dusseault, 22, who has been held since last year when he was charged with the murder of Constance Gauthier.

Gauthier was stabbed in her Fairfield Avenue home in the brutal killing that shocked friends and neighbors of the former Woonsocket School Department employee. WPRI reported that the two-day bail hearing included testimony from three Woonsocket police officers and a state DNA expert.

It was reported in court that Dusseault's DNA was found on three locations near where the body was found. While no murder weapon or motive had been previously reported, a Woonsocket detective testified on Wednesday that a possible weapon recovered from a previous Dusseault apartment was being tested.

The judge agreed with prosecutors that the evidence provided was compelling enough that Dusseault should be held without bail until his trial.

Another man, Tyler Grenon, of Attleboro, who was Gauthier's neighbor, was charged with witness intimidation and obstruction of justice shortly after the murder, but those charges were dropped. Grenon was then arrested, along with Dusseault, in 2018 for Gauthier's murder, but those charges were later dismissed.

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