Vermont police have arrested a 22-year-old man after his mother was found dead of a gunshot wound in her kitchen in Reading, Massachusetts, early Thursday.
Ryan Hanafin was the subject of a manhunt after Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Reading police received the call around 12:38 a.m. Thursday, from his father, 48-year-old Matthew Hanafin, who told police he returned to his home on Center Avenue and found his 49-year-old wife Andria dead in their kitchen.
Vermont State Police said they had been looking for Hanafin in Warren, Vermont, where he had known ties. After about two hours, they found him on Vermont Route 100, south of the Sugarbush Access Road, police said in a statement. Once state troopers and local deputies found him, he was arrested without incident around 2:30 p.m. ET.
He’s being held without bail and is due at the Vermont Superior Court in Barre at 12:30 p.m. ET for arraignment on a charge of being a fugitive from justice. He is expected face more charges in his home state.
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Police have so far described him as a “person of interest” and not a “suspect.”
The district attorney said the couple’s 13-year-old child was present in the home during his mother’s shooting death. They also have a daughter.
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The DA said there was “no significant history” of police calls to the family home.
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The younger son was out with friends until around 9 p.m. and told police he went directly to his bedroom when he got home and did not see his mom, she said.
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Matthew Hanafin told investigators he hadn’t spoken with his older son since Wednesday morning, she said.
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Ryan Hanafin was believed to be driving a black 2010 Dodge Charger with the Massachusetts license plate 2PSY15. He had been described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall. The only photo of him released by police shows him with shoulder-length, straight blonde hair, a mustache and glasses.
Reading Police Chief David J. Clark said that while Ryan Hanafin is a person of interest, he should still be considered “potentially armed and dangerous.” Anyone who saw him or his vehicle was asked to call 911.
“By all means, please do not approach him,” he said. “Please contact 911, the local police department, whatever, if you see the vehicle or come across him. We are urging people to stay safe and not put themselves in danger.”
