ENFIELD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut woman was charged with murder Wednesday in connection with the slashing and stabbing deaths of her grandmother and her grandmother’s boyfriend.
Enfield police said they charged Harlee Swols, 22, with two counts of murder in the killings of Maryrose Riach, 72, and James Bell, 63, at Riach’s home on Sunday evening. Officers said Swols was covered in blood when they arrested her at the home immediately after the homicides and charged her with violating a protective order.
An arrest warrant affidavit released Wednesday said both Riach and Bell’s throats were slashed and they were stabbed numerous times. It remained unclear Wednesday what led up to the killings.
Swols told police she was invited over to the home to pick up some belongings, they got into an argument and “things got out of hand,” the affidavit says. Swols said she could not remember what the argument was about or why it escalated, police said.
Swols also claimed that Bell came at her with a knife, police said. She told officers she took possession of the knife, hurt someone with it and then declined to give more details, the affidavit said. Swols said she had not been diagnosed with any mental illness and was not on medication.
Swols had been arrested at the same home on July 7 after a domestic disturbance, police said. A judge issued a protective order barring her from the home, and police said she violated that order on the day of the killings.
Swols is detained on $2 million bail and was expected to be arraigned in court on the murder charges later Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear if she has a lawyer who could respond to the allegations.
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