SOMERVILLE, MASS. (WHDH) - A 48-year-old woman from Somerville has been charged with strangulation and assault and battery on a person over 60 after police found the body of her mother over the weekend. Monroe appeared in Somerville District Court on Thursday where she pleaded not guilty.
In a joint statement, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and Somerville Chief of Police said that April Monroe was facing charges in connection with an alleged assault on her mother, Gail Gasperini, 73, who was found dead in Monroe’s Summer Street apartment on Sunday, May 28. Police said Monroe told them various stories about the incident.
Authorities said Gasperini, of East Boston, had been reported missing that evening by her husband, who told police she had gone out to visit her daughter but never returned.
Somerville police officers went on to respond to Monroe’s apartment, where the deceased victim was found. In court, reports revealed that police have surveillance video showing the mother and daughter together on Saturday evening.
“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner accepted the case and, during an autopsy conducted the following day, observed injuries to the body consistent with an assault,” the joint statement read. “Based on the subsequent investigation, the defendant was charged with allegedly causing those injuries.”
Officials said a ruling on the cause and manner of death has not yet been made, noting that additional charges against Monroe were possible as an investigation into Gasperini’s death continues. In court Thursday there was a competency hearing for Monroe, and she is set to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Monroe is expected in back court later this month, and DA said the investigation is still ongoing
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