‘It cuts deep’: Husband reacts after cousin charged with killing his wife, 3 kids

EAST BROOKFIELD, MASS. (WHDH) - The grief-stricken husband of a West Brookfield woman who was killed along with the couple’s three young children earlier this year spoke with reporters Wednesday after his cousin was charged with the unthinkable crime.

“It just cuts so deep, to lose a wife and three kids,” Moses Bermudez said of the deaths of his 38-year-old wife, Sara, and their three children, Madison, 8, James, 6, and Michael, 2, who were found stabbed to death in an upstairs bedroom inside the couple’s Old Warren Road home in March 1.

“So deep,” he added. “It’s not natural causes. It’s not an accident.”

Bermudez’s comments came moments after his cousin, Matthew Locke, 31, of Ware, pleaded not guilty in East Brookfield District Court to four counts of murder in connection with crime.

Prosecutors say a DNA sample recovered from a disrobed part of one Bermudez’s children’s bodies came back as a positive match for Locke. They also say he was seen driving away from his house shortly before the murders were committed and then returning home shortly after.

Locke was indicted in June on four counts of interfering with a murder investigation after telling police Moses Bermudez confided in him that members of the MS-13 gang were responsible for the murders.

Locke has been in custody since March and is currently serving a six-month prison sentence for larceny, vandalism and trespassing charges that stem from a four-year-old case out of Palmer.

In addition to his misleading claims about MS-13, Locke is also accused of misstating his relationship with Sara Bermudez and lying about the last time he had been in the Bermudez household.

The children’s grandfather, Carlos Bermudez, said he is relieved that there is finally some closure after enduring a months-long investigation.

“I’ve been walking around with a big rock on my shoulder,” he said. “Right now, I feel like it’s been cut in half. One half has been taken off because now I know who did it.”

Locke was ordered held without bail. He is due back in court on Oct. 18.

A motive for the murders remains unclear.

Anyone with information that could help investigators is asked to contact Massachusetts State Police at 508-832-9234 or West Brookfield at  508-867-1405.

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