NEWTON, MASS. (WHDH) - A man from Newton accused of fatally assaulting his wife, leading to his children calling 911 for help, faced a judge on Monday.
Richard Hanson, 64, appeared in court after his arrest on Saturday, July 15, when police responded to a Brookline Street home to find Nancy Hanson, 54, suffering from blunt force trauma. Officials said the victim later died after being taken to a nearby hospital.
Meanwhile, police said Richard Hanson was found covered in blood in the home’s driveway at the time of their arrival.
The suspect was ordered held without bail following Monday’s proceedings, after the prosecution detailed how Hanson allegedly beat his wife with a baseball bat and a barbell while their three sons were in the home.
The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said days before her death, Nancy Hanson had filed for a restraining order against her husband on Thursday, July 13, but police had not yet been able to serve the order before the attack.
In court on Monday, the prosecution detailed how during the attack, Newton police received two 911 calls – one from a friend who said Nancy had called her when a fight between the husband and wife had started, and another from one of the couple’s three sons, who heard the fight from downstairs and called for help.
“He indicated that his parents were upstairs and he and his younger brothers, also both juveniles, were down on the first floor,” Megan McGovern of the Middlesex DA’s Office told the court. “The friend who had contacted 911 at the same time indicated she was speaking with her friend – over the phone when she heard the defendant come into the room she was in. She heard the phone drop and then several loud bangs could be heard in the background as well as children screaming ‘Dad stop – you’re killing her.'”
Court paperwork showed how, according to Newton police, both Richard and Nancy Hanson had an extensive, documented history of marital problems, with Richard apparently taking out a restraining order against his wife in 2020.
Records also showed Nancy took out an order against her husband in 2021, which Richard later violated and was arrested over.
In a statement over the weekend, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said “Our community is reeling and I know so many of you are feeling unsettled. This is the time to reach out to family, friends, faith leaders, and mental health professionals rather than hunkering down and going it alone.”
“We were shocked to see all this kind of police activity in the neighborhood – we didn’t know what was going on and hadn’t really heard any signs of anything,” neighbor Mark Staz told 7NEWS. “We didn’t know about any of this. We knew Nancy, saw the kids playing frequently and had really no way of anticipating this, which makes us feel pretty guilty at this point, that we couldn’t have known, and that we couldn’t have maybe offered some support.”
As of Monday’s arraignment, Richard Hanson remains in custody while the couple’s three children are in the care of the state.
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