A Weymouth man pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges he killed his estranged wife on Wednesday.
Martin McDonald, 35, of Weymouth, has been charged with killing his estranged wife, 34-year-old Julie A. Meade, according to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.
McDonald was held without bail and will be taken to Bridgewater State Hospital for a criminal responsibility competency mental health evaluation.
McDonald is due back in court on March 2.
At around 7:25 p.m. on Wednesday, police got a 911 call from Meade’s 11-year-old daughter at 2 Holmes Street saying her mother had been stabbed, according to the DA’s office.
When police arrived, they found a victim unresponsive. The victim, later identified as Meade, was taken to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro where she was pronounced dead, according to the DA’s office.
Police say Meade lived at the Holmes Street apartment.
About a minute after the 911 call, State Police got a report of a two-car crash on Interstate 495 in Norton south of the Route 123 interchange, according to the DA’s office.
Authorities say a Dodge Ram pickup truck traveling south on the highway crossed the median and struck a car on the north side of the road.
The driver of the car, 30-year-old Kathryn Degnan, of Smithfield, Rhode Island, suffered serious injuries and was taken to Rhode Island Hospital. She was released from the hospital on Thursday.
Police say McDonald was driving the pickup truck and that he confessed to a trooper he had killed Meade.
Authorities are investigating the crash.
Police removed two children from the Holmes Street apartment after the incident.. McDonald is father of Meade’s two youngest children.
(Copyright (c) 2016 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)