Christopher Piantedosi of Methuen has been convicted of murder in the 2012 killing of a Burlington mother of two. (Credit: WBZ-TV)
WOBURN – A Methuen man has been found guilty of murder for the fatal stabbing of his former longtime girlfriend in her Burlington home, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced Monday.
The May 2012 killing was broadcast live on an iPad web camera, prosecutors said.
After an 11-day trial in Middlesex Superior Court, Christopher Piantedosi, 40, of Methuen, was found guilty of murder by deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty as well as malicious destruction of property. Middlesex Superior Court Judge Diane Kottmyer sentenced Piantedosi to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the charge of murder and 20 years probation on the charge of malicious destruction of property with the condition of no contact with the victim's two children, Ryan said in a prepared statement.
"This was a gruesome attack where the defendant killed Kristen Pulisciano, the mother of his children, by stabbing her 33 times in their daughter's bedroom," Ryan said. "Perpetrators of domestic violence seek to exert power and control over their victims. When this defendant saw that he was losing his control over the victim, he violently killed her. This is a tragic case and today, while we are pleased that justice was served, our thoughts are with the victim's family."
According to authorities, at about 6:45 p.m. on May 3, 2012, Burlington Police were dispatched to Forbes Avenue for a report of a stabbing. When they arrived, officers found Pulisciano with obvious fatal stab wounds. The 38-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death as sharp force injuries to the head and chest and the manner of death homicide.
Kristen Pulisciano (Facebook photo)
Investigators learned that the victim's daughter was video chatting with a friend on an iPad in her bedroom in the moments just before the murder. When the victim's daughter heard Pulisciano and Piantedosi fighting, she left her bedroom and went into the living room. Her mother then ran into the daughter's bedroom, and Piantedosi followed with a knife in his hand, Ryan said.
The iPad's video chat function was still running and the girl's friend witnessed Piantedosi breaking open the bedroom door, pushing Pulisciano onto the bed and stabbing her repeatedly. The Pulisciano's daughter attempted to stop the attack, but she was unable to pull Piantedosi off her mother, so she fled the house and called police.
On May 4, 2012, Piantedosi turned himself into authorities at the Massachusetts State Police Barracks in Weston.
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