Susan Lovejoy, 67, pleaded guilty to Manslaughter today in Salem Superior Court in connection with the stabbing death of her boyfriend. Judge James Lang sentenced Lovejoy to 12 to 13 years in state prison.
Had the case gone to trial, Essex Assistant District Attorney Karen Hopwood would have introduced evidence that would have proven that Lovejoy stabbed her boyfriend, Kevin Paul, 51, in their Water Street apartment on May 6, 2013. Haverhill Police responded to the apartment in the early evening for a reported disturbance and found the defendant highly intoxicated. Mr. Paul told police that she had been drinking since the day before and had consumed Adderall and Percocet that was not prescribed to her. Police took her to Merrimack Valley Hospital for observation and she was released several hours later. Police responded again to the apartment at 11:35 p.m. on a report of a suicide and found Mr. Paul lying on the floor, covered in blood, with the defendant by his side. She told police that he had stabbed himself. Mr. Paul was taken to Merrimack Valley Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Doctors determined that due to the position and depth of the stab wound, it could not have been self-inflicted.
ADA Hopwood thanked Haverhill Police Detective Jack Moses and Massachusetts State Police Troopers Peter Sherber and Brian O’Neill for their work on the investigation. Essex Victim Witness Advocate Maria Arroyo-Long assisted with the case.
