Prosecutors said the 18-year-old confessed after Lynn police found him carrying a knife with what appeared to be blood on it.
SALEM, Mass. — An 18-year-old Lynn resident was ordered to undergo a court evaluation Friday before his arraignment on murder and home invasion charges in the killing of a 68-year-old Danvers woman, whose death investigators said appears to have been the result of a random attack.
Anthony DeMayo, a Bishop Fenwick High School senior, is accused of killing Janet Swallow inside her Amherst Street home and later telling police he had done it. The case quickly drew attention across the North Shore because prosecutors said investigators found no connection between the defendant and the victim. The evaluation ordered Friday put the court case on hold for part of the day, but prosecutors had already laid out a stark account of how the investigation moved from Lynn to a quiet Danvers neighborhood.
The investigation began Thursday afternoon when Lynn police received 911 calls about a young man walking on Standish Road with a knife. Officers who responded found DeMayo and said his behavior appeared erratic. Prosecutors said police saw a reddish-brown stain on the knife that looked consistent with blood. He was taken to Salem Hospital under a psychiatric hold. As officers and investigators worked to identify what had happened, prosecutors said DeMayo told Lynn officers he had killed a woman in Danvers the night before. That statement, combined with evidence gathered in Lynn, pushed the investigation north to 17 Amherst St., where officers conducting a welfare check found Swallow dead inside the home.
In court filings described by local outlets, prosecutors said DeMayo later told investigators he had planned to kill someone “for a long time.” The filing said he drove around nearby communities before stopping in Danvers near a house under construction, then chose a nearby home and climbed through a window after ripping away a screen. Prosecutors said he told investigators he moved through the house, found a woman asleep in a bedroom and stabbed her in the neck. After the knife got stuck, the filing said, he pulled her from the bed to the floor before leaving and driving back to Lynn. Authorities said cellphone information helped place him in a Danvers neighborhood from about midnight to 1 a.m. Thursday. Police also said the scene inside the house matched details in the statement they attributed to him, including the damaged window screen and the victim’s location on the bedroom floor.
Swallow was identified by officials as a longtime Danvers resident. NBC Boston reported she worked as an ICU nurse at Lahey Hospital in Burlington and left behind two adult sons. Danvers Police Chief James Lovell said the family had been notified. Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker said the killing appears to have been random and that investigators had found no sign that DeMayo knew Swallow or had any prior connection to the house. Tucker said investigators believe he acted alone. That conclusion shaped the public response Thursday night and Friday morning, as authorities tried to reassure residents and school families that there was no continuing danger tied to a broader plot or another suspect.
The legal case, however, remained in an early stage Friday. DeMayo was expected to be arraigned in Salem District Court on murder and home invasion charges, but Judge Joanna Rodriguez first ordered an evaluation related to competence and criminal responsibility, according to court reporting. No defense account of the allegations was immediately available in the published reports, and authorities had not publicly detailed any plea. The investigation was still active Friday, with police and prosecutors expected to keep reviewing forensic evidence, phone records and statements made during the arrest and hospital interview. More detail was likely to emerge through court proceedings and any future filings as the case moves forward.
The killing also sent shock through Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, where DeMayo was a senior. In a statement, school president Tom Nunan Jr. said the crime happened off campus, did not involve other students and did not appear connected to the school community. He said counselors and trained professionals were made available Friday and again on Monday for students and staff. The statement focused on support and grief, while authorities focused on the violence itself. Tucker said the case was especially difficult because of its apparent randomness. In Danvers, that left neighbors and officials confronting the same hard fact: a woman was killed in her home, and prosecutors say there was no known reason she was targeted beyond chance.
The case stood Friday with charges filed, a court-ordered evaluation underway and investigators still gathering evidence. The next milestone was DeMayo’s formal arraignment in Salem District Court once the evaluation process allowed the hearing to proceed.
Author note: Last updated March 13, 2026.