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Bedford, MA, woman charged with first-degree murder in fatal shooting of her parents
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Bedford, MA, woman charged with first-degree murder in fatal shooting of her parents

A Bedford woman has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of her parents as they sat in a car in the driveway of her boyfriend’s home, records show.

Jessica L. Cavallaro, 24, was indicted in Middlesex Superior Court on two counts of first-degree murder. On June 6, Cavallaro allegedly killed her parents while they were parked in the driveway of the Bedford home where she was staying with her boyfriend’s family, according to court records.

It was announced that Thelman J. Tatten died at the scene from a single gunshot wound to the head. Her husband, Mark A. Cavallaro, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the car, was rushed to a local hospital and it was later announced that he died from a single bullet. According to records, he suffered a gunshot wound to the head. They were both 56 years old.

Cavallaro, 24, was arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court on October 15 and ordered held at MCI-Framingham without bail; The same condition applied. following his arrest shortly after the shootings on Washington Street in Bedford.

The deaths of Tatten and Mark Cavallaro were the first homicides in Bedford since 1982. It shocked the suburban community, the Globe reported.

Cavallaro’s parents had come home to go out for breakfast after their daughter got home from work. He came home early because he was having a panic attack, according to court records.

The gun used to kill the couple belonged to Cavallaro’s boyfriend, Jarred Marchesini, who lived on Washington Street with his parents, David and Joyce Marchesini.

David Marchesini told police Cavallaro went to his room for about a half hour, then came downstairs and told him he was going out to breakfast with his family, the report said.

Prosecutors wrote in court documents that Cavallaro “left (her boyfriend’s) house and returned a few minutes later saying he had killed his family.”

Prosecutors said they chose to seek the maximum sentence because Cavallaro showed no signs of a mental health crisis before the shooting and indicated he was aware of what was happening when he exercised his constitutional rights while in police custody.

“All witnesses who interacted with the defendant stated that he was lucid, collected, and happy in the days leading up to the murder, and the night and morning before the murder, prior to work-related anxiety,” prosecutors wrote. “During the booking (by Bedford police) the defendant was calm, cooperative, straightforward, and ultimately chose to invoke rights, which demonstrated that he had the ability to discern that speaking to police would not help him.”

Cavallaro’s defense attorney, Lorenzo Perez, requested at least $1,500 for a forensic psychiatrist or forensic psychologist to evaluate the 24-year-old woman’s mental health at the time of the murders, according to court records.

Perez wrote in court documents that the expert witness was needed “for the purpose of evaluating the defendant in terms of his competency to stand trial, criminal liability, and/or whether he was impaired at the time of the crime.”

In the first hearings, Perez said it was clear to him that Cavallaro was suffering from a serious mental health issue.

Under Massachusetts law, first-degree murder carries a sentence of life in prison without parole. A person found not guilty by reason of insanity is sent to a state psychiatric hospital and remains there until experts conclude that he is no longer a dangerously mentally ill person and he is released.

A conference is planned for Nov. 19 at the Woburn courthouse, records show.


John R. Ellement can be reached at [email protected]. follow him @JREbosglobe.