A man in his 20s from Massachusetts, Shane Curry, was charged with first-degree murder of his girlfriend using a "dangerous weapon," which was later reported to be a sword, in early April, the Middlesex Country District Attorney’s Office announced in early September.
Curry was initially charged with assault and battery, which were later upgraded to murder.
On April 5, Stow police officers came to visit Curry for a regular well-being check, as he was previously known to the police due to a past mental health crisis. According to the Independent, police tried to enter the house for nearly two hours, with Curry yelling through the door, “Get the f*** out, you creeps.”
After entering the house, police found Curry curled up by his girlfriend, 17-year-old Nevaeh Goddard, both on a mattress under a blanket. After pulling the blanket away, officers noticed “obvious signs of injury,” Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office stated.
Goddard was pronounced dead at the scene, having been stabbed following an argument that turned violent, according to the DA’s office cited by the Daily Mail, before Curry resorted to stabbing his girlfriend using a sword and a knife.
Goddard, who identified as non-binary and used she/they pronouns, was buried on April 20 at Nardolillo Funeral Home in Cranston, Rhode Island. Goddard was set to turn 18 in July. Goddard spent part of their childhood in foster care, and since April 2022, they had been listed as missing following a runaway incident caused by a request for behavioral treatment by Rhode Island’s Department for Children, Youth & Families.
First-degree murder charges
Following Curry’s arrest, on April 7, Heather Coyne, the fiancé of Goddard’s mother, publicly called for the death penalty for him, expressing her intense anger in a Facebook post and stating that he should “rot in hell,” the Independent reported.
On September 4, Curry appeared before Judge Patrick Haggaan at Middlesex Superior Court, facing charges of first-degree murder. The indictment accused Curry of fatally stabbing his partner, Goddard, with a sword, which was found in the bedroom alongside a kitchen knife.
Curry reportedly confessed to police that the fatal attack stemmed from an argument about Goddard’s alleged infidelity. He admitted to beating his partner before resorting to the sword, claiming “hitting her, that’s not working, so okay, I have to knife her, so I do.”
Authorities stated that Curry stabbed Goddard multiple times, including in the abdomen, neck, and arms, and an autopsy confirmed multiple puncture wounds. After realizing Goddard was not breathing, Curry attempted to take his own life by cutting his arms.
He was then taken into custody and transported to a hospital for evaluation.