Ann Tavares, a 46-year-old White mother of four, was tragically killed in her Somerset, Massachusetts, home on July 10, 1991. The perpetrator was her own son, 25-year-old Daniel Thomas Tavares Jr. On that day, Ann and her fiancé, Norman Sirois, had given Daniel a ride home from a bar in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Shortly after they returned, a violent altercation broke out.
Sirois heard a disturbance and discovered Ann gravely wounded in her son's bedroom, having been stabbed 26 times with
a carving knife. She died in his arms. During the attack, a family friend who was also in the house was stabbed but managed to survive. Daniel Tavares, who had a history of mental health issues and criminal behavior, was restrained at the scene. He made claims of hearing voices and having consumed a drink laced with LSD. On the day of the murder, he had reportedly called his mother at her workplace 23 times.
Following his arrest, Daniel Tavares Jr. pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1992 and received a sentence of 17 to 20 years in prison. His release in 2007 was met with outrage, particularly from Sirois, who had not been notified. Tragically, shortly after his release, Daniel committed a double homicide in Washington state, killing his neighbors, Beverly and Brian Mauck. For these crimes, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2015, while incarcerated, he was also convicted of a 1988 cold case murder.
