On what should have been a day of quiet reflection between holidays, tragedy struck in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Rose M. Manfredi, a 48-year-old Caucasian woman who worked in the payroll department of Edgewater Technology, was killed at her office on December 26, 2000. This day of violence unfolded just one day before she would have celebrated her 49th birthday.
Remembered by her brother as a "beautiful girl, and very, very caring," Rose was the youngest of eleven children and was known as the one who would be there to cheer you up in a crisis. She was a mother of two with a passion for gardening and singing.
The cheerful youngest sister, who had consoled her family through the loss of three other sisters to cancer, became one of seven victims in a horrific workplace shooting. The perpetrator was a co-worker, Michael McDermott, who entered the Edgewater Technology offices armed with an AK-47, a shotgun, and a pistol. He moved through the building, methodically shooting and killing his colleagues. Rose Manfredi was among those fatally wounded in the attack. The rampage ended when McDermott ran out of ammunition.
When police arrived at the scene, they found a calm Michael McDermott sitting in the reception area with the firearms used in the attack. He was arrested without any resistance. The investigation that followed pointed to financial desperation as a motive; McDermott had been upset about his wages being garnished by the company to pay back taxes to the IRS. During his trial, McDermott's defense team argued that he was mentally ill, a claim the prosecution countered with evidence that he had researched how to feign mental illness. Ultimately, Michael McDermott was found guilty on seven counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
