In the late evening hours of July 14, 2015, the life of Matilde Gabin, a 33-year-old White/Caucasian woman, came to a tragic and violent end in the driveway of her Park Street home in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Responding to the scene at approximately 11 p.m., police discovered Gabin had been shot twice by her longtime boyfriend, 63-year-old Nelson Delarosa.
After shooting Gabin, Delarosa then took his own life.
The shocking event unfolded as an apparent murder-suicide, the culmination of a tumultuous relationship marked by a history of domestic strife. Investigators learned that the couple had a lengthy record of domestic violence, which included a pending criminal case. In a grim twist of fate, mutual restraining orders had been issued by a probate court judge just ten hours before the fatal encounter, with the judge noting that both individuals presented a danger to one another.
Authorities confirmed that Delarosa was the sole perpetrator in Gabin's death. Because he killed himself immediately after, there were no arrests made in the case, and legal proceedings came to a close. The couple's 10-year-old son was reportedly home at the time of the shooting, though it was not made public whether he witnessed the horrific events. The community was left to mourn the loss of Gabin, whose life was cut short in a final, devastating act of domestic violence.
