In the early morning hours of Labor Day, September 5, 2011, the life of 16-year-old Maxariel "Max" Ariel Montanez was tragically cut short in his South Lawrence, Massachusetts home. A student at Greater Lawrence Technical High School, where he was enrolled in the auto body program and played on the wrestling and football teams, Maxariel was known as a shy and serious young man with clear goals for his future.
On that fateful morning, at approximately 2 a.m., a neighbor in the Beacon
Projects encountered a distressed man who confessed that something terrible had happened inside his apartment. When Lawrence Police responded to the scene, they were met by Jose Luis Tejada, who admitted to harming his family. Upon forcing entry into the residence at 15 Maginnis St., officers discovered the bodies of Maxariel, his 39-year-old mother Milka Rivera, and his 19-year-old sister Sachary Montanez in an upstairs bedroom. All three had been fatally shot.
The investigation swiftly identified Jose Luis Tejada, Rivera's boyfriend, as the sole suspect. Tejada reportedly told a neighbor he killed his family because they were "talking down to him." He also informed police that he had attempted to take his own life but had run out of bullets. Investigators recovered a. 357 Magnum revolver in the grass behind the apartment building.
In August 2014, Jose Tejada was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Maxariel, his mother, and his sister. He was subsequently sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in prison. In January 2020, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld his convictions, ensuring that the man responsible for the triple homicide would remain behind bars.
