On the morning of January 21, 2010, the life of 29-year-old Maria A. "Coya" DePina was tragically cut short in her Brockton, Massachusetts home. Maria, a female of Cape Verdean descent, was getting ready for work when an intruder forced his way into the second-floor apartment she shared with her brother at 52 Nilsson Street. The assailant, later identified as John V.
Monteiro of Rhode Island, first went to the rear bedroom where he shot Maria's brother, Jorge DePina, as he slept.
Alerted by the commotion, Maria encountered Monteiro in the hallway. In a desperate attempt to escape, she turned to flee, but Monteiro shot her in the back of the head. First responders, arriving at approximately 9:16 a.m., discovered Jorge deceased in his bed and Maria on the kitchen floor. Autopsies would later confirm that both siblings died from gunshot wounds to the head. The brutal nature of the crime sent shockwaves through the Brockton community.
The investigation, a joint effort by State Police detectives and the Brockton Police, soon pointed toward Monteiro. A significant breakthrough came when investigators learned that Monteiro had sold the firearm used in the murders to an FBI informant. Ballistics and DNA testing confirmed that the gun sold by Monteiro was indeed the weapon used to kill Maria and Jorge DePina.
Following a seven-day trial in June 2016, a jury found John V. Monteiro guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. In addition to the murder charges, he was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm, armed home invasion, and the illegal sale of a firearm. For the murders of Maria and Jorge DePina, Monteiro was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing a measure of justice to a family decimated by a senseless act of violence.
