On a summer day in August of 2007, the quiet town of Norton, Massachusetts, was rocked by a tragedy that would leave a lasting scar on the community. Elizabeth Cann, a 44-year-old White female, was found deceased in her home on August 26th. The devastating discovery was made by her ex-husband who had gone to check on her and their two daughters after their eldest daughter, who was away, was unable to reach them. What he found was a scene of unimaginable horror.
Elizabeth was dead, and their two young daughters, aged 12 and 15, were critically injured, each having sustained a gunshot wound to the head.
The immediate aftermath was a flurry of emergency response and investigation. The two girls were rushed to a nearby children's hospital in critical condition, though initial reports suggested they were expected to survive. As law enforcement began to piece together the events that had transpired, a prime suspect quickly emerged: Robert McDermott, Elizabeth's boyfriend. It was reported that she had recently asked him to move out of their shared residence. In a desperate 911 call, Elizabeth's ex-husband identified McDermott as the person he believed to be responsible for the horrific scene he had stumbled upon.
The search for McDermott, however, came to a grim and swift conclusion. Before police could apprehend him and bring him to justice for the death of Elizabeth and the brutal attack on her children, he was found deceased. He had taken his own life on a set of train tracks in a nearby town. With the death of the sole suspect, the investigation reached a somber and definitive end. Authorities concluded that the case was a murder-suicide, with McDermott being the perpetrator of the violent acts against Elizabeth and her daughters before taking his own life. The community was left to mourn the loss of a devoted mother and to rally around her surviving children in the wake of such a senseless act of domestic violence.
