Man charged with killing wife, 2nd woman in front of children

Jahairi DeAlto, above, was a transgender woman who was widely respected as an advocate for the rights of LGTBQ people. She also worked with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

A man who has been charged with murdering his wife and another woman inside their Taft Street apartment did so in front of two young children who led Boston Police to the dying women on Sunday afternoon, according to a Suffolk County prosecutor.

Marcus Chavis, 34, was charged with two counts of murder on Monday during his arraignment in Dorchester district court and ordered to be held without bail in the stabbing deaths of his 28-year-old wife, Fatima Yasin, and her roommate, 42-year-old Jahaira DeAlto.

Prosecutors said in court that police encountered Chavis covered in blood at the home’s first-floor entrance shortly after 12:30 p.m. when he called 911 to report the violence. A dog, which neighbors say belonged to one of the victims, was also injured, but will survive, according to officials. Chavis was also charged with cruelty to an animal.

Asst. District Attorney Ian Polumbaum told the court that the children approached police after the officers went into the first-floor apartment at 26 Taft St. in Savin Hill around 12:30 p.m. Sunday. In a bedroom on the right-hand side of the hallway, he said, police found the body of DeAlto with “sharp force injuries” to her neck; she was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The children … pointed to another bedroom across the hall. In the second bedroom was their mother,” Polumbaum said. “She appeared to be trying to breathe at that point, but was unable to speak. She, too, had significant sharp force injuries to her neck, and she was pronounced dead when they got her to the hospital.”

Chavis told the officers he had a mental health diagnosis for which he had been prescribed medication, Polumbaum said.
The suspect is expected to be back in court on June 2. Prosecutors offered no motive for the attacks.

But it was the welfare of two young children at 26 Taft St.— neither of whom was physically harmed in the incident— that was the most alarming revelation at the arraignment.

District Attorney Rachael Rollins said that the two children were safe and would get “support and services” from her office’s Victim Witness Assistance Program.

Universal Hub reported that DeAlto was a transgender woman who was a widely respected advocate for the rights of transgender people. She also worked with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“We have also reached out to stakeholders within Boston’s transgender community, which Ms. DeAlto was dedicated to elevating,” Rollins said.  “We are here to support the families, individuals, and communities impacted by Ms. DeAlto and Ms. Yasin’s murders as they begin their long journey toward healing.”


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