Police await slay suspect’s return
West Bridgewater man tracked down in R.I.
Prosecutors are seeking the return of a 34-yearold West Bridgewater man arrested in Rhode Island for allegedly bludgeoning his late father’s longtime girlfriend to death with a fireplace log.
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said yesterday his office would seek Daniel Jose Lopes Jr.’s return to Massachusetts through a governor’s warrant to face charges he murdered 72-year-old Julia Fernandes.
A family member who believed there had been an altercation between the two asked West Bridgewater police shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday to check on Fernandes’ well-being at her Columbus Avenue home, where Lopes is thought to have been staying, authorities said.
When they arrived, they found her with “obvious signs of trauma,” Cruz said, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
“At this time, we believe the murder weapon was a fireplace log,” he said, although the motive for the killing was unknown.
Detectives obtained a warrant for Lopes’ arrest and issued an alert to be on the lookout for him and the 2017 Toyota Camry he was believed to be driving, the DA said.
Their search led them to Brockton and later to North Providence, where he was arrested about 5:30 a.m. yesterday and was being held as a fugitive from justice, Cruz said.
Lopes was known to West Bridgewater police, Chief Victor Flaherty said, declining to elaborate. He had a “nominal record out of a nearby court,” Cruz said. But there were no restraining orders against him, police said.