Springfield teen faces murder charge in Vt.

Accused of killing woman following alleged drug deal

A 15-year-old Springfield boy will be tried as an adult on a charge of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a Vermont woman last month, during a confrontation that appears to have begun with a dispute over drugs and a cellphone, according to officials and court documents.

Authorities have not released the teen’s name, but an affidavit filed in Vermont Superior Court in Caledonia County identifies him as Mohamed Said.

Said was arrested about noon Monday on a fugitive from justice warrant issued in Vermont in connection with the killing of 38-year-old Christina Chatlos in St. Johnsbury on Jan. 23, Springfield police said. The charges against Said were first reported by the Caledonian Record newspaper.

Said’s family could not be reached for comment.

The teen was initially taken into custody in Vermont after the shooting on an unrelated Massachusetts arrest warrant, according to Vermont State Police. He was extradited to Massachusetts and held in juvenile custody while the investigation continued.

The Caledonia County State’s Attorney’s Office is seeking to extradite Said back to Vermont. A murder arraignment date has not yet been scheduled. Officials did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Said was expected to appear in Hampden County Juvenile Court on Monday. A spokesperson for the Hampden district attorney’s office said he could not comment on the case because the defendant is a juvenile.

Chatlos’s death apparently followed an alleged drug deal that turned into a robbery, leading to a dispute over Said’s cellphone, which Chatlos refused to return, court documents stated.

An autopsy determined Chatlos’s cause of death to be a gunshot wound to her torso and the manner of her death to be homicide, Vermont State Police said.

Chatlos, who was born in Hanover, N.H., was a mother of two and an accomplished equestrian who lived in Williamstown, Vt., with “the love of her life, Thomas Ferranti,” according to an obituary posted online.

“We can’t believe this happened,” said her mother, Marilyn Chatlos, in a brief interview Tuesday. “We don’t know all the circumstances.”

Marilyn Chatlos said Christina was “a very loving, caring daughter. She would help anyone. She was always willing to help us, whenever we needed help. She was always here.”

Just before 6 p.m. on Jan. 23, St. Johnsbury police received a 911 call reporting a black 2023 Cadillac XT4 SUV with a bullet hole in the passenger-side window resting partially

against an embankment behind the Cornerstone School, according to the affidavit filed by a Vermont State Police detective.

A person was slumped in the driver’s seat and appeared to be dead, the caller said.

Police arrived at 510 Portland St. to find the Cadillac’s passenger door open and Chatlos unresponsive inside. She was pronounced dead at 6:04 p.m., according to the document.

State troopers found a .22 caliber shell casing on the school’s east side and an unfired .22 caliber round near its southeast corner, the detective wrote.

A witness told police she had been on her deck overlooking Lafayette Street about 5 p.m. and had seen two boys talking about a missing cellphone and walking toward the school, then a dark-colored SUV pull into the school’s parking lot, the affidavit said.

The witness heard a “pow” and asked her boyfriend if the sound was a gunshot, but he said it was probably a firecracker, the detective wrote.

She saw the boys run away in different directions, then return to Lafayette Street, where one appeared to conceal something under a parked vehicle, she told police.

Police pursued the boys to an apartment, where they found “wet footprints leading up to the second floor” and Said upstairs with the other boy, the detective wrote.

Police took the boys to headquarters and learned both were wanted in Massachusetts for juvenile delinquency, according to the document.

A woman whose cousin was present during the shooting received a voicemail at 5:38 p.m. that day in which Chatlos is heard pleading as a male voice threatens to “blow her head off ” if she doesn’t return his cellphone, according to the document.

The man who left the voicemail told police he saw a teen with a gun to Chatlos’s head, and he believed Chatlos had the boy’s cellphone, the detective wrote. Chatlos had earlier set up a meeting to buy crack cocaine, but the sellers instead stole $200 to $300 from Chatlos, gave her no drugs, and left, the affidavit said.

Security video from the school shows Chatlos driving into the parking lot with the man in the Cadillac’s passenger seat, according to the document. Said is visible next to the driver’s side window while the other boy stands behind him, the detective wrote.

Said allegedly raises his right hand and points a gun at the man as he steps out and walks toward Said, the affidavit said.

The man backs up, and Said allegedly points the pistol at Chatlos, according to the document.

Chatlos and Said struggle, and Chatlos drives forward as Said allegedly chases the Cadillac behind the school, the detective wrote.

The SUV runs off the pavement and onto the embankment before coming to an abrupt stop, and Said allegedly runs up to the passenger door and tries to open it, the affidavit said.

“He then points the handgun at the window and fires a single shot into the window,” the detective wrote. “The video captures the discharged round as it strikes and spiderwebs the window.”