Police: Milford cops had sought warrant for homicide suspect
MILFORD — Last month, Julie Minogue filed a formal complaint with police alleging that Ewen Dewitt, the father of her 3-year-old child, was sending her harassing messages — 220 texts, according to court records.
Five days later, police said an investigating officer applied for an arrest warrant for Dewitt, who was already facing two felony charges in connection with a 2019 assault in which Minogue was the alleged victim.
“To date, the warrant has not been signed,” Marilisa Anania, the police department’s spokesperson, wrote in an email Thursday, without elaboration.
On Tuesday night, police said Dewitt stormed into Minogue’s Salem Walk home, killing her in an ax attack while her 17-year-old son and the couple’s 3-yearold were in the home.
Minogue was remembered by her family as a devoted mother of three.
“Julie spent most of her parenting years as a single parent,” wrote Allison Barotti-Corcoran on a GoFundMe page that had raised nearly $50,000 as of Thursday afternoon. “She navigated working full-time and caring for her boys with ease and love.”
But at the same time, Barotti-Corcoran wrote, Minogue “was a victim of domestic violence and had tried multiple times to keep her and her children safe.”
Documents filed in criminal and family court cases involving the couple paint a picture of a relationship strained by Dewitt’s abusive behavior and alcohol use.
“She was afraid of him,” said Paul V. Carty, a lawyer who represented Minogue. “Clearly, given what he did, her concerns were warranted.”
On Nov. 9, 2019, police said Dewitt drunkenly threw a playpen at her head while she was holding the couple’s then-infant child, causing a concussion and a cut to her head that needed five staples to close.
Minogue told police after the 2019 incident that she had been out and returned to the couple’s Minuteman Drive home to find Dewitt drunk, argumentative, and throwing things around the home. After throwing the playpen at her head, police said he smashed her cellphone, after which she went to a neighbor’s to call 911.
Police promptly arrested Dewitt on charges including two felonies — second-degree assault and risk of injury to a child. Dewitt posted a $20,000 bond and was released. At a court hearing three days after the Nov. 9, 2019 incident, a judge issued a protective order barring Dewitt from contact with Minogue or her children, including the one he had fathered.
In the subsequent months Dewitt would undergo intensive alcohol treatment and attended a 12-session treatment program for veterans who have used violence in relationships with intimate partners. At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic meant the case was continued several times during 2020.
Last January, his lawyer asked a judge to relax the protective order.
“Mr. Dewitt has taken steps to justify a modification of the protective order by curbing his drinking, engage in therapy with the Veterans Administration to end the cycle of domestic violence, paying for his girlfriend and child who reside in his home while maintaining a second apartment, attending school in this challenging time, and remaining employed,” his lawyer, David DeRosa wrote in a letter to the judge.
DeRosa did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.
Judge Peter Brown modified the conditions of the order to allow contact between the two, but the order said Dewitt still had to stay away from the Minuteman Drive home the couple had shared.
Last April, Judge Maureen Dennis approved an application from Dewitt to participate in the diversionary Family Violence Education Program, which results in the dismissal of charges if defendants successfully complete counseling, continuing the case to April 2023.
According to a transcript from the hearing, Minogue, through a court victim’s advocate, said Dewitt had been doing better, and asked for the protective order to be modified again or withdrawn completely.
“She indicates that he’s been showing improvement and he’s been helping her with the baby,” Assistant State’s Attorney Alanna Paul said, according to the transcript.
Eight months later, Dewitt filed a formal application in family court for visitation.
Carty filed an objection on Minogue’s behalf, citing the pending criminal case as well as Dewitt’s subsequent arrest in North Carolina, and the fact that he had allegedly been “harassing” the staff at his son’s day care.
But the two sides would come to an agreement calling for weekly two-hour visitation between Dewitt and the child, to be supervised by Minogue. Three months later the lawyers reported the visits were going well, and another hearing was scheduled after his criminal case was due to be resolved.
Carty said he had reservations about Minogue taking part in the visitations, but that “she wanted to make sure herself the child was OK.”
“She wasn’t happy that he was permitted to see their son,” Carty said. “She was concerned about him because he had violent tendencies and he drank. It’s not like he’d just have a beer. He’d have a whole bunch of them.”
After Dewitt allegedly sent her 220 text messages last month, she applied for a restraining order — that a judge granted days before she was killed.
Though things had appeared to have gotten better for a time, the lawyer said he had not heard about the harassing texts Dewitt allegedly sent last month.
“Something must have happened in the interim,” he said. “I didn’t know that the relationship between the two of them had deteriorated to the point where he was texting her all the time. I am certain that I did tell her that if something were to jump off, she needed to call police to protect herself.”
State’s Attorney Margaret Kelley did not return a call seeking comment on the case Thursday.