Travel

Murder suspect in killing of Maine man left outside Mass. hospital held without bail

Murder suspect in killing of Maine man left outside Mass. hospital held without bail

A Scituate man charged with murder in connection with the death of a Maine man whose body was found outside a Massachusetts hospital in August will continue to be held without bail following a hearing on Thursday, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office announced.
On Sept. 2, Christopher Caron, 42, pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of Portland resident Declan Perry during his arraignment in Hingham District Court. The judge ordered him held without bail.
At a bail review hearing in the same court on Thursday, Caron’s attorney requested that his bail be reduced to $20,000, with release conditions including that he wear a GPS monitoring bracelet and undergo drug treatment, the district attorney’s office said. Prosecutors requested that Caron continue to be held without bail, and the judge agreed.
Perry’s body was found wrapped in blankets tied together with duct tape in a parked car outside South Shore Hospital in Weymouth on the afternoon of Aug. 23. Days later, Caron turned himself in to Scituate Police and was charged in Perry’s death.
Prosecutors have not specified Perry’s and Caron’s relationship, describing them only as “acquaintances.”
What happened to Declan Perry
An autopsy revealed Perry had deep hemorrhaging to his chest, back and the back of his head from blunt force trauma, and several injuries to his neck consistent with strangulation, Jennifer Sprague, a Plymouth County prosecutor, said during Caron’s arraignment. The medical examiner determined Perry was beaten before he died.
On Aug. 12, Perry began texting Caron, Sprague said. The pair made plans for Perry to travel from Maine to Massachusetts on Aug. 22 so they could hang out. When Perry arrived, prosecutors said Caron “facilitated the sale” of fentanyl and cocaine to him, warning, “you gotta go easy on this [expletive].”
The pair purchased the drugs in Boston on the afternoon of Aug. 22, then returned to Caron’s home in Scituate, where he was living with his mother and grandmother. Hours later, at around 1:30 a.m., Caron searched, “7/11 Narcan” and sent several messages to a female friend, asking her to bring the opioid-reversal drug to his home, Sprague said.
The woman arrived at the home shortly after 3 a.m. on Aug. 23 and went to Caron’s basement-level bedroom. There, she saw Perry lying on the floor unconscious. Caron gave Perry three doses of Narcan to his nose. While Perry did not wake up, the woman noticed his heart was beating and he was breathing, Sprague said.
The woman eventually went to sleep. When she was woken up by Caron around 7 a.m., Perry was dead, Sprague said. It’s not clear whether Perry was administered Narcan before or after he sustained the fatal injuries.
Moving the body
Despite pleas from the woman, Caron refused to call an ambulance, fearing that doing so would upset his mother and grandmother. Instead, prosecutors say Caron tried to move Perry’s body, using a detached interior door as a stretcher. Right around the time he woke up the woman, Caron searched, “When you die, how long until you poop and pee yourself?” Sprague said.
But Caron couldn’t get Perry’s body out of the basement, and instead wrapped the body in blankets and placed it in a large storage bin, Sprague said. The woman helped Caron push the body up the stairs, eventually making it to the main floor of the home.
The woman told police Perry’s body never fell out of the bin or hit anything as they pushed it up the stairs. She also said she didn’t see any drugs or drug paraphernalia in the bedroom when she was there, Sprague said.
Caron and the woman began moving Perry’s body to the car he was eventually found in. As they were doing so, several of Caron’s neighbors offered to help, and Caron asked one to get him packing tape. When she returned, Caron wrapped Perry’s body, already covered in blankets, in tape, Sprague said.
A pair of other neighbors eventually helped move the body into the car — Caron told them it was a hockey mannequin and made several jokes about it being a real body, Sprague said.
The woman then drove Caron to her home in Weymouth before he drove himself and Perry’s body to South Shore Hospital. There, Caron went inside and told the staff there was someone in a car outside who needed medical attention, Sprague said.
By the time medical staff got to Perry’s body, he had no pulse and was in rigor mortis.
A search warrant obtained
After leaving the hospital, Caron went to a Cumberland Farms, where he bought a few items while waiting for an Uber. He took the rideshare back to the woman’s home and went back to Scituate from there.
After news of the discovery of Perry’s body was reported, residents of the Scituate condo complex told police they’d seen a man loading a large, heavy blanket into a black Honda Civic at their neighbor’s home earlier in the day on Saturday, the district attorney’s office said.
Police then recovered a damaged black storage container from a dumpster near the condo complex, as well as mail in the name of Caron’s grandmother, Sprague said.
Eventually, police obtained a search warrant for the Scituate condo. In the basement, they found red-brown stains on the couch and carpet and on the detached interior door. They also found a black belt on the floor, Sprague said.
The medical examiner determined Perry’s injuries could not have been self-inflicted — and the only two people with him before he died were Caron and the woman, Sprague said.
Caron is next scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 3, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said.