Bedford woman charged in fatal shooting of her parents

A Bedford woman was charged with two counts of first-degree murder last month for allegedly shooting her parents as they sat in a car outside her boyfriend’s home.

According to prosecutors, 24-year-old Jessica Cavallaro murdered Thelma Tatten and Mark Cavallaro, both 56, on June 6 with single shots to the head. She pleaded not guilty to murder and firearms charges during her Oct. 15 arraignment in Middlesex Superior Court and was held without bond at MCI-Framingham, where she has been held since her June arraignment in district court.

On the morning of the murders, Cavallaro left work early due to an anxiety attack and returned to her boyfriend’s home in Bedford, where she was living at the time, prosecutors said in a statement about the case. She allegedly told her boyfriend’s father that her parents were taking her to breakfast and left, only to come back a few minutes later and say she had killed her parents.

When officers entered the home, they found Tatten and Mark Cavallaro still sitting in their SUV, which had rolled onto a neighbor’s lawn, according to court documents. Tatten was “apparently deceased,” according to prosecutors, and Mark Cavallaro was still alive, although unconscious. He was pronounced dead at a hospital hours later.

Investigators also allegedly found a gun in the car that belonged to Cavallaro’s friend.

“His usual practice was to store the gun in his safe, but this time he had no specific memory of doing so,” prosecutors said.

The friend allegedly told police that there was no cartridge in the gun’s chamber, meaning Cavallaro had “boxed” the gun so he could use it. Cavallaro and her boyfriend had visited a shooting range in New Hampshire about 100 times, and she was familiar with his gun, prosecutors allege.

Cavallaro’s attorney, Lorenzo Perez, claimed she suffered from a “long-standing mental illness.” Perez said The Boston Globe The “tragedy… is due to her severe mental illness – a phenomenon that is unfortunately becoming increasingly common.”

Last month, a judge granted Perez’s request to pay up to $1,500 to hire a doctor or psychologist with forensic experience “to assess the defendant’s competency to stand trial, his criminal responsibility and/or whether he is competent to stand trial.” judge [s]“He was incapacitated at the time of the crime.” Perez did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, prosecutors allege Cavallaro was calm and alert at the time of the killings, and witnesses allegedly described her as “healthy, lucid and happy” in the days and hours beforehand.

“During booking, the defendant was calm, cooperative, articulate, and ultimately chose to invoke rights showing that she could recognize that speaking to police would not help her,” prosecutors said.

Cavallaro is due back in court Nov. 19 for a scheduling conference.

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Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work covers public transportation, crime, health and everything in between.

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