Teen stabs, kills therapist in Walker Street apartment

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February 7, 2008

Teen stabs, kills therapist in Walker Street apartment

Jim Patten, Crystal Bozek and Mark E. Vogler, staff writers The Eagle Tribune Thu Feb 07, 2008, 03:31 PM EST

NORTH ANDOVER — A psychotherapist was murdered by her teenage client during a visit to his Walker Road apartment Wednesday night, police said.

Police say Diruhi Mattian, 53, of Wilmington was stabbed to death by Thomas Belanger, 18. He then turned the knife on himself and slit his throat, police said. He was taken to Lawrence General Hospital and is expected to survive.

Mattian was stabbed in the torso and was pronounced dead at Lawrence General Hospital.

Police said Mattian, a licensed psychotherapist, worked for a Lawrence-based agency that assists families in crisis.

She is listed as the program director for the Lawrence FLEX program on the Web site for Family Continuity with an office at 11 Lawrence St. According to the site, FLEX provides "a number of flexible services" to families with children with chronic mental illnesses and requiring intensive therapeutic involvement.

"The services are primarily aimed at keeping the children safely at home with their families, in their community, out of residential programs and away from hospital care," the site said. It also says it offers home- or office-based care. It is funded by the state Department of Mental Health Child and Adolescent Services.

Mattian is also listed as having an office in Andover known as Aved Therapy. The Merrimack Valley Hub Web site says she specializes in psychological trauma, panic disorders, phobias and other anxiety spectrum disorders.

Belanger spent the night under police guard at the same hospital. He is expected to be arraigned sometime today on a murder charge.

"There will be more details at the arraignment," said police Chief Richard Stanley. "After an investigation ... he has been formally charged with murder."

A 911 call brought police to the scene a little after 6 p.m. Belanger lived in the basement apartment at 3 Walker Road in the Meadow View Condominiums complex behind McDonald's on Chickering Road.

On the door of the apartment hung two red valentines. A view into the basement window showed a small apartment with several family photographs lining the wall. Investigators walked around the space, but were seen focusing their attention in an area between the living room and kitchen.

Belanger's 16-year-old sister was reportedly at home at the time of the killing. Police would not say who made the 911 call. The home is listed under the names of Elaine M. and Cassandra Belanger.

Police towed two vehicles from the scene, a white Toyota Corolla and a white Chevrolet sedan with Jesus and pro-life stickers.

Also, early today, investigators were seen removing a computer from Belanger's apartment.

This is the second murder in North Andover in a month.

Alfredo Torres of 100 Union St. was shot multiple times as he stood on the street outside his apartment on the morning of Jan. 7. That murder remains unsolved.

Police Detective Lt. Paul Gallagher, a veteran of the force for 32 years, says he can remember only one other murder in town | the 1988 murder of real estate agent Marie Moson in 1988.

There was also a workplace shooting in November 2007. Robert Hassam Jr., 25, of Lawrence is charged with walking into his former employer, Independent Tire on Old Clark Road, and shooting several times. He injured one employee, but police say he also had another target.

Stanley said he was not shocked by the recent spate of violence.

"I think it's a sign of the times," Stanley said. "Our officers deal with situations on a regular basis which are volatile."

He said there are a lot of issues taking place that have no boundaries.

"Citizens need to be vigilant and to realize society has changed," he said.

Ryan Knight, 22, who said he was living with a friend in the building across the street, called the neighborhood relatively quiet.

"I didn't know the kid. He was only 18? Wow," Knight said. "Everyone kind of comes and goes around here. But I didn't hear anything from over there before. ... It's crazy."

The Meadow View complex includes mostly townhouse condos, with some rentals, in several three-level brick buildings.

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