Dominga Romano, 55, was found dead in her Methuen, Massachusetts, home on Lyndale Avenue on December 29, 2025 after friends and family asked police to perform a welfare check. Romano, a Spanish teacher at Lawrence High School, was discovered in an upstairs bedroom; her body was cold with rigor mortis, her face wrapped in paper towels, and she had suffered gunshot wounds to the neck and hip.

Officers first encountered Romano’s 26-year-old son, Anthony Nunez-Romano, who lived with her. He initially told police a stray bullet had come through a window and struck his mother and was reportedly reluctant to let officers inside. Investigators found evidence that contradicted that account: bullet holes in first-floor walls, spent 9mm shell casings, and a 9mm Glock pistol hidden in a kitchen drawer.

Court documents note Nunez-Romano had recent diagnoses of schizophrenia and autism and that police previously responded to the residence for mental health evaluations. Family members told investigators he had pressured his mother to sign the house over to him and that she appeared afraid of him. He was arrested and charged with murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and defacing a firearm’s serial number; he pleaded not guilty at arraignment and was ordered held without bail. A probable cause hearing was scheduled for February 20, 2026.

Did anyone know Dominga or have information about tensions in the household leading up to December 29, 2025?