Nurse Stabbed to Death While Sleeping — Teen “Wanted to Kill Someone," Police Say

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A beloved ICU nurse has been murdered in her own home in what Massachusetts authorities describe as a completely random attack, leaving two communities and a hospital community grieving a woman known for her kindness and decades of service to patients.

Janet Swallow, 68, a longtime intensive care nurse at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, was found stabbed to death in her bedroom at her Amherst Street home in Danvers on the afternoon of March 12, 2026. Authorities say she was asleep and alone when she was attacked in the early hours of that morning.

Anthony DeMayo, 18, a senior at Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody who lives in Lynn, was arrested Thursday afternoon after multiple 911 callers reported seeing a young man walking through a Lynn neighborhood carrying what appeared to be a bloody knife and behaving erratically. When police located him, DeMayo allegedly told officers he had killed a woman in Danvers the night before. He was taken to Salem Hospital due to his mental state before being transferred to police custody.

What Investigators Found

According to court documents filed Friday, DeMayo told investigators he had driven around North Shore communities late Wednesday night looking for a home to break into. He selected Swallow's single-story ranch house on Amherst Street seemingly at random, parking near a house under construction nearby. Investigators say he climbed through a kitchen window, searched several rooms, and found Swallow asleep in her bedroom.

Court documents state that after the knife became stuck, DeMayo pulled Swallow off the bed and onto the floor before leaving her home and driving back to Lynn. Cell phone location data placed his phone in Danvers between midnight and 1 a.m. Blood-stained clothing was later recovered from his Lynn home.

According to court documents, DeMayo told police he "planned on committing this act for a long time, and wanted to kill someone for a long time." Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker was unequivocal at a press conference: "This is random. There was no connection between the defendant and the victim."

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DeMayo was arraigned in Salem District Court on Friday, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and home invasion. A court psychologist told the judge she had concerns about his "rational understanding." He was ordered held without bail and sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for a 20-day psychiatric evaluation. He is due back in court on April 1.

A Community in Mourning

Swallow had lived in her Danvers home for decades and was remembered by neighbors and colleagues as warm, dedicated, and deeply devoted to her patients and her two adult sons. Within days of her death, a GoFundMe campaign to support her family had raised nearly $50,000.

Scott James, chief nursing officer at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, said in a statement: "Janet Swallow was a beloved and valued member of the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center community and she will be greatly missed. We share our deepest condolences with her family and loved ones and her colleagues in the Nursing Department and across our hospital."

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Danvers Police Chief Jamie Lovell also addressed the community, saying the crime had "left many of us stunned and heartbroken." "When something like this happens in a place we call home, it shakes our sense of safety and touches the entire community," Lovell said. "Incidents like this are extraordinarily rare in our community, which is why they affect us so deeply."

 

Swallow's colleagues at Lahey Hospital are being supported by the hospital during what the chief nursing officer called a "very difficult time." A memorial fund is active for her family.

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