Police have arrested a Massachusetts woman after she allegedly stabbed a pizzeria employee in the back with an ice pick just hours after her daughter suffered a fatal heroin overdose.
Fifty-seven-year-old Barbara Tucker pleaded not guilty Thursday in Lowell District Court to charges of attempted murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Police say the stabbing occurred around 1:50 p.m. Wednesday at DeVito Brothers Italian Pizzeria in Billerica. The victim was the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Tucker's daughter.
J. Daniel Silverman, Tucker's attorney, says the attack was his client's attempt at vigilante justice. She reportedly believed the victim supplied the fatal dose of drugs to her daughter.
Tucker fled the scene and was taken into custody in woods near the Concord River.
