murder

Jurors in Lawrence Beheading Trial to Begin Deliberating Next Week

Jurors in the gruesome beheading trial of a Massachusetts teenager will begin deliberating the case next week following a week of shocking new details revealed by several witnesses.

Both the prosecution and defense rested in the Mathew Borges trial Thursday afternoon. The jury will begin deliberating next week after closing arguments which are scheduled for Monday morning.

Borges, 18, is accused of stabbing classmate Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino nearly 80 times and decapitating his body near the Merrimack River. The defendant was 15 at the time of the killing but is being tried as an adult for the first-degree murder of the 16-year-old Viloria-Paulino.

Viloria-Paulino's headless body was found on Dec. 1, 2016 by a man walking his dog, authorities said. His head was found floating nearby in a bag that was weighted down by rocks.

A medical examiner on Monday said the victim's body was stabbed a total of 76 times. Dozens of those stabbings appear to have happened after Viloria-Paulino was already dead.

The two teens were classmates and sophomores at Lawrence High School, according to officials. Prosecutors said the killing was fueled by jealousy.

Witnesses who were involved in a burglary at the victim's home the night of his murder testified that Borged confessed to the gruesome crime in a phone call.

In audio played for jurors, the suspect could be heard telling Officer John Heggarty that he and the victim went to the Merrimack River to smoke marijuana on the day Viloria-Paulino went missing.

Angel Betancourt, one of the four who allegedly broke into the victim's home and stole items, testified that after they completed the theft, the group got a call from Borges who told them, "My hands are bloody. He came at me the wrong way so I had to do what I had to do."

The defense has argued that Borges was only guilty of being involved in the break-in and nothing more. They said there is no evidence he killed Viloria-Paulino.

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