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    Tuesday, May 21, 2024

    Woman charged after grandmother, man are killed in home

    ENFIELD (AP) — A Connecticut woman has been arrested in connection with the killings of her grandmother and a man at an Enfield home that she was ordered to stay away from after a domestic disturbance last month, police said.

    Police officers found Harlee Swols, 22, covered in blood inside the multifamily house and arrested her at gunpoint Sunday evening after a neighbor reported hearing calls for help, according to a police report released Monday. Swols also was soaked with water after running out of a shower in a bathroom, police said.

    Swols' grandmother, Maryrose Riach, 72, died at a hospital and Riach's boyfriend, James Bell, 63, was pronounced dead at the scene after they were attacked and stabbed, police said. Riach was found lying face down in a pool of blood and Bell's throat was slashed, and he had been stabbed several times, the report said.

    Swols, who was treated for hand wounds, was charged with violating a protective order that was issued after a disturbance at the same home on July 7, police said. Prosecutors said Swols is expected to face more serious charges related to the killings.

    Swols was arraigned in Hartford Superior Court on Monday. Judge David Gold lowered the initial $2 million bail to $1 million and ordered her to be placed under a mental health watch while detained. She is scheduled to return to court Aug. 26.

    A public defender said Swols worked at a doughnut shop and had no arrest record before the July 7 incident, but did not offer a direct response to the allegations against Swols.

    The police report said, “Swols had blood all over her clothes and was showing no emotion at all” when an officer first encountered her Sunday evening.

    Police said Swols was charged on July 7 with misdemeanor beach of peace and misdemeanor assault of an elderly, blind, disabled or pregnant person or a person with intellectual disability. Details of the allegations were not immediately available. The charges remain pending.

    WFSB-TV reported relatives of the victims released a statement Monday saying, "They were just a couple enjoying their golden years. They loved spending time with family, beach trips, and going camping. They had the biggest hearts of anyone I’ve ever known, and they did not deserve this.”

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