ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Pictured is the scene of a double homicide at 19 Farm Ave.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
PEABODY— Authorities have arrested one man in connection with Saturday night’s double homicide on Farm Avenue while another suspect remains at large, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
Michael Hebb, 45, of Peabody, was taken into custody at 84 Aborn St. shortly after noon on Monday, with assistance from the Special Weapons and Tactics Team. He will be arraigned Tuesday in Peabody District Court on two counts of first-degree murder, according to the DA’s office.
The victims of the Peabody double murder at 19 Farm Ave. have been identified as Mark Greenlaw, 37, and Jennifer O’Connor, 39, both thought to be living at the house. Investigators learned that they were dating. A search of their respective Facebook profiles shows that the couple was engaged.
The cause and manner of the death has yet to be determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
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Investigators said a woman came into the State Police barracks in Danvers on Saturday around 11:30 p.m. to report that a crime had been committed at the two-bedroom bungalow. The woman fled the house and flagged down a car, which took her to the police station. Peabody officers entered the home and saw part of a dead body.
Authorities initially had difficulty determining the number of victims because the home was in poor condition and messy and the bodies were somewhat concealed. X-ray machinery was used to make that determination, according to the DA’s office.
Based on the witness statement, authorities believe the people involved all knew each other.
Charles Cheffro, 27, who lives in the apartment complex at 84 Aborn St., said he slept through Hebb’s arrest. He said his mother-in-law heard the encounter with police. Also awake during the arrest, he said, were his young child and fiancee.
“So, yeah, it’s pretty scary, but I just woke up … and I just saw all the cops out here in the hallway,” Cheffro said.
He said there had been no concerns at the complex before Monday.
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Sue Rankin said her daughter has lived in one of the apartments for several years, and the place has been very quiet. She said there’s usually just couples living there, with their young children. She was stopping by her daughter’s place and saw Hebb get arrested, but didn’t know what it was for. She said it took place in the apartment next door to her daughter.
“It’s a little more scary knowing what he was arrested for,” Rankin said.
Edward O’Connor, Jennifer’s father, told FOX25 on Monday that his daughter suffered from a lifetime of medical issues that led to a 20-year-battle with alcoholism and addiction.
“This was a good person,” O’Connor told FOX25. “She wasn’t a mean person. This was a good person that just got involved with people she shouldn’t have been involved with.”
A friend of Greenlaw’s from Salem, who asked not to be identified for this story, said Mark was caring and a “gem.”
“He was there for me … if I just needed to know someone cared out there,” the friend said. “He’d come here and listen to me rant, or cry, or (whatever) and he truly cared.
“I’m so devastated and literally sick (over) this.”
Greenlaw had been in trouble with the law before. In 2010, he was charged with shooting a man outside a train station in Lawrence. The victim initially told police that he didn’t know the man who shot him, but eventually told authorities it was his best friend, Greenlaw. Police said Greenlaw and the victim knew each other from previous stints in prison, according to the Eagle-Tribune.
Carrie Kimball Monahan, a spokeswoman for the Essex County District Attorney’s office, said that police have responded to 19 Farm Ave. often in the past, but she didn’t know the details.
On one instance, in 2013, George Moise was sentenced to prison time after pleading guilty to stabbing Robert Kowalchik outside the Farm Avenue residence. Moise was living there at the time, according to the Salem News.
Property records list Lucy J. and Stanley J. Pikul Jr. as the owners of 19 and 21 Farm Ave. David Moise, George’s father, is believed to also be a resident of 19 Farm Ave. The owners live at 21 Farm Ave.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.