UPDATE: Revere Police on Tuesday arrested Andrew MacCormack and charged him with murdering his wife, Vanessa MacCormack.
REVERE — Authorities are investigating a homicide after the body of Vanessa MacCormack, a 30-year-old Lynn school teacher, was found inside her Grand View Avenue home in Revere late Saturday afternoon.
MacCormack was a second-grade teacher at Connery Elementary School in Lynn. She was a graduate of St. Mary’s High School, where she played varsity softball for four years, according to her sister, Angela Masucci, 28, a teacher at Washington STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Elementary School.
Vanessa was married for two years to Andrew MacCormack and the couple had a 1-year-old daughter, but family members requested that the baby’s name not be shared out of fear for a potential killer still at-large. The baby was not home on Saturday, and is now with other family members, Masucci said. She added that her sister’s proudest title was a mother.
“Words could never describe my sister,” Masucci said. “My sister was the world’s best mother. She did everything for her daughter and had so many plans for her. She never missed an opportunity to bring her places to show off her beautiful baby. She had her first birthday in August and it was over the top, with an abundance of food, decorations, bouncy house, entertainment and even a Mickey Mouse character himself.
“My sister was the glue that held my family together,” Masucci continued. “We used to laugh at her because she always needed to know what everyone in the family was doing and exactly what time. All of our call logs and text messages were always filled with her name.”
A preliminary examination of MacCormack’s body at the scene revealed signs of trauma, and “the facts and circumstances do not immediately suggest a random incident,” according to Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of her death, but the death was called “suspicious” by authorities and is being investigated as a homicide, according to the DA’s office.
Revere Police and other emergency crews responded to 93 Grand View Ave. shortly after 3:30 p.m. and found MacCormack unresponsive. A family member had called 911, Wark said.
Masucci said her sister attended Bridgewater State University for her undergraduate degree and Salem State University for her master’s degree — she graduated from both schools with high honors. She said her family would tease MacCormack about how she was obsessed with being on a schedule, being on time, having her checklist and being organized.
“We were recently laughing about how she had all of the world clocks saved to her phone settings whenever I would travel so she would know exactly what I was doing and at what time,” Masucci said. “My sister adored me since the day I was born. She looked out for me more and loved me more than most sisters do. There was never a day that went by that I did not see my sister. We talked all day every day. As we both work in Lynn Public Schools, she would call my room’s extension from her school phone, just to check on me or say hi.”
Masucci said her sister was the true definition of a family-oriented person. She would always hold get togethers at her home, which she designed to look like a house on HGTV. She said MacCormack also adored their brother Joe, 26, and his wife and son. She said her sister would talk to them every day and was ecstatic that her daughter had a cousin close in age to grow with.
Masucci said her sister also had the closest relationship with their parents, Vincent and Karen Masucci. She said she and her parents would go to MacCormack’s house every day. She said the family would laugh because MacCormack couldn’t make a decision without calling her mother first, whether about large issues or simply what milk to buy.
MacCormack’s death leaves a Lynn school system in mourning.
“On behalf of Lynn Public Schools, we are profoundly saddened by the tragic death of Vanessa MacCormack,” said Lynn School Superintendent Dr. Catherine C. Latham in a statement. “Vanessa taught at Connery for five years and was in the district for seven years. She was a talented, dedicated and passionate educator and a loyal, kind and compassionate friend and colleague.
“We send our deepest sympathies to her family, friends and colleagues. Grief counselors will be at Connery beginning tomorrow and all of this week to assist students and staff at this most difficult time.”
Mary Dill, principal of Connery Elementary School, said “our school community is heartbroken.”
“Vanessa was loved by students, parents, and colleagues,” Dill said in a statement. “She was involved in every aspect of the school and a great friend to everyone on the staff. She will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family.”
John Ford, a member of the Lynn School Committee, said his wife has worked with MacCormack’s mother at Sacred Heart School for about a dozen years and the two are good friends.
“She was a real good kid,” Ford said of MacCormack. “It (her death) shocked everybody. It was nothing anybody expected. It was a tragedy. It upset (my) whole family and she was a great kid.”
Masucci said she wishes she had the answers as to why someone would take her sister’s life. She said police are not telling the family anything, except to say that there was trauma involved and her death was not medically related. She said her sister didn’t have problems with anyone — she just worked, went to the gym and spent time with family.
“Although she was only 30 and she was robbed of her future, she lived a happy life,” Masucci said. “She had the wedding of her dreams, her dream job, traveled, went out to eat, had the perfect baby, and loved her husband with every ounce of her soul. I hope for my sister to be remembered, as a beautiful mother, sister, wife, cousin, daughter and teacher that had the world’s funniest sense of humor, a love for being organized, love for working out, her extreme love of TJ Maxx Homegoods, and her love for always finding good deals on the clearance rack at stores.
“My sister was truly a good person with a heart of gold,” Masucci continued. “Family was everything to her. My heart is so broken that she is gone. I just hope her legacy may live on and we get answers about her death.”
The incident is being investigated by Revere Police detectives assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division, members of the Suffolk County State Police Detectives Unit and the State Police Crime Scene Services Section.
Anyone with information on MacCormack’s death, or who made observations in the area of Grand View Avenue through the day on Saturday, is asked to contact Revere Police at 781-286-8340 or State Police at 617-727-8817.