Derry man's murder trial gets underway
Jun. 15—WORCESTER, Mass. — The first-degree murder trial of a Derry man charged in the death of his ex-girlfriend inside a Worcester restaurant on July 3, 2019, got underway this past Monday morning in Worcester Superior Court.
State prosecutors painted a gruesome image for the jury during opening arguments, accusing Carlos Asencio of stabbing his victim 58 times in just 15 seconds with two knives, one in each hand, inside O'Connor's Restaurant before patrons could step in to help.
Amanda Dabrowski, 31, of Ayer died later that night at a local hospital.
Asencio, 32, faces an additional assault and battery charge for stabbing Allen Corson Jr. of Canterbury, Conn., who tried to pull Asencio off his victim.
Defense attorney Robert Griffin did not deny the fact surrounding the murder, but said a psychotic episode triggered by mental illness led to Dabrowski's death.
Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Scanlon said Asencio formulated and executed a plan with extreme violence to kill Dabrowski, adding he wanted revenge on her for breaking off a three-month relationship with him earlier in 2019. The two were co-workers at Bristol Myers Squibb.
Scanlon said he blamed her for losing his job and becoming homeless. "If he couldn't have her, no one else could," Scanlon said.
Asencio's actions and behavior were described by the prosecutor over the course of six days leading up to the murder.
She detailed how he bought a car off Craigslist to hide his identity and drove the car to Dabrowski's house to secretly tape a cellphone under her car in order to track her with a different phone he possessed. His fingerprints were found on the duct tape.
He met a homeless couple two days later and offered to give them the car and allegedly told them about his relationship with Dabrowski. He then started to ask questions about O'Connor's and its dress code.
On July 3, 2019, he took a taxi to the Worcester restaurant where Dabrowski was going for a book club meeting.
Scanlon said he calmly walked from room to room and pulled out a cell phone, consistent with the one used to track her and carefully planned "to hunt her down."
When Dabrowski left the book club to go to the bathroom, he "sprinted" at her and began repeatedly stabbing her.
Asencio was suicidal after killing Dabrowski, yelling he didn't deserve to live, Scanlon said. This showed he knew what he did, she added.
Griffin said Asencio's actions were a result of mental illness. He was evaluated at Bridgewater State Hospital and found incompetent to stand trial a few times. A recent competency test cleared him to stand trial this time around.
Griffin told the jury they will determine if the defendant was engaged in a psychotic episode when he stabbed his victim. "It is a horrible case," Griffin said. "There is no question about that."
Dabrowski's mother, a book club member and former co-worker, took the stand on the trial's first day.
The jury was scheduled to visit O'Connor's and other relevant locations earlier this week.
