Friends of Leominster native victim in 2023 Las Vegas triple homicide want swift justice

A Leominster native working as a maintenance worker in Las Vegas was a victim in a triple homicide last summer and his friends say they want faster justice for the man charged in the killing.

Friends remember Christopher Brassard, 45, as someone who lived to make his loved ones happy and an avid fan of the Boston Bruins.

"He would always put a smile on your face no matter how bad you were feeling," said Mathew Cormier, of Lunenburg, Brassard's friend since middle school. "He had just a superpower ability to make you feel better."

On June 27, 2023, Brassard went to conduct a welfare check on 80-year-old Dina Vail at a Las Vegas apartment complex he was working at.

Vail had not been seen for several days. Brassard and maintenance supervisor Horatio Carlin headed to the appartment after the owner of a dance studio that Vail taught at notified them of her disappearance, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.

According to police and court testimony from Carlin, Brassard was fatally stabbed after he entered the building. Carlin was also struck with a weapon. Vail and her boyfriend Andrew Graden, 43, had been killed days prior, authorities say.

Police arrested Vail's grandson Spencer McDonald, 30. McDonald is charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Police said in court that McDonald confessed to the three killings in an interview.

Born in Fitchburg, Brassard spent most of his life in Leominster, according to his obituary. He was a 1995 graduate of Leominster High School Center for Technical Education and focused on automotive mechanics.

Brassard had worked many jobs after graduating high school. He married Anique Harper in 2012 and her job in the U.S. Air Force led to the couple to Las Vegas. Brassard stayed in Las Vegas after their separation in 2015.

The obituary said Brassard loved sports, rock music and was a "human jungle gym" to his friends' children.

"He just loved people. He loved making people happy. If I had to say his biggest passion, that's what it was," Cormier said.

Cormier learned about Brassard's death when he was awoken by a text from someone they went to high school with. He said the news devastated him. The brutal manner of Brassard's death sticks with Cormier.

"The way that he passed away is what everybody's really having a hard time with," Cormier said.

Cormier said he also fondly remembers going to Athol with Brassard on weekends to jump into a river.

Brassard had also made a group of friends in Las Vegas. Cormier said Brassard's Las Vegas friends came to Leominster for a celebration of life last year and the two groups have bonded since the ceremony. He now considers two of Brassard's Las Vegas friends in particular to be like family.

Branden Lillegaard of Las Vegas met Brassard about nine years ago when Brassard trained him in a pest control job.

Lillegaard said Brassard was a "funny, stand-up guy."

McDonald is scheduled to next appear in court for a trial readiness check in April with trial set for March of next year.

Cormier and Lillegaard and friends say they feel that is too long to wait in a case where police say McDonald had already confessed.

"I just want it sped up. We all do," Cormier said.

Lillegaard said he was frustrated with McDonald's attorney, public defender Scott Coffee, for extending the process.

"I don't see what the problem is. I don't see why they can't close this case down. It should be open and shut," Lillegaard said.

Prosecutors have filed to seek the death penalty against McDonald. According to Channel 13 Action News in Las Vegas, McDonald did not accept a plea deal offered to him for life in prison without parole that would have taken capital punishment off the table.

McDonald's attorney said at a January court appearance that they are in the process of collecting McDonald's medical records, Channel 13 reports. Coffee has said his client has a 10-year history of mental illness.

Cormier said those close to Brassard have different opinions on whether McDonald should face the death penalty and that he is personally "up in the air" about whether the death penalty or life in prison would be more fitting.

"A lot of us want him to get the death penalty and a lot of us think that life in prison might be worse for him," Cormier said.

Lillegaard said he does not want to see McDonald released into society, nor should he be sent to a mental institution to be treated like a patient.

Requests for comment to the Clark County Public Defender's office were not returned.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Justice sought for Leominster native killed in Vegas triple homicide