Worcester woman, 37, pleads guilty to manslaughter in boyfriend's stabbing death

Toni Caushi, Telegram & Gazette
Updated ·2 min read

WORCESTER – Jennifer Algarin audibly sniffled as she pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter charge Thursday morning in Worcester Superior Court for stabbing and killing her boyfriend in 2019.

Algarin, 37, stabbed 40-year-old Jason Swedberg on the morning of Oct. 18, 2019, at a Worcester apartment where the couple of more than three years had been living together.

Prosecutors said the victim’s mother, who owned the 39 Dixfield St. building and lived above the couple, heard her son yell out, “Jen, Jen, what are you doing?” just before 9 a.m. the morning of the killing.

In a file photo, crime scene tape surrounds 39 Dixfield St. in Worcester on Oct. 18, 2019.
In a file photo, crime scene tape surrounds 39 Dixfield St. in Worcester on Oct. 18, 2019.

When the mother had walked down to the couple’s apartment and asked Algarin about the noise, the woman had immediately admitted to the stabbing.

“I had a dream and they told me to stab him,” Algarin said to the mother.

Police said that after the stabbing, a crying Algarin blamed her behavior on new medication.

In court on Thursday, Algarin said she took medication for depression, PTSD and anxiety.

“I didn’t mean to do it,” she is quoted as saying by the police. “It’s my new medication.”

Swedberg was taken to the hospital, but bled to death due to a pierced aorta.

Obituary Jason K Swedberg

Algarin was indicted on a murder charge in February 2020. The charge was reduced to a voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea deal. She faces up to 20 years in state prison for the voluntary manslaughter charge, and up to two and a half years for assault and battery on a family or household member.

Two other charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal.

On Thursday morning Algarin pleaded guilty in a soft voice while crying, prompting Judge Janet Kenton-Walker to ask her to repeat herself on several occasions.

She will be held at the Western Mass. Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee, where she has been held without bail since March 2020, while awaiting sentencing on July 6.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Jennifer Algarin guilty of manslaughter in death of Jason Swedberg