‘Dad, cease, you’re killing her’: Son pleaded with father throughout deadly Newton assault, prosecutors say

Crime

Police reportedly discovered Nancy Hanson mendacity unconscious and mortally wounded in one in every of her kids’s bedrooms, a baseball bat and weighted bar close by.

Richard J. Hanson, 64, appeared in Newton District Court docket Monday. He was arrested by Newton police on the household house on Brookline Avenue Saturday evening after a toddler inside the home known as 911 to report that the person was assaulting his spouse, Nancy M. Hanson, who later died. Suzanne Kreiter / The Boston Globe Employees

The Newton man who allegedly beat his spouse to demise over the weekend suspected her of dishonest and carried out the assault whereas the couple’s kids had been within the house, prosecutors stated Monday. 

Richard Hanson, 64, appeared in Newton District Court docket and was charged with homicide, assault and battery inflicting critical bodily harm, armed assault with intent to homicide, and assault and battery on a household or family member, in accordance with a Boston 25 Information video clip of the arraignment. 

He pleaded not responsible and was ordered held with out bail, The Boston Globe reported. 

‘She was dishonest on me’

Shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday, Newton police acquired simultaneous 911 calls about an ongoing assault at Richard and Nancy Hanson’s Brookline Avenue house, Assistant District Legal professional Megan McGovern instructed the court docket Monday.

  • Newton man held with out bail in spouse’s beating demise

One name got here from the couple’s son, and one from a good friend of Nancy Hanson’s who was on the cellphone together with her on the time, in accordance with McGovern. 

Nancy Hanson’s good friend reportedly instructed police she heard the cellphone drop, adopted by a number of loud bangs and the sound of youngsters screaming, “Dad, cease, you’re killing her.” The couple’s son instructed police he believed his father was hitting his mom with a baseball bat, and that he and his youthful brothers had been on a separate ground, McGovern stated. 

When officers arrived, Richard Hanson was standing within the driveway with blood on his physique and garments, prosecutors stated. 

“He made statements to the impact of, ‘She was dishonest on me’ and that he couldn’t consider he did that,” McGovern stated. 

She stated officers discovered Nancy Hanson mendacity unconscious on the ground of one in every of her kids’s bedrooms, a big wound to her head. The officers allegedly discovered a bloodied baseball bat and weighted bar subsequent to her.

Officers stated the 54-year-old died after being rushed to Brigham and Girls’s Hospital.

A historical past of home disputes

Court docket information point out that Nancy Hanson obtained a restraining order towards her husband final Thursday, simply days earlier than the deadly Newton beating, in accordance with the Globe. Middlesex District Legal professional Marian Ryan beforehand stated police had been making an attempt to serve the restraining order when the assault occurred. 

The couple’s kids instructed police that Richard and Nancy Hanson — who married in 2001 — argued incessantly, the Globe reported. 

The kid who known as 911 reportedly instructed police his mother and father had been “at all times preventing and that this week it had been more and more getting worse,” McGovern stated, in accordance with the Globe. 

On the Hanson house in Newton on Sunday evening, two SUVs had been parked within the driveway and the lights had been on inside the home, however nobody responded to a knock on the door. – Nick Stoico/Boston Globe Employees

Court docket information obtained by the newspaper present that Richard Hanson was arrested in 2021 for violating a restraining order and resisting arrest. He was positioned on pre-trial probation and the case was resolved on the situation that he attend alcohol counseling and never assault his spouse, in accordance with the Globe.

Nancy Hanson was additionally arrested on a home violence cost in 2020 and accused of kicking Richard throughout an argument about her on-line Zumba class interrupting his work, the newspaper reported. The case was later dismissed. 

Nancy Hanson was an train teacher on the Boston Sports activities Membership on Wells Avenue in Newton and later on the West Suburban YMCA, the Globe reported.

“I discovered her so upbeat and optimistic. She was petite and energetic,” a former pupil instructed the newspaper. “She was a very fashionable health teacher.”