Man indicted on murder charges in fatal Winchester library attack

WINCHESTER, Mass. — The man accused of viciously attacking and killing a young medical student inside the Winchester Public Library in February has been indicted by a grand jury.

The Middlesex District Attorney's office said Jeffrey Yao, 24, of Winchester, was indicted on a murder charge for the fatal stabbing of Deane Stryker; and armed assault with intent to murder a person over age 60 and attempted murder for the stabbing of a 77-year-old man who tried to stop Yao during the attack.

The indictment was handed down yesterday by a Middlesex Superior Court Grand Jury, the DA's office said. Yao appeared in Middlesex Superior Court Friday morning to be arraigned on the charges, and pleaded not guily.

Stryker, 22, was sitting at a table in a reading room on Feb. 24, 2018,  when police say Yao came up behind her with a ten-inch hunting knife and began stabbing her in the head and back, the police report states.

As Yao attacked Stryker, prosecutors said in court previously, she managed to get up and run to the front lobby, with Yao chasing close behind. Several people even tried to step in and stop him, including a 77-year-old man who was then stabbed in the arm.

"He continued his attack with the knife as he held her by the hair in the center of the reading room," Assistant District Attorney Kate Cimini said. "Ms. Stryker fell to the floor, in the middle of the room, with the knife still in her back."

Stryker was rushed to the hospital but later died from her injuries.

After court, Yao's lawyer Jim Carney said the 24-year-old suffers from schizophrenia, which has gone untreated for years.

Carney said that Yao was suffering from a full psychotic break on the morning of the attack, with no memory of what happened.

"On the day of the events, he was floridly psychotic," Carney said. "Now, he still is mentally ill, but not floridly psychotic."

Carney also said the suspect's parents had no idea he was capable of this kind of violence.

Yao is due back in court on October 22.

Cox Media Group