When 21-year-old Joseph “Joey” Deprimeo-Domenici was found dead in Room 2113 of a Quality Inn in Lexington on Nov. 4, 2019, local and state police treated the case as an unattended death and probable overdose. The medical examiner later determined that Joey died from acute fentanyl intoxication. The death was ruled accidental.
But a Massachusetts State Police report obtained by 25 Investigates reveals that investigators received allegations pointing beyond the fatal overdose. The report states that his mother and girlfriend raised concerns about the older businessman who reported finding Joey’s body. Joey’s girlfriend told investigators she believed the man had previously paid for a hotel room in exchange for sexual acts.
Massachusetts State Police ultimately marked the investigation “closed-solved” on July 12, 2024. No criminal charges were filed. Joey’s family now argues the case was closed before investigators fully examined claims involving drugs and sexual exploitation.
“There were three people that came forward and told us that they knew, that Joey confided in them,” Joey’s mom Carla Domenici told 25 Investigates reporter Ted Daniel.
A return from rehabilitation
Joey had been receiving drug treatment in Florida. His mother and sister said they did not know he had flown back to Massachusetts 12 days before his death.
Bryan W. Murphy, 69, a successful Woburn businessman and former Lions Club president, told police he paid for Joey’s flight and was helping him get back on his feet. Hotel and financial records reviewed by 25 Investigates show Murphy paid for 128 nights at the now-shuttered Quality Inn during 2019. The hotel is roughly a 15-minute drive from Murphy’s home.
Police found Joey on a bed beneath a comforter, wearing only underwear. The State Police report noted no observable trauma. On a bedside table, investigators documented small amounts of white powder, a room key with similar residue and two disassembled pens that could be used as tubes. Marijuana, clothing, food and video games were also in the room.
Joey’s phone was not there. Murphy told police Joey had said it was lost or broken. Joey’s girlfriend told police he told her the Friday before he died that he had broken his phone.
According to police records and Joey’s family, Murphy later told a State Police detective that he had deleted his text messages with Joey and declined to provide his own phone when asked. Murphy told 25 Investigates that police did a good job investigating the case.
Civil lawsuit alleges years of exploitation
A civil lawsuit filed by Joey’s family in Middlesex Superior Court alleges Murphy began sexually abusing and exploiting Joey in 2012, when Joey was as young as 14 and doing jobs for him. The complaint alleges Murphy exchanged sexually explicit messages and images with Joey, offered Percocet in exchange for sexual acts, and controlled him while he battled addiction.
The family also alleges Murphy arranged Joey’s departure from rehabilitation, brought him back to Massachusetts and placed him in the hotel. Those claims have not been proven at trial.
Murphy adamantly denies the allegations. In a court filing, his lawyer described Joey as a “troubled, drug-addicted teenager who had a pattern of untruthfulness.” The filing said Murphy rented hotel rooms so he could “pray and be alone.”
Murphy’s explanation of Joey’s final weeks is contained in a separate defamation lawsuit he filed against a woman who posted about him on social media. In that complaint, Murphy said Joey spent a week or more with his girlfriend after leaving rehab and asked him to pay for his flight home.
Murphy refused to let Joey stay with him but, “out of concern” about Joey “becoming homeless,” paid for a few days at the Quality Inn, according to the now ‘settled’ defamation case.
The Domenici’s lawsuit also includes testimony from other men. One testified that Joey brought him to meet Murphy at the hotel in 2016 and said that after sexual activity, Murphy gave Joey money. Another testified that Murphy drove him to the same motel and told him to, “drop his pants” when he was 14 or 15 and referred to others making money when the teenager refused.
“Other victims that came forward felt as if they couldn’t even come forward,” Joey’s sister, Alyssa Domenici, said. “They felt nervous.”
Questions about what investigators pursued
Joey’s mother told the investigator she had not known her son left rehabilitation and immediately raised concerns about Murphy. Joey’s girlfriend told police she believed Murphy regularly kept a room at the hotel for sex with young men and said she had seen screenshots supporting an allegation that he paid for a room in exchange for sexual acts.
The family also alleges needles and a bag of suspected narcotics were found in the room after police cleared it.
Connecticut civil attorney Joel Faxon, who represented families in unrelated litigation involving men accused of preying on drug-addicted teenagers in that state reviewed the circumstances for 25 Investigates. “There is a pattern here that’s very disturbing,” Faxon said. “A deep dive is required here to see if there is criminality and to see if other stones can be turned over.”
In the Connecticut cases, state and local police used search warrants and surveillance to prosecute 3 men on charges related to human trafficking. The circumstances in those cases were not identical to Joey’s case.
Murphy says police handled the case properly
25 Investigates approached Murphy outside the business he owns and asked whether he believes police conducted a proper investigation. “Yes, I do,” he said.
Asked why he had not turned over his phone to law enforcement, Murphy replied: “I have nothing to say to you. You can talk to my lawyer. I’m looking forward to my day in court.”
In a statement to 25 Investigates on Wednesday, Murphy’s attorney, Eric G. Penley, called Joey’s death “nothing less than tragic,” describing it as the result of “many years of drug abuse, culminating in a self-administered fentanyl overdose in 2019.”
“Mr. Murphy vehemently denies any fault relating to this matter and looks forward to the opportunity to present the facts in court, where the Plaintiff will bear the burden of proving her allegations against him,” Penley said. He added that Murphy will make no further public comment “out of respect for the court and the ongoing judicial process.”
The civil trial had been scheduled to begin in May 2026, but Murphy failed to show up. His attorney told the court he had suffered a medical emergency. The trial is now scheduled for February 2027.
Middlesex DA Responds
The State Police detective who closed the case is assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. In a statement to Boston 25, a spokesperson for DA Marian Ryan said it cannot comment on matters in which no criminal charges have been filed but noted that moving forward with any criminal prosecution requires meeting a high burden of proof, a standard significantly higher than in civil court.
For Joey’s family, the absence of an expanded criminal probe does not resolve the questions surrounding his final days or the allegations raised after his death.
“There has to be accountability,” Carla Domenici said. “So why is that okay to do? I just don’t understand it.”
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