Lynn teacher's family stifles emotions as jury deliberates in husband's trial

LYNN, Mass. — Closing arguments wrapped up in the murder trial of a Revere man accused of killing his wife, a beloved teacher in Lynn.

Suffolk County Superior Court was packed with people listening in on those arguments Wednesday. Most of those people were Vanessa McCormack's family and friends. Many of them becoming emotional throughout the two hours the prosecution and defense delivered those closing arguments.

McCormack's mother and father worked to hold back tears as prosecutors described how Vanessa was killed.

They said her husband, Andrew McCormack, was stealing money from his wife to buy drugs. Text messages between the two show Vanessa was looking into a divorce.

[Trial begins for husband accused in brutal murder of Lynn teacher]

The couple has a daughter, who was 1 year old at the time. The Lynn Elementary School teacher was found stabbed to death in their Revere home on a Saturday afternoon in September 2017, with a garbage bag over her head. The defense maintains DNA evidence proves McCormack didn’t do it.

"Women are killed by not just their husbands and boyfriends, they're killed by stalkers, they're killed by ex-boyfriends, they're killed by strangers," defense attorney John Hayes said. "And there's nothing in this evidence that suggests that that could not and perhaps did not happen."

The prosecution says that’s because he wiped the evidence with bleach and left the home for hours to create an alibi.

"Was it some random, inexplicable phantom intruder or was it the defendant before you?" Assistant District Attorney Ian Polunbaum said. "The man who had the reasons; the man who had the motive; the man who had the access; the man who had the opportunity."

The jury began deliberations shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday.

[Husband denies brutally killing Lynn elementary school teacher]

Cox Media Group