Frontiero's accused killer indicted in N.H.

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January 29, 2012

Frontiero's accused killer indicted in N.H.

By Times Staff The Gloucester Daily Times Sun Jan 29, 2012, 11:39 PM EST

The man accused of killing Gloucester church activist and off-duty emergency medical technician Paul Frontiero III last October has been indicted on first-degree murder and related charges in the fatal attack on Frontiero outside an apartment building in Nashua, N.H.

Six grand jury indictments were handed up last week at Hillsborough County Superior Court against Matthew Packer, 19, of 36 Carlene Drive, in the death of Frontiero and the stabbings of two Nashua women that reports show Frontiero died trying to help.

Packer has been indicted on one charge of first-degree murder, two charges of second-degree murder, a charge of attempted murder and two charges of first-degree assault, New Hampshire officials confirmed.

Frontiero, 27, died after he was allegedly stabbed by Packer 16 times with a knife, including one wound that punctured his heart last Oct. 9.

Packer allegedly pulled a knife on two women outside the apartment building in which they lived, and Frontiero, who lived in the same building, intervened, according to testimony at Packer's probable cause hearing.

According to the indictments, Packer "recklessly caused the death of (Frontiero) under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life" and "purposely caused the death of (Frontiero) by stabbing him multiple times with a knife," the Union-Leader of Manchester, N.H., reported.

Frontiero, the son of Gloucester residents Cathy Frontiero and Paul Frontiero Jr., had been living in Nashua but also served as an emergency medical technician with a Boston-based ambulance corps. His October funeral from Greely Funeral Home and Gloucester's St. Ann's Church drew a large contingent of emergency response personnel, in addition to scores of family members, relatives and friends.

Frontiero was also part of a mission group from Cape Ann's Holy Family Parish that carried out projects in Cevicos, Dominican Republic. He had been scheduled to join the group for a return trip to the Dominican later last fall,.

Frontiero's mother, Cathy Frontiero of Gloucester, has maintained that her son died a hero — that he was trying to save the two women, Jill Arnold and Kathryn Libby, from possibly being killed.

Both women survived the attack; Libby was among those who attended Frontiero's Gloucester funeral.

Two other people have been indicted in connection with the case. Packer's brother, James Packer, 21, of Nashua, and Rosemary Chevez, 18, of Amherst, N.H., have been charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution for allegedly helping Packer elude capture following the stabbing.

Packer was captured at a relative's home in Wareham after fleeing to that southeastern Massachusetts community.