Amanda Dabrowski, left, Carlos Asencio, right (Asencio’s photo screenshot from Boston’s CBS affiliate WBZ; Dabrowski’s photo screenshot from Fox affiliate Boston 25 News)
A man was found guilty of murder for stabbing his ex-girlfriend 58 times in a Massachusetts restaurant where she was attending a book club meeting, before being tackled by good Samaritans who subdued him before police arrived, prosecutors said.
After an eight-day trial, Carlos Asencio, 32, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Amanda Dabrowski, 31. The murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.
A jury also found Asencio guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in connection with the injury of one of the good Samaritans who tackled him. Sentencing is scheduled for June 29.
“While no verdict will ever bring Amanda back, we are relieved that a jury found this man responsible for taking her from us,” Dabrowksi’s family said in a statement through the DA’s office, Boston.com reported. “We know he can never harm another person again. The jury helped us find some justice today, though we know there are no real winners.”
Early said the victim’s loss was devastating and tragic and hopes the verdict helps the family find some justice.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family,” he said. “No one should ever have to go through something as horrible as this.”
Asencio’s defense attorney Robert Griffin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime. He mounted an insanity defense, arguing Asencio had psychosis at the time and could not be held legally liable, a claim prosecutors and a psychiatrist for the state disputed, Boston’s WHDH reported.
“What happened is a result of his mental illness,” Asencio’s lawyer Griffin said at his trial. “What happened is a result of his inability to inform his conduct to the requirements of our law.”
It all went down on July 3, 2019. Worcester police responded to O’Connor’s Restaurant on West Boylston Street around 7:50 p.m. for a report of a stabbing.
Asencio had gone to the restaurant and stabbed her, wielding a knife in each hand before patrons and staff held him down until police arrived and made the arrest.
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Dabrowski suffered multiple stab wounds and died at a hospital.
The good Samaritan who tackled Asencio, Allen Noble Corson, Jr., received a Carnegie Hero Fund Commission honor recognizing his courageous act.
The then 26-year-old slot machine attendant was dining with his parents and fiancee when he heard Dabrowski’s screams for help as the assailant stabbed her in the front of the torso from behind, a news release noted.
Corson was stabbed during the struggle and managed to slip from his grasp, bleeding profusely. Two other patrons joined him in subduing the assailant, one prying a knife from his hand until police arrived. Corson’s wound was stitched closed.
Early heaped praise on the good Samaritans.
“I need to recognize and thank the good Samaritans who rushed an armed assailant inside a crowded restaurant while trying to save Amanda,” he said. “They displayed bravery in a horrific situation.”
The two met while working at Bristol Myers Squibb, and dated for three months before Dabrowski broke things off, reported Boston.com.
Later, when Asencio lost his job and became homeless, he blamed her, the news site reported.
Months before the fatal stabbing attack, Asencio was suspected of breaking into her home, attacking her with a stun gun before she fought off the attacker. Afterward, Asencio fled to Canada and boarded a flight to Mexico, the last she knew of his whereabouts, the site reported. Dabrowski sought a restraining order against Asencio after that attack.
About two weeks before the stabbing, a couple told Masslive they encountered Asencio in Worcester and invited him to stay with them at an abandoned warehouse.
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