Background: Nora Nelson appears in court on June 13 (Law&Crime). Inset: Joseph Donahue (Photo provided by family).
A Massachusetts woman accused of stabbing her lover on his houseboat now faces new charges, to which she pleaded not guilty.
Nora Nelson, 24, was in court on Friday for her arraignment on murder charges in connection with the death of her live-in boyfriend, Boston attorney Joseph Donahue, 65. Boston police officers were called to Donahue’s houseboat in the city’s Charleston neighborhood for a well-being check in February. They were greeted at the door by Nelson, who reportedly gave officers contradictory stories and a fake name.
Officers eventually found Donahue’s body on the boat, wrapped in a carpet that was secured with duct tape and attached to dumbbells by a jump rope, police said.
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Law&Crime was in the courtroom as prosecutor Rita Muiz went into graphic detail about what allegedly happened to Donahue. Muiz told the court that when officers encountered Nelson on Feb. 2 at around 10:43 p.m., one of Donahue’s dogs was with her, a golden retriever. When they asked her to secure the dog before they continued their conversation, she seemingly complied, but was seen through a slit in the door running around inside, “cleaning up or picking up different items.”
Muiz stated that when Nelson finally came back to speak to police, including being asked where Donahue was, she reportedly gave officers “inconsistent, contradictory, and frankly nonsensical answers” and told them her name was “Casey.”
Officers then entered the houseboat where they did a sweep of the premises, a search that culminated in the discovery of Donahue’s body outside the glass doors of his bedroom.
Muiz shared the findings of an autopsy, which included 67 stab wounds to Donahue’s head and chest. Part of the blade of a knife had been lodged in Donahue’s forehead; that knife fragment matched a knife that a dive team found in the water at the marina that housed the boat.
The autopsy also revealed that two pink fake fingernails were found on Donahue’s body. Muiz stated that Nelson identified them as hers. At the scene, officers observed a “significant amount of reddish-brown stains” throughout the houseboat, especially on a bedsheet that acted as a curtain hanging in a doorway.
Investigators also found the dead body of Champ, one of Donahue’s dogs, in the water near the boat. Champ, a golden retriever, had been strangled, according to a necropsy conducted on him.
Nelson’s questionable responses continued at the police station, where she was read her Miranda rights and asked about the days leading up to the last day Donahue was seen by anyone else, Jan. 31. She allegedly gave officers a second fake name, “Mary.”
Nelson’s mental state has been the subject of more than one hearing since her arrest in February. The suspect had been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation in April after her defense attorney filed a motion questioning her competency to stand trial. Those findings were not mentioned during Friday’s hearing, but a court clinician stated that Nelson “lacks understanding of the seriousness” of the charges against her.
The clinician stated that Nelson was possibly exhibiting symptoms of a psychotic disorder, but that those symptoms became “less genuine” after she began taking medication.
Nelson is being held without bail after she missed a court appearance in May. She is charged with murder and with killing an animal. Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 15.
