Overview
- Police found 37-year-old Shannon Smith unresponsive at the base of a staircase in Matthew Cruz’s Taunton townhouse and she was pronounced dead at Morton Hospital after officers responded Thursday.
- Prosecutors charged Cruz, 37, with first-degree murder; he pleaded not guilty at arraignment and a judge ordered him held without bail at the Bristol County House of Corrections.
- Investigators say scene and medical evidence — including biological traces at the top of the stairs, apparent rug burn and multiple contusions — are inconsistent with a short accidental fall and point to a violent struggle.
- At the station prosecutors say Cruz first told officers Smith had thrown herself down the stairs but later described a fight and a chokehold; charging papers and officers report injuries that suggest she may have been unconscious before being dragged.
- Cruz was on pretrial release after an alleged August assault on his 75-year-old father and faces a dangerousness hearing next month and a scheduled court date in the prior case on Oct. 13 as the homicide probe continues.