Relatives of Vanessa MacCormack, who was brutally slain in her Massachusetts home in September, had harsh words for her husband Tuesday when he was formally charged with murder.
“Don’t even look at us,” a male relative shouted during Andrew MacCormack’s arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court, calling him a “scumbag,” the Boston Globe reported.
The 29-year-old pleaded not guilty in the slaying of his wife, a second-grade schoolteacher who was strangled and stabbed multiple times in the face and neck Sept. 23 in their home in Revere, Mass.
MacCormack’s lawyer said his client “adamantly” denied the charges during Tuesday’s hearing, the Boston Globe reported.
According to prosecutors, the husband left the house the morning of the killing, and returned in the early afternoon before leaving again with his 1-year-old daughter to buy cocaine, the paper reported.
A cocaine dealer reportedly told prosecutors that MacCormack spent $400 to $500 a week on drugs.
He later called 911 reporting that his wife was unresponsive, according to the New York Post.
Prosecutors said the couple’s home was cleaned with bleach, and there were signs of trauma on Vanessa MacCormack’s body, the Globe reported.
The husband was arrested days after the slaying, and has been held without bail since his arrest last month.
In August, Vanessa MacCormack had threatened to divorce her husband.
On Tuesday, family members commended the judge’s decision to deny a bail request, with one relative even pumping her fist and shouting “Yes!” in response to the ruling, the Globe reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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