Several days after her family reported her missing, 23-year-old Harvard resident Mary Anderson was found dead early Tuesday morning in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Her ex-boyfriend, 34-year-old Matthew Davis of Fitchburg, was being sought by police for questioning. When they found Davis in Vermont on Tuesday evening, he was fatally shot in an exchange with police.
On Saturday, July 16, Anderson went to see a friend in Hudson, N.H. and was last seen alive leaving that residence around 10:30 p.m. that evening.
Sheila Anderson, Mary’s mother, told WCVB that it was extremely odd when friends and family did not hear from Mary that evening and she soon began to worry about her daughter.
The following day, the family found a backpack behind a tree near their house that appeared to belong to Davis, who was Anderson's ex-boyfriend.
Harvard Police confirmed that Davis’ vehicle was found a quarter of a mile away from Anderson’s home after she disappeared. They said he could have parked and walked to the house.
Mary Anderson was reported missing Sunday night and police said Anderson was driving a navy blue Toyota Tacoma truck.
Her body was found in that same truck on Elliot Street in Brattleboro, just before 1 a.m. on Tuesday, Vermont State Police said. They said her death appeared suspicious and later posted an update that said officials were looking to speak with Davis, who had a troubled past.
He was arrested in 2009 and served jail time for stabbing the boyfriend of the mother of his two children, according to WCVB.
Police eventually located Davis in a wooded area in West Brattleboro, according to Vermont State Police. Davis was armed with a knife, according to the VSP release.
The exact details of what happened next are not public, but authorities said two VSP troopers and a Brattleboro Police officer “fired their weapons in the course of the encounter with Davis.”
Officers are currently looking to speak with anyone that may have seen Anderson, her truck, or Davis from late Saturday night through early Tuesday.
A GoFundMe page was set up for the public to donate to the Anderson family. So far, it has raised nearly $17,000 to help Anderson's family with various expenses.
