Najwaabdali

Najwa Abdali

Third year specializing in communication at the University of Ottawa. Created this Wikipedia user account for CMN 2160A

My article (below) about Thomas Mortimer IV was denied by Wikipedia for not being notable enough. I find this hard to believe considering I have seen several other Wikipedia articles of a similar nature. I do not understand why one homicide case would be considered ‘notable’ if another one is not. What makes one murder more significant than another?

Thomas Mortimer IV

Thomas Mortimer IV slaughtered his wife Laura Stone Mortimer, mother-in-law Ragna Ellen Stone, four year old son Thomas "Finn" Mortimer V and two year old daughter Charlotte Mortimer between late June 14 and early June 15 2010.

The Murder

The murder took place in the Colonial house that the Mortimer family had shared with Mortimer’s mother-in-law Ragna Ellen Stone located on Windsong Lane in Winchester. Late June 14 Thomas Mortimer’s parents left their home after babysitting the children for the evening while the parents were at work. By the end of the workday Mortimer and his wife were fighting on the phone. This argument resumed once the couple returned home. Thomas Mortimer exploded into a rage when his wife Laura Mortimer confronted him about a $2499 check he had written to the Internal Revenue Service that had bounced. Mortimer beat his wife with a frying pan, smashing her nose to pieces before stabbing her in the head and body about 60 times. Laura’s mother Ragna Ellen Stone witnessed the attack against her daughter and attempted to flee the house. Thomas then stabbed her at least 18 times then proceeded to drag her back inside the house and covered her lifeless body with a rug. ). He then went upstairs to Charlotte’s crib and slit her throat. It was later revealed that Thomas Mortimer V also known as Finn witnessed the gruesome murders before he himself was slit at the throat by his father.

The Discovery of the Murder Scene

In the following morning of the murder Laura’s sister Debra Stone tried several times to reach her mother and sister on the phone. She was in daily contact with them so she suspected something had occurred when they were not answering her calls. She called Laura’s cell phone when finally Thomas Mortimer answered. “It’s going to be a while before she can get back to you,” Mortimer had allegedly said. That same morning he called in sick at work and called Finn’s preschool to say that that he would not be coming to school that day. On June 16 when two days passed without hearing from her mother or sister Debra went to check up on them. When no one answered the door she called the authorities who entered the house and discovered the four slain bodies. Winchester Fire Lieutenant Steven B. Osborne Jr recalls entering the house and seeing a body lying on the floor as he went to closer inspect the body he noticed another body lying next to the body covered in a blanket. “'I moved the blanket back, it was a child. The child had a large wound to the neck. I immediately realized it was a crime scene and backed out of the building.” The two bodies were of Laura and Finn. Down the hall was the body of Ragna Stone and the trail of blood led them upstairs to the body of Charlotte covered in blood inside her crib. Thomas Mortimer had left two identically typed letters in the house describing the problems he was having with his wife and expressing remorse for his actions. According to the district attorney there was evidence inside the house that showed Mortimer had attempted to commit suicide.

The Search for Thomas Mortimer IV

The police immediately began their search for Thomas Mortimer. They used cellphone towers to track down the whereabouts of Mortimer and found that he had been in the Woburn, Wilmington, and west Andover areas. Once Mortimer had barely reached Andover he discarded his cellphone impairing the police’s ability to track him down. The police caught a break in the case when Mortimer’s Toyota Highlander broke down in Lake Pleasant area in Montague. A man and his son helped Mortimer jump start his vehicle but became suspicious and reported the Montague police giving details of the incident and the licence plate number. The Montague police then alerted all the police in the surrounding areas. In a nearby town named Bernardston police chief James Palmeri was patrolling Route 10 when he spotted Mortimer’s SUV heading south around 1pm. Mortimer tried to take off but the chief managed to get pull him over and arrested him without incident.

The Trial

Thomas Mortimer initially pled not guilty on all four charges of first degree murder. Prior to the trial defense attorney Denise Regan told the court that Mortimer had a documented history of treatment for depression also that he had a “deep and profound remorse” for the murders he had committed. . More than two years after the murders as the trial was quickly approaching Mortimer changed his plea to guilty on all four accounts of first degree murder. The date of his trial would have marked his ninth year anniversary of marriage to Laura. . In court Mortimer showed no visible reaction or emotion as he admitted to murdering his wife of seven years Laura Stone Mortimer, his two year old daughter Charlotte Mortimer, his four year old son Thomas ‘Finn’ Mortimer V, and his mother-in-law Ragna Ellen Stone. The judge accepted his guilty plea and sentenced him to the mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole and he was then led away in handcuffs. By pleading guilty Thomas Mortimer IV gave up any chance of appeal and is now expected to die as a MCI prisoner.