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Mathew Locke Quadruple Murder Case: DNA Evidence Described

Online Niel November 8, 2024

WORCESTER ― DNA found on the private areas of the mother and young daughter Mathew Locke, who is charged with murder, was consistent with and, in one case, matched his DNA, he said a Coroner to Worcester Superior Court jurors on Wednesday.

Additionally, a rope found stained with the mother’s blood at the crime scene was consistent with DNA from Locke’s cousin, Michael Locke, the analyst testified.

The evidence, presented on the 13th day of Locke’s quadruple-murder trial, is a key component of the state’s case that Locke, 38, killed his cousin’s wife and three children in their West Brookfield home in 2018.

Coroner Jennifer Montgomery of the Massachusetts State Police crime lab testified that swab samples taken from 38-year-old Sara Bermudez and her 8-year-old daughter, Madison, contained the DNA of Matthew Locke.

DNA found on Madison matched Locke, Montgomery testified, while DNA found on Sara was “consistent” with Locke’s DNA.

The latter classification wasn’t a complete match, Montgomery said, because there wasn’t either a sufficient quantity or quality of some of the DNA information needed to make a complete finding.

Under questioning from Locke’s attorney, Jeffrey S. Brown, Montgomery acknowledged that the type of DNA tests performed — called a Y-STR test — is not a test that proves the DNA could have come from only one person.

Although there is a test — called an STR test — that can do that, Montgomery said, the site from which the sample was obtained contained too much female DNA to perform that test.

She said the lab’s protocol in the case called for a Y-STR test, which tests DNA through the paternal line and which, in Locke’s case, ruled out 99.92 percent of the world’s male population.

Montgomery also testified that DNA from a rope found in the bedroom was consistent with DNA from Locke’s cousin, Michael Locke — a man Locke lived with who prosecutors have not charged .

Jurors hear very technical details

Montgomery testified for hours Wednesday about her testing, which included dozens of items from the bedroom at 10 Old Warren Road, where the murders took place.

The murder, prosecutors said, was committed with extreme atrocities, Locke allegedly stabbed the mother and daughter dozens of timesincluding in their private areas, stabbing to death James Bermudez, 6, and Michael Bermudez, 2, and burning the bodies to hide evidence.

Among the items tested were dozens of blood spatters found on the walls, floor, bed and wardrobes, all of which were shown to jurors in photographs on Wednesday.

Montgomery, reading from a visual aid, presented jurors with the exact values for dozens of individual genetic markers on Y chromosomes found in samples taken from the mother and daughter, which served as the basis for her findings against Locke.

Other law enforcement witnesses testified earlier in the trial that the samples were swabs from the mother and daughter’s external vaginal areas that were taken shortly after the family was found.

Witnesses discussed placing swabs in evidence boxes that were sent to the crime lab where they were tested for body substances.

Earlier this week, another state police detective, Kelley King, testified that she sent several vaginal swabs, including external swabs, to Montgomery after screening tests failed to detect semen but did detect amylase, an enzyme present in saliva.

Montgomery, on cross-examination, agreed that the DNA in the samples could not have come from amylase itself, which does not contain DNA. However, she said it could have come from skin cells – which have DNA and are present in saliva.

Montgomery said DNA from Sara and Madison was tested against the DNA profiles of more than 15 people, including Locke, his cousin Michael, Moses Bermudez (Sara’s husband, who was away at work at the time of the murders) and other members of the family.

Also tested — and not detected in any of the samples — was the DNA of a neighbor about whom Locke’s defense earlier this week cast doubt.

Montgomery testified that Madison Bermudez’s DNA match to Locke ruled out 99.92% of all men on the planet, while Sara Bermudez’s “coherence” finding could be expected to appear 33 times in a database of approximately 6,700 men.

Brown argued at length that the numbers were misleading, saying, after some painstaking calculations that were objected to by prosecutors, that hundreds of thousands of men — including Locke’s father and son — would have the same Y-STR results.

He also noted that none of Locke’s DNA was found on dozens of other items — including blood spatter — tested at the scene.

Assistant District Attorney Terry McLaughlin, after Brown concluded his cross-examination, said through questions that burning the bodies and the crime scene could degrade or eliminate detectable DNA.

He also asked Montgomery a series of questions designed to emphasize the improbability of a man other than Locke, who shared his Y-STR profile, being the perpetrator of the murders.

The entire worldwide male population to which Brown alluded, McLaughlin suggested, would also not include a large subset of men who knew the victims, who knew the family patriarch was away from home that evening, who were of age and the ability to commit the crime, who lived in the same area and who were not detected at the time of committing the crimes.

Michael Locke’s DNA found on a bloody rope

Montgomery also told prosecutors that Michael Locke’s DNA matched swabs from a partially burned and bloody rope found in the home’s bedroom.

The blood on the rope, she testified, belonged to Sara Bermudez.

It’s unclear if prosecutors have a theory about the rope and the DNA match to Michael Locke. Brown at one point during questioning by a state trooper on Wednesday suggested he pressed Mathew Locke about Michael Locke, but the larger context of the questioning was unclear and the interviews themselves were not introduced as evidence.

Michael Locke has not been called to the stand and it is unclear if he will testify. In opening statements, prosecutors argued that Michael Locke was having sex with Mathew Locke’s other cousin, Alexandrea Chadwick, at the time they allege the murders took place, and Chadwick testified that he was with Michael Locke during those hours.

Mathew and Michael Locke are both cousins of Moses Bermudez, Sara Bermudez’s husband, and Moses Bermudez testified earlier in the trial that he tried to help Michael Locke, including giving him work around his house at times.

An investigator who questioned Mathew Locke, State Police Sgt. Shawn Murphy, testified at length Tuesday and Wednesday about their interactions.

By the end of March, Locke was arrested for misleading the police, the police knew about the DNA hit and Locke gave shifting accounts of his whereabouts and revealed a cut on his hand.

Among the changing stories, Murphy testified, was that Locke initially denied knowing Sara Bermudez well but, when asked about DNA evidence, claimed they had engaged in a long-term sexual affair — a claim which both prosecutors and Locke’s own attorney called without merit.

Murphy did not say whether Locke ever gave a rationale for how his DNA could have reached 8-year-old Madison, although he did reference Locke saying that the DNA could be planted.

Brown, in his questioning of Montgomery Wednesday, did not explicitly formulate any theory. He spent some time asking about DNA transfer, where DNA from one source can reach another without direct contact.

After Montgomery’s testimony, prosecutors showed jurors Wednesday a photo of the cut on Locke’s hand, an apparent sharp wound that was healing.

Prosecutors also called a former cellmate of Locke’s on Wednesday afternoon, who testified that Locke admitted to killing people but said he never raped anyone.

The man was the fourth inmate to testify against Locke in the trial. Sometimes the details of what Locke allegedly told them did not match the evidence in the case, and the jury was instructed by the judge that prosecutors, while presenting the testimony as relevant, did not know whether it was true.

Brown, as he had done for other inmates who testified, attacked the man’s credibility, noting his lengthy criminal record and, he argued, his incentive to testify in hopes of personal gain.

The inmate, like others, admitted he wanted help, but said the heinous nature of the crime against children was his driving motivation.

Jurors have the day off on Thursday due to a scheduling issue. Testimony will resume on Friday, with evidence due to conclude by next week.