A man has been arrested a day after a woman was found dead at a massage parlor in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Thanksgiving, as newly-released court documents reveal that the woman was shot in the head.
Worcester police announced Friday that 31-year-old Marcel Santos-Padgett, of Leicester, was taken into custody on Friday at Columbia Park in Haverhill. The state police violent fugitive apprehension squad and the Haverhill Police Department assisted Worcester police with the arrest.
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Santos-Padgett was arrested on an outstanding warrant for armed assault to murder in connection to the investigation into a woman's suspicious death at Angie's Body Work Spa on Thursday, police said.
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Investigators have not revealed many details of the circumstances leading up to the shooting, but say they got a call about a woman experiencing a possible medical issue at the Pleasant Street business around 11:37 a.m. Thursday.
When officers arrived at the spa, a man flagged them down and brought them to the woman who was unconscious. First responders were not able to revive her and she was pronounced dead on scene.
Police initially called the woman's death suspicious but they now say this is a homicide.
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According to investigators, Santos-Padgett allegedly pulled a gun on the woman inside the massage parlor and shot her in the head. Police were able to identify him from license plate reader data that placed his vehicle in the area of the crime scene.
Santos-Padgett lives in Leicester but was arrested at a home in Haverhill on Friday.
Court records indicate that investigators have not yet been able to identify the victim.
A tenant who rents a room inside the spa told NBC10 Boston he didn’t know much about the incident, and placed a sign on the door referring all questions to police.
“When this place opened I said this is bad news for the neighborhood,” said David Balyan who lives on Pleasant Street.
Santos-Padgett is expected to be arraigned on Monday. Attorney information was not immediately available.
