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Child Calls 911 After Elderly Woman Killed In Dorchester Home

DORCHESTER (CBS) - Boston police arrested a man early Tuesday morning for the murder of an elderly woman who lived downstairs from him.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports

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Officers rushed to the multi-family home on Codman Hill Avenue after receiving a 911 call from a young girl there around 1:45 a.m.

When they arrived, they found a 72-year-old woman stabbed to death in her first-floor apartment.

The young girl who made the emergency call was staying with the woman at the time.  She was taken to the hospital for an evaluation.

"We believe the child observed some of the circumstances," Police Supt. Daniel Linskey said.

At about 5:30 a.m. police arrested 23-year-old Tu Nguyen, who lived upstairs.

Tu Nguyen
Tu Nguyen (Photo courtesy: Boston Police)

Authorities say he broke into the woman's apartment through a window and killed her.

Nguyen was arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Dorchester District Court on a single count of murder.

Police identified the victim who was stabbed to death as 72-year-old Mary Miller.

WBZ-TV's Karen Anderson was told there had been trouble at the house.

The victim's brother told WBZ his sister had problems recently with someone breaking her windows and she believed it was someone from the second floor where Nguyen lived.

He added that their family had been in the process of trying to find her a new place to live.

Court documents also show Nguyen has a history of mental illness and had been under a restraining order to stay away from the home after his mother said he threatened to kill her and his siblings there on January 11.

Nguyen was charged with two counts of threatening to kill and was treated at Carney Hospital after that incident.

According to the documents, he told his mother "I will punch you 'till you die."

WBZ-TV's Jim Armstrong reports

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