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Man Charged With Killing Estranged Wife In Norton

NORTON (CBS) - A Weymouth man accused of killing his estranged wife in Norton was arraigned on a murder charge Thursday afternoon.

Martin McDonald, 35, is also accused of  causing a wrong-way crash on Route 495 later in the evening.

Police were called to an apartment on Holmes Street in Norton around 7:25 p.m. on Wednesday where they found 34-year-old Julie Meede stabbed. They said the call was made by an 11-year-old girl who said her stepfather was killing her mother.

The mother of three was rushed to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, where she was pronounced dead.

A neighbor told WBZ-TV's Nicole Jacobs that Meede's children were home at the time.

Julie Meede
Julie Meede. (Facebook photo)

About a minute after that 911 call, there was a two-car crash on Route 495 in Norton just south of the Route 123 interchange.

Police said McDonald was driving the Dodge Ram pickup truck that was traveling on the southbound side of the highway when it crossed the grass median and collided with a Nissan in the northbound lanes.

Norton Crash Martin McDonald
Police arrested Martin McDonald after he crashed this pickup truck on Route 495. (Photo credit: David Curran)

Police say McDonald approached them after the crash and said "I just killed my wife."

The driver of the Nissan, a 30-year-old woman from Smithfield, Rhode Island, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries.

"It's hard to believe," Meede's neighbor Chad Reynolds told reporters early Thursday morning. "He was a wicked nice guy."

Norton Murder Martin McDonald
Investigators outside Julie Meede's Norton apartment after she was murdered, Jan. 27, 2016. (Photo credit: David Curran)

Reynolds said he saw McDonald at the apartment complex earlier in the day Wednesday and they waved to each other.

"I just feel for the kids. That's what it really is, you know. You got a couple small children, so, it's tough," Reynolds said, adding that the children were home at the time of the murder.

McDonald is being held without bail.

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