READING, MA — Vermont State Police arrested 22-year-old Ryan Hanafin after a manhunt that followed the death of his mother, Andria Hanafin, in the family home in Reading, Massachusetts. Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said police were called shortly after 12:38 a.m. Thursday, when Matthew Hanafin returned to the Center Avenue house and found his 49-year-old wife dead in the kitchen from a gunshot wound.
Investigators spent hours searching for Ryan Hanafin, who police had described as a person of interest. He was located in Vermont and taken into custody without incident around 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. Authorities said he was being held without bail and was expected to appear in Vermont Superior Court in Barre for arraignment on a fugitive-from-justice charge.
Police locate Hanafin in Warren after search in Vermont
State police said the search focused on Warren, Vermont, where Hanafin was believed to have ties. After about two hours of searching, troopers and local deputies found him on Vermont Route 100, south of the Sugarbush Access Road. Officials did not say what led them to that location, but they said the arrest happened peacefully.
Authorities said Hanafin was expected to face additional charges in Massachusetts. For now, police have kept their description careful, calling him a person of interest rather than a suspect. That distinction has mattered as investigators continue to sort out what happened inside the Reading home before officers were called to the scene.
Family members were inside the home when the shooting happened
Marian Ryan said the couple’s 13-year-old child was in the house when the shooting occurred. The district attorney also said the Hanafins have a daughter. Authorities have not said whether either child witnessed the shooting, but the family presence has made the case especially urgent for investigators.
According to Ryan, the younger son had been out with friends until about 9 p.m. and then went straight to his room after returning home. She said he told police he did not see his mother that night. Investigators have not publicly laid out a full timeline for the hours between his return home and the 12:38 a.m. call.
District attorney says family had little prior police history
Ryan said there was no significant history of police calls to the Center Avenue home. That detail suggests investigators are not dealing with a long record of domestic incidents involving the family, though authorities have not said what may have led up to the shooting.
Matthew Hanafin told investigators he had not spoken with his older son since Wednesday morning, according to the district attorney. That gap is one of the few pieces of publicly released information about Ryan Hanafin’s movements before the arrest. Police have not said when he left Massachusetts or how he traveled into Vermont.
Investigators had warned the public he could be armed
Before Hanafin was found, police said he was believed to be driving a black 2010 Dodge Charger with Massachusetts license plate 2PSY15. He was also described as 5 feet 10 inches tall. The only police-released photo showed him with shoulder-length straight blond hair, a mustache and glasses.
Reading Police Chief David J. Clark urged the public not to approach him. He said Hanafin should be considered potentially armed and dangerous, and told anyone who saw him or the vehicle to call 911 instead of trying to make contact. The warning was part of a wider effort to keep residents safe while officers searched across state lines.
Arrest in Vermont leaves Massachusetts case moving forward
The arrest in Vermont did not end the Massachusetts investigation, but it did remove the immediate public concern that followed the manhunt. Hanafin was being held on the fugitive-from-justice charge as authorities prepared for the next stage of court proceedings in Barre.
Back in Massachusetts, investigators are still working to determine how Andria Hanafin died and what role, if any, her son may have played. Police have not released a motive, and they have not announced any homicide charge in the case. For now, the confirmed facts are the death in the kitchen, the interstate search, and the arrest that ended it.
