New details are coming out about the death of a Maine chef whose body was found wrapped in blankets in a car outside a Massachusetts hospital.
On Saturday, Aug. 23, the body of Declan Perry, 27, from Portland, Maine, was discovered in the backseat of a Honda Civic parked outside the emergency entrance of South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office.
His body was “wrapped in multiple blankets secured with duct tape,” the office said in a statement.
Investigators quickly focused on a suspect, Christopher Caron, 42, from Scituate, Mass., who turned himself in at the Scituate Police Department on Saturday, Aug. 30, according to the statement.
Caron appeared in Hingham District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 2, where he pleaded not guilty to one count of murder. He allegedly told police that Perry died from a drug overdose, but an autopsy showed that Perry had actually been strangled, the office said.
Caron allegedly told authorities that on Friday, Aug. 22, he and Perry drove to Boston to buy fentanyl and cocaine, then returned to the condo in Scituate where Caron was staying, according to the district attorney’s office.
At 11:49 p.m. that night, Caron reportedly searched online for “7-Eleven and Narcan,” according to an investigation by Massachusetts State Police and Scituate Police.
Caron and a woman he called for help gave Perry Narcan around 3 a.m., investigators said. The woman later fell asleep and woke up at 7 a.m. to find Perry dead.
The woman said she told Caron to call 911 several times, but he allegedly refused, investigators said. She told police Caron did not want to call 911 because his mother and grandmother would kick him out of the condo if they found out what happened, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague said in court, CBS News reports.
Caron then wrapped Perry’s body with moving blankets and secured it with duct tape, according to investigators.
When neighbors saw Caron carrying the body to Perry’s car, they asked what he was moving. He allegedly told them it was a “hockey goalie mannequin” and joked to the two men who unknowingly helped him move Perry into the car, “It looks like a dead body, huh?” Sprague said.
Caron is being held without bail and is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 29.
