Staff Report
Nora Nelson, 24, who has been charged with first-degree murder for the stabbing death of Joseph Donohue, 65, is scheduled to return to the Charlestown Division of the Boston Municipal Court (BMC) on March 6 at 10 a.m. for a pre-trial hearing.
Nelson, who was represented by prominent Boston attorney Ian Davis, was arraigned on the murder charge on February 7 at which time she entered a plea of not guilty. She was ordered held without bail by Judge Steven Kim at the request of Suffolk County Asst. District Attorney Rita Muse.
Donohue’s body was found by Boston Police on his houseboat that was docked at Shipway Place in the Charlestown Marina, where he lived alone, during a well-being check that had been requested by Donohue’s family members (who had not heard from him for two days) on Sunday, February 2.
Nelson was on board the houseboat when police arrived. After the officers asked Nelson some preliminary questions to which she provided answers that the officers believed to be evasive, they conducted a brief search of the houseboat. They discovered Donohue’s body behind a door “wrapped in a white and blue covering secured with duct tape and affixed with weights.”
When the police eventually determined Nelson’s identity, they arrested her on outstanding warrants stemming from charges pertaining to previous and unrelated incidents in 2023. Nelson was formally arraigned on those charges in the BMC’s Central Division by Judge Steven Kay, who ordered her held on $7500 cash bail. Kay also ordered that if Nelson managed to post her bail, she would be subject to GPS monitoring.
Pursuant to a subsequent investigation by Boston Police, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden approved the issuance of an arrest warrant on the murder charge for Nelson, who still was being held in custody on her other matters.
“I’m grateful to the investigators who have been working on this case since the moment police arrived at the scene on Sunday, and I extend my deepest condolences to Joseph Donohue’s family and friends. We will be with them every step of the way as we move to secure justice in this terrible crime,” Hayden said in a statement released by his office.
It is expected that the case will follow the usual procedure for felony cases in the district court whereby the district attorney will present evidence to a grand jury seeking an indictment. If Nelson is indicted, the case then will be transferred to the Suffolk County Superior Court for trial.