A jury has found a New Hampshire man charged with fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend at a Worcester, Massachusetts restaurant guilty of murder.
On Tuesday, Carlos Asencio was found guilty of first-degree murder in the July 3, 2019, stabbing death of Amanda Dabrowski at O'Connor's Restaurant & Bar in Worcester. He was also found guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The two had previously dated.
Dabrowski's family embraced after the verdict was read.
Dabrowski, a 31-year-old Ayer resident, was there for a book club meeting and had just left the bathroom when she was attacked. Several other patrons stopped the attack and restrained the suspect. Some of those witnesses took the stand during the trial, Telegram and Gazette reported.
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Asencio's defense had argued he was suffering from psychosis at the time of the attack. In 2019, he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial based on a psychiatric evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital that was ordered at his arraignment. His mental state became the subject of dueling expert opinions in court during the trial.
Prosecutors alleged that Asencio killed Dabrowski as revenge for ending their relationship. They said he tried to harm her in April 2019, breaking into her home, then left the country before returning ahead of the deadly July attack.
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