Weymouth

Woman charged with financial crimes in Weymouth homicide case due in court

Kelly Shaw was not arraigned Thursday because she had to be taken to the hospital for an unknown reason

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A second person arrested in connection to the death of a Weymouth, Massachusetts, woman is expected to go before a judge Friday.

Neither defendant is charged with murder, but they're both charged with financial crimes in connection to that woman's death.

In fact, during the arraignment Thursday of one of those two defendants — 45-year-old John Harper — prosecutors did say that he's a "person of interest" in Christine Mello's death.

The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office has characterized Mello's death as an "apparent homicide."

Investigators said Mello had been dead for "quite some time" before police found her body inside her Lake Street home in Weymouth on Monday.

Harper and his 44-year-old girlfriend Kelly Shaw, who's also his co-defendant, had been living with Mello.

Prosecutors said the couple is on video using Mello's debit card multiple times. They said Harper has a long criminal record and substance abuse issues.

A close friend of the victim says she fears Mello’s tendency to help people going through hard times may have led to her death.

"She was always a fixer, she was everybody's mom. She tried to make everybody whole again. Like I said, prior to this, sometimes that brought people who weren't so good for her into her life," said Deborah Wilson.

Shaw was not arraigned Thursday because she had to be taken to the hospital for an unknown reason. She's expected to be arraigned Friday.

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