Category: True crime
Man enters ER with bloody knife saying serial killer took girlfriend’s life. But her mother says she knows ‘savage’ truth.
A Massachusetts man in September walked into a New Bedford emergency room holding a bloody knife in his hand and claiming that a serial killer had stabbed his girlfriend to death, according to multiple reports. But the man now faces life in prison.
Tyler Baglini, 32, reportedly had a history of mental health issues and substance abuse, according to his attorney. After Baglini allegedly experienced an “episode” on Sept. 20, his girlfriend urged him to get help.
‘But I know the truth. I know how savage, how horrific, and how violent his actions were.’
Citing court documents, People magazine reported that Baglini’s girlfriend — 31-year-old Kerri Fidalgo — sent a text message to Baglini at 9:57 a.m. Sept. 20 that read: “Tyler, we can talk later. After you get checked out. You need help. You need to get better. You’re having an episode and you’re paranoid. Everything will be OK, but you need help. I love you. I care about you. Please.”
Police said Baglini wrote back: “Goodbye, I really loved you and I forgive you. Time to go to hell; you were the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Citing court documents, WPRI-TV reported that Baglini appeared at St. Luke’s Hospital at 12:39 p.m. and used a public phone there to call his parents multiple times — as well as Fidalgo twice. Baglini told family and his girlfriend that he was checking himself in for mental health issues — but he didn’t and left the hospital at 12:53 p.m., according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Baglini sent a photo of a knife to Fidalgo around 3:40 p.m.
Baglini later that afternoon reportedly staggered into the emergency room of St. Luke’s while holding a bloody knife and claiming that a serial killer had stabbed his girlfriend to death.
A prosecutor said Baglini’s “kitchen knife” had “blood on the blade,” according to WJAR-TV.
WPRI added that Baglini entered the hospital just before 5 p.m. and said the stabbing took place at her Atlantic Street apartment.
Fidalgo’s oldest sister, Kaila Whalen, reportedly became alarmed when police showed up that afternoon to do a welfare check on her sister.
“As my Portuguese-speaking grandmother fired questions at me in panic, I brushed her off and ran downstairs to Kerri’s apartment, desperate to understand what was happening,” Whalen told WPRI. “I had no idea what I was about to walk into. I didn’t know I would find my sister lying on her living room floor, motionless, surrounded by her own blood.”
Whalen added to WPRI that she remembered seeing her sister’s eyes open and her hands raised as if she was trying to protect herself, which Whalen told the station is an image that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
Whalen recounted to WPRI, “No one should ever have to find someone they love like that. I was frozen in horror, screaming. My mind was racing, but [my] feet wouldn’t move.”
Still, she was able to run back upstairs for the officers, who called for backup and began CPR, according to WPRI.
“I remember how frantic and forceful it seemed, like it was hurting her. It was too much to bear, so I dropped to my knees in her kitchen and begged God to spare her life. I have never felt so hopeless — so useless,” Whalen recalled to WPRI.
Assistant Bristol County District Attorney Karen O’Sullivan said Fidalgo had been stabbed 14 times in the neck, head, and torso, and her injuries were consistent with attempts to defend herself, according to the Herald News.
Fidalgo was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to the police report.
The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office said Baglini was arrested Sept. 20 and charged with murder.
Boston.com reported that Baglini was held overnight at Saint Luke’s Hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
Last week at the sentencing hearing, Fidalgo’s mother unleashed her fury on Baglini.
“I have watched him sit here in this courtroom, quiet and timid, as if he couldn’t possibly have done what he did,” Melissa Fidalgo, Kerri’s mother, told the judge before sentencing, according to the Boston Globe.
“But I know the truth. I know how savage, how horrific, and how violent his actions were,” she continued, according to the Globe. “I hate that he thought he had the right to take my daughter’s life. I hate that he took her from us, from the family that loved her so deeply, from the future she was building, and from the world that was brighter because she was in it.”
Baglini’s attorney, Michael Hussey, said during sentencing that his client has a history of substance abuse and mental health issues that were “probably of little concern to anyone in this room, and probably of little value to this court.”
Judge Raffi N. Yessayan responded, “Whatever other issues he may have, he’s a batterer. He’s a domestic abuser. I look at his record, and that’s clear. That’s why I didn’t let him hide in the corner.”
Baglini pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. The judge sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years, court records show.
Kerri’s youngest sister, Jazelle Fidalgo, described her sister as “a mother, role model, protector, and best friend.”
“Whenever I needed advice or comfort, she was the person I called,” Jazelle told WPRI. “She made me feel safe. She believed in me more than anyone ever could. She pushed me to chase my dreams and see my worth, and to never give up on myself. She was the person who stood by me through everything — my shoulder to cry on and my source of strength when I didn’t have any left.”
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