Reading police were investigating a death at a home on Center Avenue on Thursday, as Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan arrived at the scene and said she would hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. at the town’s police station. About a dozen officers were focused on 9 Center Ave. just after 9 a.m., with the front lawn cordoned off by crime scene tape.
The case quickly widened beyond the house itself. Police put a BOLO alert for 22-year-old Ryan Hanafin on televisions in the briefing room shortly before the press conference, identifying him as a person of interest in a homicide investigation and warning that he was armed and dangerous. They also said anyone who sees him should use extreme caution, and that he may be operating a black Dodge Charger with license plate 2PSY15. He was last observed traveling on I-93 in the Tewksbury area, and police said Trooper Christopher Murgo should be contacted at 781-730-8070 if Hanafin is located.
Ryan’s arrival underscored how serious the matter had become. Under state law, district attorneys oversee homicide investigations in their jurisdictions, and her office was already directing the inquiry while officers held the scene on Center Avenue. But one basic fact remained unsettleing for neighbors and investigators alike: police had not said how Hanafin is connected to the victim, even as they treated him as someone the public should not approach.
By just before 10 a.m., an MSPCA-Angell animal response van had also arrived, and police helped unload more than half a dozen animal cages and carried them inside the home. A spokesperson for the group said it was helping State Police remove animals from the house, a detail that suggested the investigation was still unfolding inside the property as well as outside it. The focus now is on finding Hanafin and on the news conference Ryan said would come at 10:30 a.m., where investigators are expected to explain more of what happened at the Center Avenue home.
