LAWRENCE, Mass. — A Lawrence man has been arrested for the murder of his girlfriend and mother of his children.
Tony Ventura, 32, was arrested Sunday night after Maria Morton’s brother found her body in her Prospect Street apartment, a spokeswoman for the Essex County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.
Morton, 32, who leaves behind an eight-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, was found by her brother.
Her younger sister had become suspicious after finding Morton’s car gone, her shoes and coat on the floor in the kitchen and a door tied shut.
“When I got there, I opened the bedroom door, went in and I found her passed away, ice-cold blue, bleeding from the back of the head,” Marcus Morton said, adding that the couple’s two children had been in the home sleeping when she was killed. “Nobody could ever understand why he did this.”
Investigators have not yet released details on how Maria Morton was killed.
Family members say she had been the victim of domestic violence at the hands of Ventura for years.
“Whatever it took on her half to make it work, she always made it work, and we disagreed with it all the time,” her cousin Pablito Rentas said. “Unfortunately, the result of that, of her forgiving him and always taking him back and trying to make that family for her family, she lost her life.”
While grieving, Morton’s large family also wants to remember her for the loving person and strong mother she was.
“She was an awesome mother. She loved her kids,” Marcus Morton said. “It’s not going to ever be the same. No matter what we do, we lost our family. We lost our sister. Nothing’s going to change. It’s not like we can bring her back.”
The family is also urging victims of domestic violence to get out of their dangerous relationships.
“Don’t go back with the people that are offending you and hurting you,” Marcus Morton said. “It’s never a good outcome when you’re getting abused.”
Ventura will be arraigned in Lawrence District Court on Monday.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help cover Morton's funeral expenses.
Cox Media Group