AYER — More than two months after a 66-year-old Shirley man and his 54-year-old wife suffered serious head and facial injuries in a home invasion, a single fingerprint, phone records, and a victim’s internet sleuthing helped lead to a pair of arrests.
Tommel McGirt, 34, of 111 Myrtle Ave., second floor, Fitchburg, and Angela Tocci, 43, of 223 Pleasant St., Gardner, were arraigned Monday in Ayer District Court on charges of home invasion and conspiracy, according to court records.
They are accused of an Aug. 18 home invasion at a home on Ayer Road in Shirley in which a 54-year-old woman was punched in the head and left with a heavily bleeding facial wound, while her 66-year-old husband was left with a serious head injury after being struck by an unidentified object.
Police reports say the woman was on her couch watching television on the evening of Aug. 18 when she noticed a skinny, dark-skinned man standing in the doorway to her living room.
When the woman asked the man who he was, he responded, “your worst (expletive) nightmare,” before punching the woman in the face and yelling “where are they,” according to a police report.
That woman told police a heavyset Hispanic female then began searching through drawers in the home, according to a police report.
The man told police he was sleeping upstairs until the barking of his dog awoke him just as a man shut his bedroom door. When he opened the bedroom door to investigate, he was struck in the face with an unknown object that knocked him out.
The victims eventually determined that a bottle of Suboxone that was prescribed to the male victim, $1,200 in cash, a small amount of marijuana, and a purse were stolen during the home invasion, according to a police report.
The victims were initially unsure of who may have attacked them, but suspected it may have been someone who knew the male victim had a prescription for Suboxone, according to a police report.
Shirley Detective Olivia Siekman found a single, partial fingerprint on the door knob to the bedroom door where the man was struck, according to a police report.
On Sept. 1, the woman told police she was searching the Facebook profile of a woman she suspected may have been involved, when she found Tocci’s profile among the woman’s Facebook friends, according to a police report. She immediately recognized Tocci, according to a police report.
Police realized Tocci fit the physical description the woman provided for the female suspect on the day of the crime, and later subpoenaed phone records for Tocci’s cellular phone, according to a police report.
On Oct. 31, Siekman was contacted by a state police sergeant who reported the fingerprint from the bedroom door was matched to the right ring finger of McGirt, according to a police report.
McGirt was one of Tocci’s Facebook friends, and a review of phone records showed he talked to Tocci several times on the day of the home invasion, according to a police report.
McGirt, who police described as a skinny, black male, has a violent criminal history in Georgia which includes charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault, and firearms violations, according to a police report.
Both suspects were ordered held without bail at their arraignments on Monday, according to court records.
Following a dangerousness hearing Thursday, Judge Margaret Guzman ordered that McGirt continue to be held without bail, according to court records.
Guzman ordered Tocci held on $2,500 cash bail, and ordered her to wear a GPS monitoring device and consume no drugs or alcohol if she posts that bail, according to court records.
Both defendants are due back in court on Dec. 5 for a probable cause hearing.
Attorneys for Tocci and McGirt did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Follow Robert Mills on Twitter @Robert_Mills
