LYNNFIELD — A 53-year-old Middleton man was arrested in connection with the murder of a Lookout Terrace man on the morning of Tuesday, July 29.
Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker announced that John Kosta, 53, of Middleton will be arraigned for the May 9 murder of 55-year-old Timothy O’Neil. Massachusetts State Police (MSP) detectives assigned to Tucker’s office took Kosta into custody early Tuesday morning with assistance from the MSP Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section (VFAS) and the United States Marshals Service.
Kosta’s arraignment was scheduled to take place in Peabody District Court on Tuesday morning, after the paper’s print deadline. He pled not guilty and was held without bail.
In a joint statement sent to the Villager in May, Tucker and Lynnfield Police Chief Nick Secatore confirmed that “their offices are investigating an apparent homicide at Lookout Terrace in Lynnfield.” O’Neil, 4 Lookout Terrace, was identified as the victim.
“On Friday night (May 9), Lynnfield Police responded to a 911 call at approximately 8:30 p.m. and found Timothy O’Neil, 55, of Lynnfield with apparent trauma,” Tucker and Secatore wrote in the statement. “O’Neil was pronounced deceased on the scene.”
Tucker and Secatore wrote that, “There is not believed to be any wider threat to the public at this time.”
Doreen Arnold said in an interview with NBC Boston reporter Malcolm Johnson that she heard “three or four police cars” responding to the scene.
“It was so dark that we couldn’t see anything,” said Arnold. “It was a gentlemen who we have known probably since we got here 12 1/2 years ago. He always seemed very nice. Nothing has ever happened like that around here, since we have been here.”