Millbury waitress fatally stabbed; ex-boyfriend held

Suspect captured after car chase in neighboring towns

A police officer taped off a portion of the parking lot at the Shoppes at Blackstone Valley. (JIM COLLINS/WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE)

MILLBURY - A waitress at a T.G.I. Friday's was stabbed and killed outside the restaurant yesterday allegedly by her former live-in boyfriend in a parking lot packed with holiday shoppers, authorities said.

Ronda Healey, 27, of Worcester was seen a few feet from the restaurant at The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley about 3:30 p.m. with knife wounds in her chest, said Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. She died shortly thereafter at St. Vincent's Hospital in Worcester.

"She was on the ground and bleeding," Early said last night at a news conference at the Millbury State Police barracks.

Less than two hours after the attack, Westborough police arrested Justin Hiser, 30, of Worcester after a chase that led them to Southborough's town center, where Hiser became stuck in traffic and his car blew a tire.

Early said Hiser was "known to the police" and had been incarcerated previously for assault with a dangerous weapon. The district attorney did not know the details of Hiser's relationship with Healey, a mother of three children, except that the pair had once lived together on Gage Street in Worcester.

Patrolmen initially pursued Hiser because he was driving erratically and had struck two cars in Grafton and Westborough. No one was injured in the accidents, police said.

"He was having a lot of trouble controlling the vehicle," Westborough Police Chief Alan Gordon said at the news conference. "We did not know at the time [that] the car we were following was involved in a homicide."

Last night, Hiser was in custody at the Millbury barracks. Early said he would be arraigned today on murder charges at Worcester District Court. He said a motive for the stabbing is under investigation.

He added that Healey's next of kin and the state Department of Social Services were notified about her children.

The area around T.G.I. Friday's was cordoned off yesterday while a Mercury Sable, possibly Healey's and part of a crime scene, idled in the parking lot near a knife lying on the ground. The car's right directional was blinking.

Rosa Gentile, a hostess at TGI Friday's, described Healey as "hard-working" and "always talking about her three children," the youngest of whom is 10 years old, she said.

"Just everyone's sad," Gentile said.

Gentile said she did not think Healey had enemies, though she said her co-worker had mentioned having some trouble in her relationship. "She said she had a fight with her boyfriend a couple weeks ago," Gentile said.

A manager at T.G.I. Friday's declined to comment last night, but the restaurant chain's corporate office said in a statement, "This is an absolute tragedy, and prayers go out to the family of our team member."

David Abel of the Globe staff contributed to this report.