Haverhill woman killed as police tried to save her

Craig Mulgrave, 35, appeared in Haverhill District Court today where a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf to a charge of first degree murder. He is accused of stabbing his 47-year-old wife to death while she was on the telephone to police.

Sergeant Dana Burrill stormed into the building, going to the wrong apartment first, but then followed the sounds of her screams. At that point, Craig Mulgrave stepped into the hallway, drenched in blood, with a large knife in one hand, according to a Haverhill police report filed in court.

"It's in here,'' Craig Mulgrave said. "I just killed my wife.''

Craig Mulgrave directed police to a front room in the apartment where police found Christina Mulgrave lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Craig Mulgrave left bloody footprints in the apartment and on the stairs, according to the report. He did not resist arrest, meekly dropping the knife when ordered to by police and cooperating as they put on handcuffs, police said in a report.

The killing in Haverhill was the latest in a string of fatal domestic violence incidents in the Greater Boston area in recent weeks.

Christina Mulgrave was a registered nurse and the mother of two adult children. She recently returned to the Haverhill area from Las Vegas, where she and Craig Mulgrave were living until late last year, so that she could be closer to her children, according to authorities and a former husband of Mulgrave.

"The love she had for her kids was immeasurable,'' said Michael McCain, who had two children with Mulgrave prior to their 1991 divorce. "I know that she came back from Las Vegas to Haverhill because she missed her children.''

Christina Mulgrave's two children along with her mother, who uses a cane to walk, were in court today when the suspect was arraigned. Mulgrave, a burly man who was wearing hospital clothing in court, glared at his wife's relatives as he was being led from court, causing some of them to burst into tears.

Christina Mulgrave's relatives declined comment as they left the courthouse.

Christina Mulgrave lived with her husband in a second floor apartment in a large Victorian home on Chestnut Street. Neighbor Tim Allen was wondering whether he could have prevented the killing.

Allen lives on the first floor and was home when he heard loud banging and screaming coming from upstairs. He rushed to the Mulgrave apartment and pounded on the door, but got no response. He was on the phone with police when Burrill passed by.

"It was just gut wrenching screams,'' said a somber Allen. "Maybe if I got there in time, I could have knocked him out of his state of mind.''

Craig Mulgrave was ordered held without bail.