Authorities say no criminal charges will be filed in an incident that left two dead in St. Johnsbury

By ALAN J. KEAYS

VTDigger

Published: 11-28-2024 12:00 PM

Vermont State Police said Tuesday that no charges would be filed following an investigation into what authorities have characterized as a domestic violence incident this summer that left two people dead in St. Johnsbury.

The incident, according to police, took place on the morning of July 7 at a Cottage Street home, where responding officers found one man dead and several others injured. A second person died later that night at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

State police said in a press release Tuesday that Nicholas Johnson, 42, was “the sole aggressor” in the incident. They said he had broken into the home and stabbed three people, killing Ben Lyons, 21. The two other victims injured in the attack, police previously said, included Jennifer Bradley, 44, who was Lyons’ mother and Johnson’s former partner, as well as Patrick Mayhew, Bradley’s spouse.

According to police, Mayhew fatally shot Johnson. 

Autopsies determined that Lyons died of a stab wound to his neck and Johnson’s cause of death was a gunshot wound.

Johnson, police said, had no fixed address but had been living in the St. Johnsbury area. 

The release said state police had turned their completed investigation over to Caledonia County State’s Attorney Jessica Zaleski for review, and she determined that she would not be filing any criminal charges. 

Police had also said that two minors had been home at the time of the incident but were not physically harmed.

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In addition, according to police, one dog who lived at the home died of injuries sustained during the incident.