Zaaina Mahvish-Jammeh, left, is accused in the ax killing of Leah Rosin-Pritchard. (Mahvish-Jammeh screenshot from CBS Burlington, Vermont affiliate WCAX; Rosin-Pritchard photo from Providence, Rhode Island NBC affiliate WJAR; Crime scene photo from NBC Plattsburgh, New York, affiliate WPTZ)
A 38-year-old homeless shelter resident faces a first-degree murder charge in the brutal slaying of a shelter worker at a 30-person group home in Vermont with a “Hunter’s Axe” she allegedly bought at a hardware store for $33.69 days earlier.
Zaaina Asra Zakirrah Mahvish-Jammeh, 38, is accused of savagely killing Leah Rosin-Pritchard in an attack caught on the home’s surveillance video, officials said. Mahvish-Jammeh has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges and was held without bail.
A witness told the newspaper, the Brattleboro Reformer, that the brutality haunted him. The man asked for his name to be kept confidential.
“It was a f—- brutal savage f—- murder,” he said. “I haven’t been able to sleep. Because every time I close my eyes, I see that s—.
“I heard screaming,” he said. “I come down the stairs. I look around right by where the dining room table is, and there’s a body on the floor, and I couldn’t even tell who it was. That’s how badly smashed the face was.”
“She looked up at me and then went down to beat [the victim] a couple more times in the face,” he said.
Rosin-Pritchard was a social worker employed by the Groundworks Collaborative at a shelter in Brattleboro, Vermont, 83 miles west of Boston. Her employer said she was irreplaceable.
“She was a wonderfully strong, positive, beautiful and compassionate person who gave generously of her spirit and skills in support of all Morningside House residents and her professional colleagues,” said Libby Bennett in a statement. “There are no words to express the depth of loss felt by her Groundworks teammates, and our hearts go out to her family and friends.”
The horror went down after Mahvish-Jammeh was seen in a surveillance video entering the building wearing a sheet over her overalls, a black hoodie sweatshirt, safety glasses and black shoes and hiding what appeared to be the murder weapon, according to an affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
A tall, thin woman in blue overalls attacked Rosin-Pritchard with a “Hunter’s Axe” she bought at a hardware store for $33.69 on April 1, Brattleboro Police Detective Sgt. Greg Eaton wrote in the affidavit.
Police found the victim dead on the kitchen floor, the document said. She had significant injuries to her head, face, neck and torso.
Police found the suspect coming from around the wall in the living room. She was wiping blood off her hands with a paper towel.
The attack happened after the victim noted the suspect had made a strange request for her to meet the suspect in the living room for a meeting, police said.
Screaming was then heard.
“When they ran to see what was happening, [Mahvish-Jammeh] was attacking Rosin-Pritchard with an ax,” the officer wrote. “They tried to yell at [her] to stop, but they were afraid to get too close since she was still swinging an ax.”
Video shows the attack, the sergeant said.
“After the murder, she takes off the overalls and is wearing a bunny ear headband, blue socks, grey sweatpants and black slipper style footwear, but continued to carry the ax around the first floor,” wrote Eaton.
The suspect’s public defender said a screener’s report cited “significant mental health issues,” and a judge ordered a competency evaluation, the Reformer reported.
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