A possible motive is coming to light as friends are remembering 49-year-old Andria Hanafin as someone with “a heart of gold” who “would give you the shirt off her back without a second thought” after she was found fatally shot inside her Center Avenue home.
Reading police responded just after 12:30 a.m. after her husband called 911 and reported finding her body in the kitchen, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The death is being investigated as a homicide. The couple’s 13-year-old son was home and unharmed. A daughter was away at college.
Their older son, 22-year-old Ryan Hanafin, who also lived in the home, was unaccounted for and was identified as a person of interest. Authorities said he was believed to be driving a black 2010 Dodge Charger and that his license to carry had been suspended. Vermont State Police took him into custody Thursday afternoon on Route 100 near the Sugarbush Access Road in Warren.
Court filings cited by VTDigger say Andria Hanafin and her son had been arguing about the cats in the house. She worked as a veterinary technician and fostered cats; the filings said 20 to 30 cats and kittens were in the home. On Wednesday evening she told her husband she wanted Ryan to move out. The father told police he last saw his son around 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, when he yelled at him that he needed to get a job and do something with his life.
A friend told investigators he received a Snapchat message from Ryan Hanafin at 6:44 p.m. Wednesday that read, “Told him I blew madre to pieces and he believed me,” according to the filings cited by VTDigger.
Police found 19 guns in Ryan Hanafin’s bedroom, which they described as being in a hoarding condition. Only 10 were registered, and some were believed to be 3D-printed, WCAX reported. He is expected to face a murder charge and additional gun charges in Massachusetts.
He appeared by video in Washington County criminal court in Barre on Friday, agreed to be extradited, and is being held without bail..
Friends said Andria Hanafin looked for ways to help family, friends, and people she had just met. “She gave so much of herself to make sure everyone around her was taken care of, and now it is our turn to support the people who loved her most,” one tribute said. A fundraiser has been started by one of her best friends.
