Both men have been charged with second-degree homicide and unlawful restraint.
Joshua Makhanda-Lopez was arrested in Springfield in 2009 on drug and motor vehicle theft charges.BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — The two men charged with killing a Bellows Falls woman are due to make their first appearances in a Vermont courtroom.
Police say 29-year-old Frank Caraballo of Brattleboro had been searching for the victim, 31-year-old Melissa Barratt, in connection with drug-related activity before she was found dead Friday in Dummerston.
"Cause of death was determined to be from a gunshot wound to the head," Vermont State Police Maj. Ed Ledo said in confirming Barratt's death as a homicide.
Ledo told the Brattleboro Reformer that Barratt and Caraballo had dated.
Caraballo and 22-year-old Joshua Makhanda-Lopez of Springfield, Mass., have been charged with second-degree homicide and unlawful restraint. Both also face unrelated charges of selling crack-cocaine.
They are due to appear in court in Brattleboro on Monday.
Caraballo and Makhanda-Lopez have been held pending their court appearances.
Makhanda-Lopez was one of four men arrested in Springfield in June 2009 on motor vehicle theft and drug charges.
"Apparently, the four (suspects) were making money selling drugs to the other homeless residents of the shelter," Springfield police Sgt. John M. Delaney said in a prepared statement at the time of the arrest, which came after police spotted Makhanda-Lopez and three other men sitting in a van that had been reported stolen in Holland, Mass. All four suspects had told police they lived at the Friends of the Homeless shelter on Worthington Street.
Makhanda-Lopez was charged in that case with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and violation of a drug-free school zone. Information about the outcome of the case was not immediately available Monday morning.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.