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03/09/2010 11:00 PMBonnie Jean McKay’s family honored her life at a funeral service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Branford on Tuesday morning and then laid her to rest in a North Branford cemetery. On Feb. 25, at approximately 7:15 p.m., McKay’s estranged husband broke into her Bailey Road home and, according to state police, stabbed her multiple times. She bled to death.
On Feb. 25, at approximately 7:15 p.m., McKay’s estranged husband broke into her Bailey Road home and, according to state police, stabbed her multiple times. She bled to death.
John Belanger, 49, her estranged husband, was apprehended shortly thereafter—after apparently trying to take his own life—and charged with murder. He remains in custody.
Bonnie McKay, 51, of 7 Bailey Road, called 911 at about 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, telling state police that her husband was forcing his way into her home. She told state police dispatchers at the Troop F Westbrook barracks that there was a protective order in place against him. Dispatchers heard a portion of the argument between the two as Belanger allegedly broke in and then the phone went dead, police said.
When police arrived at Bailey Road, they found McKay with multiple stab wounds. Chester ambulance responded immediately after receiving a call of a bleeding emergency. Once arriving at the scene, the two members of the ambulance crew and other medical responders, all EMTs, “worked to control the patient’s bleeding and then executed a rapid transport to Middlesex Memorial Hospital,” Assistant Fire Chief James Grzybowski, one of the ambulance crew, said.
McKay was declared dead at the hospital.
State police quickly issued a description of Belanger to surrounding police departments and he was pulled over a short time later on Route 9 near exit 2. He was taken to the Shoreline Clinic, where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
“It may have been a suicide attempt,” said State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance.
Belanger was later taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was admitted. He was being held on a $1 million bond to appear in Middletown Superior Court when medically cleared, police said.
Reportedly, state police had been called to McKay’s home “a few times” over the past several months. Court records show two arrests. Belanger had been arrested Oct. 17, 2009 on a charge of second-degree harassment, a Class C misdemeanor, and then again on Nov. 24, 2009. In November the charge was violation of a protective order, which is a Class D felony. In both arrests, he was released after posting a $500 bond and he was due to appear in Superior Court in Middletown on March 12 to answer the charges.
McKay filed for divorce on Dec. 9, 2009. A court date was set for March 29.
McKay was born in New Haven on Jan. 20, 1959 to parents Muriel Carter McKay and the late William H. McKay II. She is survived by her sister Lauren McKay-Munro and her nephew William Daniel Munro. McKay was a dental assistant for many years in the towns of Madison and Guilford. The family asked that contributions in her memory be made to Domestic Violence Services of New. Haven, P.O. Box 1329, New Haven, CT 06505.
First Selectman Thomas Marsh said he was contacted Thursday evening by Chester’s resident trooper Adam Brown, who informed him of the incident and the state police response.
“There was a prompt response from the state police. It’s my understanding that they were at the victim’s door within a very short time. There were a lot of resources there in a very short time, including our ambulance and medical response personnel,” Marsh said. “The state police also responded with their major crime unit. The full resources of the state police were available to us and they conducted the investigation at the scene.”
Kathleen Edgecomb of The Day and Jen Matteis and Nicole Ball of www.zip06.com contributed to this story.