Crime & Safety

Two Arrested in Connection With the Murder of a Reading Man

Two people were arrested for their involvement in the shooting of Reading resident Martin Butt.

According to the Boston Herald, police arrested Stephanie Jo Coleman, 22, and Christopher Ansara, 27, both of 96 Ashland Ave. Methuen, in connection with the daytime murder of 27-year-old Reading resident Martin Butt. Both Coleman and Ansara were charged with being an accessory before the fact in the murder.

Butt was shot on Union Street in Lawrence on Sept.9 around 12:30 p.m. An article from the Eagle Tribune stated that Coleman and Ansara reportedly delivered Butt in exchange for bags of heroin. The pair allegedly arranged the meeting between Butt and a drug dealer that he previously robbed. 

According to the Herald, a neighbor Scarlis Javier said she heard the gun shots and looked out her window to see a man lying on the street, bleeding, with a silver hand gun next to him. She immediately called the police.

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Butt was pronounced dead at Lawrence General Hospital, the Herald article said. Lawrence and state police are still investigating the incident as a homicide. 

According to Boston.com, the funeral was held this past weekend at the Croswell Funeral Home, route: {:controller=>"listings", :action=>"show", :id=>"croswell-funeral-home"} --> and a Funeral Mass was held at

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