Peabody Man Convicted of Killing Girlfriend

PEABODY, MA – A Salem Superior Court jury has convicted a Peabody man of voluntary manslaughter in the death of his 55-year-old girlfriend.

Brandon Hoar, 61, was convicted Friday. He is accused of stabbing his longtime girlfriend in June 2015 at his Peabody home. According to a statement from the Essex District Attorney's office, police went to Hoar's home on Gates Road on June 16, 2015, to conduct a well being check. Hoar was reportedly sitting on the front steps when police arrived, and his girlfriend Cheryl Young was in the living room with a knife in her chest.

Young's 5-year-old granddaughter was asleep in the master bedroom. The granddaughter was the subject of a custody hearing on that day in Salem Probate Court. Hoar told police he had stabbed Young the day before, according to the statement.

Hoar remains in custody, and faces up to 20 years in prison. Judge Thomas Drechsler is scheduled to sentence him on Feb. 23.

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