Crime & Safety
Summer Villa Resident Indicted On Murder Charge
The following information was supplied by the office of Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin. An indictment is merely an allegation. It does not indicate a conviction.
A resident of Summer Villa, an assisted living facility on Laurel Avenue in Coventry, has been indicted on one count of murder following a brutal assault last October.
The Statewide Grand Jury Monday reported out the indictment charging Domenic Petrarca, 55, with the murder of then 61-year-old Joseph Costa, who was also a resident of Summer Villa.
During the early morning hours of Oct. 20, 2012, Petrarca allegedly bludgeoned Costa to death in an outdoor smoking area at the facility. Coventry Police Chief Bryan Volpe reported that Costa had sustained multiple head and face injuries during what he described as an "especially vicious and long-enduring assault" after viewing extensive surveillance footage of the incident. Costa was found unconscious and given CPR by emergency responders upon arrival before being transported to Kent Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
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Petrarca was initially charged with three counts of felony assault and has been in custody since his arrest on October 21. An arraignment has not been scheduled.
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