Mum-of-two stabs 'courageous' firefighter husband through heart – and doesn't regret it

Tensions were running high for Christine Ricci and her husband Michael. They'd been trying to navigate the fallout of Michael’s infidelity but were tearing their family apart

Michael, 51, was an army veteran and had been a firefighter with the Boston Fire Department for 23 years. He had raised three children with his wife Ricci, two sons and a daughter. In late 2018, Michael had been unfaithful. He’d had a six-week affair with a woman called Janeen Bouchard, who believed Michael was separated from his wife when she embarked on the brief relationship.

Ricci found out after the affair was over. She sent a text to Janeen to tell her to stay away from her husband but then followed it up demanding more details. She even turned up twice at Janeen’s house to confront her, and the police were called. Despite the betrayal, Ricci and Michael stayed together and tried to salvage their marriage. They attended therapy and even renewed their vows in 2019. Michael admitted he had a drinking problem and started attending meetings. However, in January 2021, the strain in the relationship was obvious to everyone.

Ricci, then 46, was consumed by Michael’s affair and her jealousy was relentless. She constantly questioned her husbands for details about his cheating, and when he didn’t give her the answers she wanted, she would get aggressive. Michael had been seen by colleagues with bruises and scratches. Once, he even had a broken nose.

It was clear that while Ricci had remained in the marriage, she hadn’t forgiven, and she certainly hadn’t forgotten. Even her children noticed she was becoming increasingly aggressive.

On the afternoon of January 28, 2021, a 911 call was made from the Ricci home. It was Ricci’s 16-year-old daughter reporting that her dad needed medical help after a fall.

When emergency services arrived on the scene, Ricci was hysterically shouting. Michael was unconscious on the floor, on his back with no obvious signs of injury. Ricci said he’d collapsed so CPR was started. But then the police saw a five-inch steak knife on the floor with blood on it. Michael had been stabbed.

Offices straight away thought it was unusual that she hadn’t alerted paramedics to the stab wounds. The right treatment was crucial in those vital first minutes.

Ricci admitted that they’d been arguing, and she’d grabbed a knife. She described how they’d wrestled, and Michael had somehow fallen on the knife. He was rushed to hospital, but he tragically died from his injuries.

Michael had been stabbed in the chest and the blade had penetrated his heart, causing nearly half of his total blood volume to pool into his chest cavity. He’d also been stabbed in the back of his left shoulder, and there was a slash wound to his back.

Ricci was questioned. She admitted that she had been arguing with her husband after he’d come in from shovelling snow. She claimed he was having a ‘manic episode’ and out of fear, she had grabbed the kitchen knife to defend herself. Ricci was charged with her husband’s murder.

At Michael’s funeral, he was remembered as a courageous firefighter who loved fishing and rock music. Firefighters lined the street and carried his coffin.

At the trial in July this year, the prosecution said that the couple had argued. They said that Michael’s affair had angered Ricci, and she had been hurt and jealous. It had resulted in a pattern of abuse that escalated until Michael was fatally stabbed.

Friends and colleagues testified that they’d seen Michael with fat lips and black eyes. His former lover Janeen testified that Ricci had relentlessly contacted her after the affair had ended and had turned up to her house ‘yelling and screaming’.

Michael’s son, Michael Jr also testified that his mum brought up the affair almost daily. It became so stressful that he moved out of the house in June 2019. The daughter who called 911 said she was ‘used to’ her parents arguing. On the night of the killing, she had been in her room and hadn’t reacted to her parents shouting because it was so commonplace. She only realised it was something serious when her mum yelled for her to call 911. Two years of resentment had ended with a fatal 15-minute attack.

The defence said that Ricci had the knife as she was attempting to defend herself from a ‘manic episode’ that had been going on for several days. They said there was a struggle, and the couple had stumbled and as Michael lunged, had fallen full force onto the knife. They said it was an accident and her hysteria afterwards was proof she didn’t mean to kill her husband.

But the prosecution reminded the court that Ricci hadn’t told the first responders about the stabbing when they arrived.

Instead of trying to get her husband the best medical care possible, she’d tried to cover it up. If he had fallen on the knife, how would that explain the second stab wound and the slash injury on his back? Michael also had defensive wounds on his hands.

No witnesses could confirm that Michael was having a manic episode in the lead-up to his death – or had ever had one.

‘The only way to put an end to the anger, jealousy and rage that consumed her was to put an end to the person who caused that pain,’ the prosecution told the jury.

After a six-day trial, Ricci, 49, was convicted of second-degree murder, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. In August, Ricci was sentenced and loved ones gave emotional statements.

Michael Jr spoke tenderly about his father. ‘My dad was and still is my hero,’ he said. ‘He was the person I looked up to and I tried to live my life the way he did. He was that constant example to me to live my life selflessly... We have years of healing we have to do. It’s going to take a lot of time, a lot of tears and perseverance, but we have to do it alone between me and my siblings.’

Michael’s brother, William, said that Ricci was abusive and violent and had betrayed them. ‘We were in utter shock and dismay,’ he said, describing finding out that his brother had been killed. ‘Our family did not expect to wake up that morning and have our loved one taken away from us so suddenly and in such a horrific way.’

The judge said that Ricci had shown no signs of remorse for killing Michael and said that it had been a ‘cycle of escalating abuse.’ Ricci was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. She was also sentenced to six years for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Ricci continued to punish her husband, and their marriage became toxic. She blamed him for the troubles in their relationship, but it was her jealousy and abusive behaviour that caused the final bloodshed.