By Guy Page
No charges will be brought in connection with the deaths and injuries inflicted in a July St. Johnsbury home invasion.
The Vermont State Police has completed its investigation into the July incident in which two people were killed in a Cottage Street home in St. Johnsbury. The evidence shows Nicholas Johnson, 42, was the sole aggressor, breaking into the home and stabbing 21-year-old Ben Lyons, who later died, along with Patrick Mayhew, 33, and Jennifer Bradley, 44, before being fatally shot by Mayhew.
VSP turned over the case to the Caledonia County State’s Attorney’s Office for review. State’s Attorney Jessica Zaleski has determined she will file no charges. The case is now closed, state police said November 26.
Autopsies were completed on the two men who died in the altercation:
Ben Lyons, 21, a resident of the home at 16 Cottage St. where the incident occurred. He died Sunday afternoon at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner’s Office identified his cause of death as a stab wound to the neck, and the manner of death was homicide.
Nicholas Johnson, 42, who had no fixed address and most recently was living in the St. Johnsbury area. He died at the scene Sunday morning. The Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office identified his cause of death as a gunshot wound, and the manner of death was homicide.
Two other people who live in the Cottage Street home were injured:
Patrick Mayhew, 33, suffered serious but non-life-threatening knife wounds. He was treated at Dartmouth Hitchcock and discharged.
Jennifer Bradley, 44, received minor injuries and was not hospitalized. She is Mayhew’s wife, Lyons’ mother, and the former partner of Johnson.
Two children between the ages of 12-18 also were in the home at the time of the incident but were not physically harmed. Two of the family’s dogs also was attacked. Wilson died at a local animal hospital. Sage was treated at a Massachusetts veterinary trauma center.