A warning: This report includes references to domestic assault, suicide, and details of a violent attack.
Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue held a press conference Thursday afternoon to announce that remains believed to be those of Jeffery Cote, 55, had been discovered in Savoy in the morning. Cote had been missing since allegedly committing a brutal act of domestic violence on June 7th.
“The victim was stabbed numerous times including in the shoulder and the neck area," said the DA. "The victim was able to flee to a neighbor's house and the Adams police were called and dispatched. The police along with first responders treated the victim's wounds, and she was transported the Berkshire Medical Center with very serious injuries. Simultaneously, the police responded to Cote's residence at 498 Chapel Hill Road in Savoy, Massachusetts.”
Shugrue says it was a savage attack.
“She had a very bad, very bad wound from a clavicle down into her lung area," he said. "She had a very bad wound to her neck area.”
Ultimately, the victim – who the DA said had been in a 15-year relationship with Cote – survived.
“The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office Victim Witness Advocate Program was in constant communication with the victim," said Shugrue. "As you can imagine, the victim was in fear when the defendant was at large. Upon the release from the hospital, a victim advocate then ensured the victim was safe. She was placed in an undisclosed location so that the defendant could not locate her.”
While law enforcement could not locate Cote at his home immediately after the June 7th incident, his body was ultimately found on the property by the Massachusetts State Police Special Emergency Response Team just over a week later after days of searching complicated by persistent rain.
“This was thick, dense area that they were involved in," said the DA. "We brought the canine units up today. However, the actual SERT team found Mr. Cote. We are unable to determine the when he died. The Office of Medical Examiners has come, they're in the process of retrieving the body, and we’ll have more information about how we died. But I can tell you that it was a death by suicide.”
Cote, a hunter with a deep knowledge of Savoy’s rugged terrain, was known to possess firearms, adding to the pressure on law enforcement to find him quickly. Shugrue says that the discovery of what is believed to be his body was in the final quadrant of the area around his home law enforcement searched, and that Cote had likely been there since his escape from Adams on the 7th.
“It appears to us that he went back to that home," said the DA. "I don't think he ever left that area ever again. So, I just, I can't tell you when he died. But I can tell you that I don't think he left that area. We didn't find any other sightings, any other indicators that he had left that area other than staying in that particular location.”
The remains were found just a half-mile from Cote’s home.
Shurgue detailed what resources the Berkshire DA’s office has for victims of domestic violence.
“We have a domestic violence unit here," he said. "And so, we have specialized advocates that deal directly with victims of domestic violence. We have prosecutors that are specifically assigned for that. As a matter of fact, I had sent a number of advocates and [assistant district attorneys] to a conference in Atlanta in the first week of April, so they were up to speed on all the all the nuances and the new comings of domestic violence. So, our office is taking it very seriously. And we're training. We're doing a lot of training with our advocates and with our ADAs on the issue of domestic violence, because it's so prevalent in our community, and we're trying to make sure. And this case really highlights why it's such a problem and why we have to address it, and make sure that we that we keep on the forefront and understand that these things happen. It's a reason why we try to force a lot of these cases, even when the victims are reluctant to go forward, to try to force these cases to go forward, just because we have other victims that person may reach out to and harm.”
Shugrue says the investigation into the incident remains open.
