Within hours, the investigation had crossed state lines. But one person who knew the family said she was not surprised when she learned whom police were trying to find.

The reason would emerge as authorities disclosed what they knew about the Hanafin household, the guns inside it, and the hours before the 49-year-old mother of three was found dead.

A Husband Returned Home to a Grim Discovery

Matthew Hanafin, 48, had been working a 12-hour shift before returning to the family’s Center Avenue home, according to the New York Post.

At about 12:38 a.m. on Thursday, October 8, Reading police received his 911 call. Matthew told authorities he had found his wife, Andria, dead in their kitchen. The initial investigation determined that Andria had been shot. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Andria and Matthew had three children. Their youngest son, 13, had been at the home during the period in which authorities believe his mother was killed. Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said the boy had last seen his mother alive at about 5 p.m. He then went out with friends.

The 13-year-old returned at about 9 p.m. and told investigators he went directly to his bedroom. According to the district attorney, he did not see his mother when he came home. The couple’s daughter was away at college at the time.

There was another member of the household authorities could not immediately account for: Andria’s 22-year-old son, Ryan Hanafin. His car was gone, too.

Police Began Looking for Her Older Son

Ryan was driving a black 2010 Dodge Charger with Massachusetts license plate 2PSY15. Authorities connected the vehicle to their investigation and began trying to locate him.

He had been seen driving toward Tewksbury, Massachusetts, at around 7:25 p.m. Wednesday, before his mother’s body was discovered, according to CBS News Boston. Matthew told investigators he had not spoken with his older son since Wednesday morning.

Authorities also disclosed another significant detail: Ryan legally owned several guns and had a license to carry a firearm. Reading police suspended that license Thursday morning.

The district attorney said Ryan had no known history of mental health issues. Officials had also found no significant history of police calls to the family home before Andria’s death.

No motive was announced. Police had not recovered the weapon used to kill Andria, according to the information released in the investigation. As officers searched for Ryan, attention turned north.

The Search Crossed into Vermont

Ryan had known connections to Warren, Vermont, roughly 170 miles northwest of Reading. Massachusetts authorities alerted Vermont State Police on Thursday afternoon. Troopers began searching the Warren area for Ryan and his Dodge Charger.

The search lasted about two hours, according to Fox News. Authorities eventually spotted the Charger on Vermont Route 100, south of Sugarbush Access Road.

State troopers and local deputies stopped Ryan at about 2:30 p.m. He was arrested without incident. Ryan was charged in Vermont with being a fugitive from justice and held without bail at the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility.

He was due to appear in Vermont Superior Court in Barre at 12:30 p.m. Friday for arraignment. The supplied reporting said he was expected to face additional charges in Massachusetts.

At that stage of the investigation, however, police had described Ryan as a “person of interest,” not a “suspect.”

As investigators worked to determine what happened inside the Hanafin home, a woman who knew the family addressed the development that had put Ryan at the center of the search.

A Family Friend Explains Why She Wasn’t Surprised

Elizabeth Coppla, a friend of Andria’s, told WBZ-TV that her family knew the Hanafins, including Ryan. Coppla spoke warmly about Andria, describing her as someone who had helped her family over the years.

She also said Andria spoke positively about her children and loved her family. But when Coppla learned police were looking for Ryan, she said the news itself did not surprise her.

“No, because I know he has a gun, and I know he’s the only one that has a gun in that house,” Coppla told WBZ-TV. Authorities separately confirmed that Ryan legally owned several firearms.

The statement did not establish who shot Andria. At the time covered by the supplied reports, investigators had not publicly identified a motive, and the murder weapon had not been recovered.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Reading Police, and Massachusetts State Police were investigating the apparent homicide.

District Attorney Addresses Domestic Violence

District Attorney Ryan also addressed the unusual circumstances surrounding the case during a news conference.

“It is shocking. It is tragic. This is obviously a situation of domestic violence, alleged to be domestic violence at this point, although not the traditional domestic violence situation that we think of,” she said.

She then pointed specifically to firearms in the home. “It is a moment of reflection about the presence of guns in a home during an alleged dispute.” Authorities had said there was no significant record of earlier police calls to the Hanafin residence.

That left investigators examining a case in which a mother had been found shot inside her own kitchen, one child had been home during the relevant period, another was away at college, and her adult son was found in another state hours later.

Friends Remember Andria

As the investigation continued, people who knew Andria described a woman who had made a lasting impression on those around her. Coppla called Andria a “really good human being” and said she had done a great deal for her family over the years.

Family friend Heather Gagliardi also remembered Andria in a GiveSendGo fundraiser created after her death.

Gagliardi described the 49-year-old as someone who genuinely cared about other people and was always willing to help family, friends, and even people she had only recently met.

She wrote that Andria had “a heart of gold” and would give someone the shirt off her back without hesitation. Andria’s Facebook page was also among the online spaces associated with the mother as news of her death spread.

By Friday, the investigation into what happened inside the Reading home remained active.

Ryan was in custody in Vermont, while authorities in Massachusetts continued investigating his mother’s shooting death. At the time of the supplied reports, officials had not publicly announced a motive or recovered the weapon used to kill Andria.