An Andover couple found murdered in their home 12 years ago are featured in a new Massachusetts State Police campaign aimed at closing unsolved killings.
State Police are giving out decks of playing cards to inmates in state prisons with details on cold cases in hopes of generating new leads. State police partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Correction, and the District Attorney’s offices to produce the decks.
Holly Senykoff was dropping her children off when she found her parents John and Jeri Magee dead from multiple gunshot wounds in their Orchard Crossing home on Dec. 14, 2011. Their black, Lexus SUV had been found burning in Boston’s North End the night before their bodies were found.
“They are lying on the ground with blood coming out, [the daughter] believes they are beyond any help,” an Andover police dispatcher wrote in the initial police log entry. The state medical examiner rule John, 69, had been shot in the head, neck and chest by one or more people over a period of seconds. Geraldine, 67, had been shot once in the head.
John Magee went to a construction site in Reading where his company was working and told his son, John Magee Jr., he planned to go to Boston to get building materials. John Sr. left the site around 3 p.m. and said he would drop the materials off the following day.
Senykoff told investigators she spoke with her mother around 4:25 p.m. on the same day, who said she would watch her grandchildren while her daughter went Christmas shopping. She belived her father was talking in the background. John Jr. was in the construction company’s office in the basement of the house and left around 4:30 the day before his parents were found.
Anyone with information should call the Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Essex County District Attorney’s office at 978-745-8908 or the Andover Police Anonymous Tip Line at 978-623-3560.