Elderly Woman Found with 60 Stab Wounds Finally Sees Justice

A brutal murder that haunted a Rhode Island community for nearly a decade has finally reached its grim conclusion.

Matthew Dusseault, now 28, was sentenced to life in prison for the horrifying 2016 killing of 81-year-old Constance Gauthier — an active, beloved woman whose body was found hidden beneath a mattress with more than 60 stab wounds.

According to prosecutors, police made the gruesome discovery after a worried neighbor spotted Gauthier lying motionless through her bedroom window in Woonsocket. When officers entered, they found the home staged to look like a break-in — but nothing had been stolen. DNA evidence later linked Dusseault to the murder scene, though no motive was ever revealed.

Attorney General Peter Neronha called Gauthier a “vibrant, active woman whose life was tragically cut short,” adding, “I can only hope that those who loved her feel a sense of closure knowing justice has been served.”

Dusseault, who was just 18 at the time of the murder, maintained his innocence in court, saying: “For the past seven years, I’ve been labeled as a criminal and treated like an animal. I ask, where’s the justice in this world?”

But for Gauthier’s family, no punishment will erase the horror of her final moments. “It’ll never be enough,” said her niece, Sandy Paul. “She’s not here — and I’ll never understand the brutality in how she was taken.”

Dusseault’s life sentence includes the possibility of parole, though prosecutors made clear that the community will never forget the shocking violence that took Gauthier’s life.

Source: WJAR / WPRI / Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office