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Chester Man Charged in Wife's Murder

Chester — A man with a protective order against him allegedly broke into his estranged wife's home Thursday night and killed her, according to state police.

John Belanger, 49, was apprehended moments later—after apparently trying to take his own life—and charged with murder.

Bonnie McKay-Belanger, 51, of 7 Bailey Road, called 911 about 7:15 p.m. Thursday, reporting that her husband was forcing his way into her home. She told state police that there was a protective order in place against him, dispatchers heard a portion of the argument between the two as Belanger allegedly broke in, and then the phone went dead, police said.

When police arrived, they found McKay-Belanger with multiple stab wounds. Chester ambulance responded immediately after receiving a call of a bleeding emergency.

Once arriving at the scene, the two members of the ambulance crew and two other medical responders, all EMTs, "worked to control the patient's bleeding and then executed a rapid transport to Middlesex Hospital," Assistant Fire Chief James Grzybowski said.

McKay-Belanger was declared dead at the hospital.

State police issued a description of Belanger to surrounding police departments and he was pulled over on Route 9 near exit 2.

Belanger was taken to the Shoreline Clinic and treated for non-life threatening injuries. "It may have been a suicide attempt," said Lt. J. Paul Vance, spokesman for the State Police Department.

Belanger was later taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital where he was admitted and remains under state police guard.

Belanger is being held on a $1 million bond and will appear in Middletown Superior Court when he is medically cleared, police said.

Reportedly state police had been called to the McKay-Belanger home "a few times" over the past several months. Court records show two arrests. Belanger had been arrested Oct. 17, 2009 on a charge of second degree harassment, a Class C misdemeanor, and then again on Nov. 24, 2009. In November the charge was violation of a protective order, which is a Class D felony. In both arrests, he was released after posting a $500 bond and he was due to appear in Superior Court in Middletown on March 12 to answer the charges.

McKay-Belanger filed for divorce on Dec. 9, 2009. A court date was set for March 29.

First Selectman Thomas Marsh said he was contacted Thursday evening by Chester's resident trooper, Adam Brown, who informed him of the incident and the state police response.

"There was a very prompt response from the state police. It's my understanding that they were at the victim's door within a very short time. There were a lot of resources there in a very short time, including our ambulance and medical response personnel," Marsh said. "The state police also responded with their major crime unit. The full resources of the state police were available to us and they conducted the investigation at the scene."

Kathleen Edgecomb of The Day and Jen Matteis of www.zip06.com contributed to this story.