Suspect in brutal Brockton stabbing dies after reportedly ingesting battery acid

The man accused of brutally stabbing a woman to death in her Brockton driveway on Wednesday died later that night after reportedly drinking battery acid.

Shortly after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Brockton police and emergency medical personnel, responding to a 911 call, found Veronica Goncalves, 48, bleeding on the ground of her Crescent Street driveway “with obvious trauma to the head,” Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said in a press release.

Goncalves was pronounced dead at the scene.

“This is a savage, brutal incident,” Cruz told reporters Wednesday. “This woman did not deserve this.”

After reviewing video surveillance and conducting interviews, local and state police said they came to believe that Joao Correia, 56, who had previously been in a relationship with Goncalves, targeted her.

Police also found bloody clothing when they arrested Correia.

After he was taken to Brockton Police Department for an interview, Correia told police that he had ingested battery acid, according to the district attorney. He suffered a medical episode, was medflighted to an area hospital, and pronounced dead at 9:36 p.m.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will make an official ruling on his cause of death, the district attorney said.

An investigation by Brockton and state police remains ongoing.

WCVB reported that Goncalves was a mother of two and a grandmother, and that her 2-year-old granddaughter was in a nearby car at the time of the killing.

“A very wonderful mom, definitely a strong independent woman, who’s been in this country not for so long, only been here for a couple years — kind hearted,” Goncalves’ nephew, Pedro Rosario, told Boston 25 News. “We’re all in a state of shock — that someone would do this to her is beyond belief. We’re just trying to put the pieces together.”

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