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What we know about the armed robbery of a massive Beverly mansion
The property's caretaker was beaten with a pistol and dragged by her hair by a masked intruder, according to the homeowner.
On Saturday morning, an armed intruder broke into a historic mansion in Beverly and made off in a stolen car with multiple valuables.
An investigation is ongoing, and much remains unclear. This is what we know so far.
What police say
At about 8:50 a.m. on March 28, Beverly police received a 911 call from a neighbor, who reported a home invasion at a property on Paine Avenue.
Authorities determined that an armed suspect broke into the home, assaulted and tied up the mansion’s sole occupant, and stole several unspecified items, Chief John LeLacheur said in a statement.
The suspect fled in a stolen vehicle, which was later located and recovered by police. The suspect remains at large.
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The assault victim was brought to Beverly Hospital and treated for nonlife-threatening injuries. They have since been released.
What the homeowner says
The mansion, known as “Rock Edge,” is owned by Thomas J. Swan III. He is the head of The Swan Group, which owns commercial real estate and multiple businesses that make and distribute heating, plumbing, and water products.
Swan said that the person who was home at the time was a caretaker and a family friend. She was forced around the house at gunpoint, dragged down staircases by her hair, and pistol-whipped, he told The Boston Globe.
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The caretaker said that the suspect was wearing a balaclava, and that they tied her up and left her in the garage. She was eventually able to free herself and run to a neighbor’s home, where they called police. She told authorities that the break-in occurred at about 6 a.m. that morning.
“She was in total shock,” Swan told the Globe. “It was extremely traumatic.”
Swan did not specify what items were stolen but said that they are very valuable. The stolen car was a Porsche.
Swan believes that the perpetrator was likely someone familiar with the house, per the Globe. He is urging anyone who may have been in the area between 2 and 7 a.m. Saturday and who might have information about the crime to contact Beverly police.
The home
Rock Edge, located in the affluent Prides Crossing neighborhood of Beverly, was built in 1904 and commissioned by Marian Sargent, a descendent of Thomas Jefferson. Sargent’s husband, Lucius Manlius Sargent IV, was treasurer of the Lawrence Manufacturing Company, a major textile producer in Lowell. Marian Sargent used the mansion as a summer retreat from another home in Boston, according to the Globe.
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The deed was passed to Sargent’s niece, the women’s sports pioneer Eleonora Sears. Her father was one of the first to play tennis in America, and her uncle was the first U.S. national tennis champion. Sears went on to win a number of national tennis championships herself and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968.
Sears was a well-known socialite who made best-dressed lists while also stirring controversy by wearing pants onto a polo field in 1909. She was known as the “Mother of Squash” and broke barriers in that sport as well. Sears raced yachts and speedboats, was an accomplished horsewoman, and completed long-distance endurance walks. She played 19 sports in total, according to the New England Historical Society.
After Sears’s death, the mansion was sold to the Benevento family in 1970. Its interior was completely renovated in the decades since, and it went back on the market in 2021. It was listed for $22 million.
When the mansion sold for $18,275,000 in 2023, it was the most expensive sale in Beverly history, not including off-market transactions.
The 28,000-square-foot property overlooks 400 square feet of private beachfront. The mansion itself has 11 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 14 wood-burning fireplaces, and a 1,500-square-foot kitchen.
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