Teenager convicted of killing then decapitating classmate

SALEM, Mass. – A Massachusetts teenager has been found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder for stabbing to death and then decapitating a high school classmate in a dispute over a girl.

After a two-week trial, 18-year-old Mathew Borges was convicted Tuesday on the second day of jury deliberations in Salem Superior Court of killing 16-year-old Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino in November 2016. Borges was 15 at the time but was tried as an adult.

The teens were classmates at Lawrence High School.

Prosecutors say Borges was jealous the victim had spent time with a girl he liked. Viloria-Paulino’s body was found along the banks of the Merrimack River by a dog walker, his head nearby.

Borges’ attorneys had argued there was no physical evidence to link their client to the death.