I'm sorry I didn't blog about this sooner, but I spent all day and evening around the crime scene at 586 Bridge St., where police were called about 2 p.m., for a report of an unresponsive child.

Inside the apartment building pictured below, officers found Deanne Fontes, 17, and her live-in boyfriend Brian Nutter, 28, performing CPR on Fontes' 2-year-old son Dean McCullough.

Dean was taken from the apartment to Lowell General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Fontes, and Nutter, pictured below, were taken in for questioning, but eventually allowed to return to the scene last night, though they were not allowed back into their apartment while police sought a search warrant.

They spoke to news crews as they waited, saying police had suggested that Dean was strangled.

Fontes and Nutter said they had just put Dean down for a nap yesterday afternoon, when less than five minutes later Nutter went to get a drink and heard the boy screaming, shaking, and unable to breath.
They tried to perform CPR and called 911.

"He had a seizure, and we tried to save his life," Nutter said.

"I didn't hurt my child and neither did my boyfriend," Fontes said through tears. "He was a lovely little boy."

Fontes and Nutter both said Fontes' three-year-old, Thomas McCullough, has long fought with his brother, and often hits him with toys. They said they always pull the children apart and try to stop Thomas, and even considered putting the boys into a "sibling rivalry" class.

"Thomas likes to bite Dean, punch him, throw toys at him, hit him with toys," she said.

Fontes also said Dean had been sick lately, throwing up, and that he fell out of his crib on Tuesday night and struck his face.

District Attorney Gerard Leone's Office has said only that they are investigating the death, and that the State Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy.

Fontes said authorities took custody of 3-year-old Thomas until they can figure out what happened, and she said he was taken to a Boston hospital to be checked for internal injuries, even though she said he wasn't hurt.

Below is a couple clips of Fontes speaking to us, along with some video of detectives arriving and searching the apartment.

I'll post a link of my story, which contains even more details, on Thursday as soon as it appears on our website.

At one point during our conversations, a reporter asked Deanne Fontes how difficult it is to be considered a possible suspect even as she mourns the death of her son.

"It sucks," she said. "It makes me want to die."

Also, I forgot to include a photo credit. The second picture in the entry is a screen capture the crew from Fox25 made for me since I didn't catch a good photo of Fontes and Nutter talking to police.

Hudson Police are asking for some help with identifying a guy who has been going around town passing counterfeit money recently. He tried to do it again tonight, according to police.

Officers were called to the CVS on Derry Road a little after 8 p.m., after a man tried to pass a phoney $50 bill.

Managers had been warned someone was passing counterfeit money around town, so they called police immediately. The suspect fled before officers could arrive, though.

The suspect, pictured above, is described as a black male, over 6'0, with a muscular build. He is believed to drive a newer model silver or gray 4-door sedan, possibly a Ford 500.

Anyone with information on his identity is asked to call Hudson Police at 603.886.6011.

Narragansett Police announced this afternoon that they have found the body of Samnang Nou, 25, of Lowell, in about 40 feet of water not far from the rocks where he leapt into the ocean on Sunday afternoon.

The search for Nou had included three Coast Guard cutters, Coast Guard helicopters and jets, other agencies, but it was a Rhode Island State Police dive team that finally found Nou while using underwater sonar equipment and a robotic camera.

Police have confirmed Nou's identity because his driver's license was still in his back pocket. His body was turned over to the Rhode Island Medical Examiner's Office.

Nou reportedly jumped into the water after three of his family members were swept off the rocks of Hazard Rock in Narragansett on Sunday by a large wave. The other three were rescued, but Nou gave his live trying to save his own family.

I've stopped by the family's house a couple times this week and left my card, but I haven't heard back.

A few helpful witnesses and a police officer who had his eyes open even though he was on the opposite side of the city from an armed robbery Monday night led to the quick arrest of two men.

Officers were sent to the 7-Eleven at Princeton Boulevard and Wood Street right at 10 p.m., for a report that a man was robbing the store with a knife and that the store clerk had fled, leaving several customers inside with the suspect.

Officers arrived and learned from witnesses that a white male in a white shirt and jeans had dropped his knife, run from the store and then got into a green Buick.

Witnesses gave police a license plate number for that getaway car, and as officers assigned to the Highlands neighborhood investigated the robbery, Officer Billy Finn was still on routine patrol in Lower Belvedere.

It was about 10 minutes after the robbery that Finn spotted the car said to be involved in the robbery and stopped it on Lawrence Street at Charles Street.

Wayne Destefano, 25, of 21 Pine St., Pepperell, who is pictured above, and Rafael Nieves, 37, who his homeless, were both arrested and charged with armed robbery while masked.

Destafano is accused of going into the store, while Nieves, pictured with Officer Finn below, is accused of driving the getaway car. He faces the same charges as Destefano under the joint venture principal.

According to our archives, Destefano is one of three men who were convicted of armed robbery in February of last year in connection with a March 30, 2008 armed robbery at the Cumberland Farms on Main Street in Pepperell. Not sure why he was already out of jail.

I lived right down the street from that Cumberland Farms about seven years ago before I moved to Somerville and then Lowell, and always liked the clerks working there.

The name Rafael Nieves only comes up once in our archives, and that's for a drug arrest in 2001 in which a man who's name and age match up was charged with distribution of heroin and marijuana.

Tewksbury Police would very much like to open up a line of communication with the individual pictured below, since the picture below was taken as he robbed the Shell gas station, at 1975 Main St., Friday morning about 2 a.m.

Police Chief Timothy Sheehan says the man entered through an unlocked door in the back of the station and pulled a knife on a clerk. He demanded all the cash from the register and fled through the back door.

The clerk was unhurt.

The suspect is described as a white male, 5'4 to 5'6, with a medium build. He wore a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and black running pants.

Anyone with information on the robbery, or who believes they may know who this individual is, is asked to call Tewksbury Police at 978.851.7373. If you want to remain anonymous call the Tewksbury Police tip line at 978.851.0175.

Firefighters from Groton and Dunstable were joined by crews from 17 other cities and towns this afternoon and evening in an effort to surround and stop a brush fire that burned an estimated 10 to 15 acres, and which remained burning overnight.

If you follow this map link and zoom out a bit, you can see the area that is burning between Martins Pond Road and Chicopee Row.

I drove all the way around the fire this evening, but was unable to spot any smoke, although I could definitely smell the fire as I was crossing into Groton from Westford on Route 40.

Dunstable Fire Chief Charlie Rich told me the blaze was about a half mile into the woods from Chicopee Row, where firefighters setup the command post pictured below.

Crews were also setup and working from Floyd Hill Road, which is the first thing you see in that map link, but I was unable to get to that point because police closed Martins Pond Road.

Rich said crews were surrounding the fire last night and setup a perimeter around it to keep it contained overnight, and that firefighters will be back to work fighting it first thing at dawn.

The blaze was not believed to be near any homes, though Rich said he wasn't 100 percent sure what was happening on the other side of the fire, on the Floyd Hill Road side. I heard no radio broadcasts indicating anything over there, though.

In addition to local fire departments, the mobile command center from the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services was also at the scene.

Police are on scene of an accident on Willard Street at Beacon Street that sent a 12-year-old Lowell boy to the hospital via MedFlight this afternoon.

Officers were called to Willard Street about 2:45 p.m., and discovered the 12-year-old had been riding a mountain bike outbound on Willard Street when for some reason he ended up in the path of a red Nissan sedan that struck him.

The boy was not wearing a helmet and suffered a serious head injury, though police told me it did not appear to be life-threatening.

The boy was taken directly to Monahan Park, across Pleasant Street from the fire department headquarters in Dracut, where he was met by a MedFlight helicopter that flew him to Boston.

A pair of light green Crocs and the mountain bike remained along the side of the road, the bike's tire slightly bent.

There was no visible damage to the Nissan.

The young woman from Lowell who was driving the Nissan remained at the scene and looked to be very distraught.

She is not facing any charges, but the crash remains under investigation by the traffic bureau, which is still at the scene taking measurements for accident reconstruction.

Police have not identified either the boy or the driver at this early stage of the investigation.