Man taken into custody in Vermont faces murder charge in his mother’s death in Massachusetts

Ryan Hanafin appears on a video conference from Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury on Friday, October 9, 2026. Screenshot by Alan J. Keays/VTDigger

" data-large-file="https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Ryan-Hanafin.png" /> Ryan Hanafin appears on a video conference from Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury on Friday, October 9, 2026. Screenshot by Alan J. Keays/VTDigger

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A Massachusetts man wanted in connection with the death of his mother in the Bay State appeared in a Vermont court Friday after he was taken into custody a day earlier in Warren.

Ryan Hanafin, 22, agreed during a brief hearing Friday afternoon in Washington County criminal court in Barre to be extradited to Massachusetts. MassLive.com reported Friday that Hanafin faces charges of murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Massachusetts in the fatal shooting of his mother, 49-year-old Andria Hanafin.

VTDigger was not able to confirm the charges Hanafin faces in Massachusetts. The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts could not immediately be reached Friday for comment.

Vermont Superior Court Judge Michael Kainen asked Ryan Hanafin if his decision to return to Massachusetts was voluntary.

“Yes, sir,” Hanafin said, appearing by video for the proceeding from the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury where he has been held without bail since he was taken into custody Thursday afternoon in Vermont.

Washington County State’s Attorney Michelle Donnelly told the judge that she expected authorities in Massachusetts to come to Vermont and transport Hanafin back to that state “pretty quickly,” though she added she did not have exact timing.

Kainan set the case for another hearing next week to check on the status of Hanafin’s return to Massachusetts.

According to court filings made public Friday in Vermont following his hearing, Massachusetts authorities had early on in the investigation termed Hanafin a “person of interest” in the shooting death of his mother in a home where they both lived in Reading, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.

Massachusetts State Police had contacted authorities in Vermont on Thursday reporting that they believed Hanafin was in Vermont, and that he was known to have a “prior connection” to Powderhound Road in the town of Warren, according to police and court filings.

Hanafin was spotted by police in Vermont driving a Dodge Charger on Route 100 south of the Sugarbush Access Road in Warren around 2:30 p.m. Thursday and troopers pulled him over and took him into custody on an arrest warrant out of Massachusetts, according to the court filings.

Andria Hanafin, a mother of three, was also an “animal rescuer/fosterer” of cats and worked as a veterinary technician, the court filings stated. Inside the home, the filings added, there were 20 to 30 cats and kittens roaming.

Matthew Hanafin, Ryan Hanafin’s father, who had discovered his wife’s body in the home when he returned home from work early Thursday morning, told investigators that his son and his son’s Dodge Charger were missing, court filings stated.

“Matthew told investigators he noticed that and thought it was strange because Ryan had not left the house in several days,” according to the court filings.

The father reported to police that he had last spoken to wife Wednesday evening. “They spoke briefly about an argument with their son Ryan about the cats in the household,” the court filings stated, adding, “During that conversation, the victim told Matthew she wanted Ryan to move out of the house.”

The father also reported to police that the last time he saw Ryan Hanafin was around 11 a.m. Wednesday when he recalled “yelling at Ryan that he needs to get a job and do something with his life,” the court filings stated.

Police also spoke to a friend of Ryan Hanafin’s who reported that he received a Snapchat message from Hanafin at 6:44 p.m. Wednesday about a conversation Ryan Hanafin had earlier with his cousin. “Told him I blew madre to pieces and he believed me” the message from Hanafin stated, according to the court filings, using the Spanish word for mother.

Avi Springer, an attorney who represented Hanafin in the Vermont court proceeding Friday, could also not immediately be reached Friday for comment.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Man taken into custody in Vermont faces murder charge in his mother’s death in Massachusetts.