A Massachusetts man who was suspected of fatally stabbing a woman has died after he told authorities he had ingested battery acid, Plymouth County authorities said Thursday.
Joao Correia, 56, was taken into custody Wednesday after the woman was found stabbed to death in her driveway in Brockton around 1 p.m., the district attorney’s office said.
When police found Correia in an apartment, he “told investigators that he had ingested battery acid and suffered a medical episode,” the office said in a statement.
He died at a hospital at 9:36 p.m., it said. The medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death.
The woman who was killed was identified as Veronica Goncalves, 48. Police believe she and Correia had a previous relationship.
Goncalves’ nephew said she was a mother of two and a grandmother of a 2-year-old child, NBC Boston reported.
Brockton is a city of around 105,000 residents around 20 miles south of downtown Boston.