A Lake Street duplex that once blended into the neighborhood is now tied to one of Weymouth’s most chilling recent crimes. On Monday, 46-year-old Kelly Shaw of Weymouth was sentenced to 15 to 17 years in state prison after admitting she killed her housemate, 56-year-old Christine Mello, and then tapped into Mello’s finances in the weeks surrounding her death. The sentence will be followed by three years of probation.
Plea and sentence
Shaw entered a guilty plea in Norfolk Superior Court on April 16, 2026, to voluntary manslaughter, larceny of a motor vehicle, larceny over $1,200 and intimidation, according to The Patriot Ledger. Court filings detailed by Boston.com say the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner documented 17 sharp and blunt-force wounds on Mello’s body, and toxicology tests detected cocaine.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the original murder charge Shaw had faced, a significant step down in potential exposure that still leaves her serving well over a decade behind bars.
Prosecutors’ account and evidence
Prosecutors say Mello was found dead in the basement of the Lake Street home on April 1, 2024. In the weeks that followed, investigators pulled surveillance footage and banking records that they say tied Shaw and an associate, John “Jack” Harper, to a series of suspicious transactions involving Mello’s money.
Authorities allege Shaw and Harper used Mello’s debit card, deposited checks from Mello’s mother’s estate into other accounts, and that Harper sold Mello’s car, as reported by CBS Boston. When officers entered the Lake Street duplex, court paperwork states they found a safe under a desk sitting open and cash missing.
Timeline and filings
Court records cited by Boston.com show Shaw moved into Mello’s home in January 2024. Investigators later secured indictments on larceny and intimidation charges in June 2024 and on the fatality in August 2024…