‘He hit me, so I hit him’; Neighbor testifies in jury trial of Stephanie Fernandes, woman accused of fatally stabbing fiance Andrew T. Wagner

Theresa Deroy thought her partner Mark Stevens was playing a prank on her by repeatedly ringing their doorbell at their 23 Angelo St. townhome in Worcester on the night of May 7, 2014.

The couple, along with Theresa’s daughter, had returned home from dinner at Ruby Tuesday and hadn’t been home more than 10 to 15 minutes before their doorbell began ringing, repeatedly.

Stevens called Deroy down to the door where she found her neighbor Stephanie Fernandes in a tank top and sweatpants telling the couple to “come, come, come.”

Deroy recalled this night in Worcester Superior Court Wednesday as she took the stand in the trial of Fernandes, who is accused of fatally stabbing her fiance Andrew T. Wagner.

Fernandes led Deroy and Stevens to 25 Angelo St., where she and Wagner lived, along with Fernades’ 11-year-old daughter.

Deroy and Stevens followed Fernandes into the home and walked upstairs to the first floor and found a frightening scene.

Deroy noticed blood on the first-floor landing, a holstered gun on the couch and a plate of food with silverware, she said.

Stevens, who had walked further into the home, called for Deroy from down the hallway in the area of the bathroom.

Deroy then walked through the kitchen and saw more blood on the floor. She looked ahead and saw Stevens in the bathroom, she said.

There she saw Wagner lying in a pool of blood face up in front of the vanity. His head was by the sink and his feet were sticking out, she told the courtroom.

Deroy and Stevens tried to find the source of the blood. She lifted underneath his belt buckle but didn’t find anything. Stevens turned him and that’s when she saw the wound to the left side of his neck, she said.

Wagner’s lips were blue and he was breathing very heavily. It looked like he had a film over his eyes, she said.

Stevens handed her a t-shirt which she attempted to use to stop the bleeding.

Deroy asked her daughter, who had followed them to the townhome, to call 911, but she was having difficulty getting through.

Stevens then attempted to call, but was having trouble sharing information over the phone as Fernandes was screaming hysterically in the background, Deroy said.

“Save him,” Fernandes screamed, Deryoy said.

At one point, Fernandes jumped onto Wagner and began pushing nearing his abdomen. Stevens yelled at her and told her to stop as Deroy was applying pressure to Wagner’s neck, according to Deroy.

Stevens elevated Wagner’s feet on a stool and told Fernandes to “shut up” as she continued to scream, according to Deroy.

Fernandes quieted down and that’s when Deroy asked her what happened.

“She said ‘well, he hit me, so, I hit him,” Deroy said.

Fernandes told Deroy that Wagner had threatened her with a gun and tried to strangle her.

“So you stabbed him,” Deroy said. “And she said, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.’”

Deroy told the courtroom she didn’t see anything that would show she was hit or strangled.

Wagner stopped breathing and Deroy, who has been a registered nurse since 1985, began to give him cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. Stevens, who used to work as an EMT, began to give Wagner chest compressions. They continued this until paramedics arrived, which took less than 10 minutes, according to Deroy.

When the paramedics arrived they asked Deroy and Stevens to back away. Deroy said she backed up as close to the sink as possible and put her hand down and felt something. She picked it up and saw that it was a knife and immediately placed it down and let the paramedics know, she said.

Deroy said she gave statements to police that night and provided fingerprints the next day to exonerate her after picking up the knife in the bathroom, she said.

In their opening statements in Worcester Superior Court Tuesday, prosecutors and defense attorneys re-shared the history of Fernandes, who is now 39, and Wagner, her fiance who she is accused of stabbing to death on May 7, 2014.

Fernandes was arraigned on a manslaughter charge in May 2014. She was then later indicted for murder, as well as assault with a dangerous weapon.

Worcester Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-Walker dismissed the murder charge in 2016, ruling that the prosecution failed to advise the grand jury on the legal significance of the mitigating evidence regarding Fernandes’ history as a victim of domestic violence.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court vacated the dismissal, sending Fernandes’ case back to Worcester Superior Court.

A medical examiner did not find any defensive wounds on Wagner’s body following his fatal stabbing on May 7, 2014.

Dr. Andrew Elin also testified in Worcester Superior Court Wednesday. He was presented with several photos of Wagner’s body that were collected during an autopsy, which was conducted by Dr. Katherine Lindstrom on May 8, 2014, and confirmed Wagner died of an apparent stab wound.

When presented with photos of Wagner’s left and right hands, which could have potentially shown defensive wounds, Elin stated that there were no apparent injuries.

The direction of the stab wound, which was on the left side of Wagner’s neck was front to back and downward, Elin said.

Elin said the blood that had pooled around Wagner’s body while he was slumped on the floor in the bathroom showed an alcohol level of .03 in a toxicology report.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors and defense attorneys have painted a picture of a toxic and violent couple that tormented one another for years through verbal abuse, physical abuse and cheating.

A photo of Andrew Wagner and Stephanie Fernandes together presented in Worcester Superior Court Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Defense attorney Peter Ettenberg told the jury that prosecutors have downplayed evidence of Wagner’s abuse throughout the case.

He described Fernandes as a battered partner.

The attorney accused Wagner of choking, smacking and pushing around Fernandes and beating her “like a man” with a closed fist, knocking her out of consciousness.

“This was such a messed up relationship,’ Ettenberg told the jury. “But what you really need to pay attention to, is the night of May 7, 2014. That’s the night Wagner attacked Fernandes and she did nothing but defend herself.”

The SJC decision states the integrity of the grand jury process was not impaired. The grand jury determines probable cause, not guilt, the decision said.

Fernandes told a former boyfriend she had anger issues and could “actually murder somebody” when she gets upset, the decision said.

Fernandes admitted to stabbing Wagner during another incident that allegedly took place before the fatal attack, according to the SJC decision.

The grand jury found there was sufficient enough evidence to indict her on the murder charge, the decision said.

Asked on several occasions whether or not she heard anything coming from 25 Angelo St. — noise of any kind — before Fernades arrived at their doorstep ringing their doorbell, Deroy told the courtroom that she did not hear anything.

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