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Prosecutors say boyfriend admitted to murdering pregnant teen in Rehoboth
Gregory Groom, 22, also allegedly offered investigators a hand-drawn map leading investigators to Kylee Monteiro’s body.
The day before she disappeared, prosecutors say Kylee Monteiro sent her sister a chilling text message.
“He threw me on the ground and pulled my hair and strangled me,” the pregnant teen allegedly wrote in the Aug. 6 text, referring to her boyfriend, 22-year-old Gregory Groom.
“My phones at 4% if I die it was greg,” she added.
Authorities announced Tuesday that a search of Groom’s Rehoboth home turned up human remains consistent with the 18-year-old Monteiro, who had been missing nearly two weeks. Prosecutors say Groom met with detectives earlier in the day and admitted to stabbing Monteiro to death, also offering a hand-drawn map leading investigators to her body.
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Groom was arraigned in Taunton District Court Wednesday on charges of murder, assault and battery on a pregnant person, domestic assault and battery, and witness intimidation. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf, and he was ordered held without bail.
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According to Assistant District Attorney Jason Mohan, Groom reported Monteiro missing to Rehoboth police Aug. 8 and told officers that Monteiro left his home following an argument. He also informed authorities Monteiro was about 11 weeks pregnant.
During his conversations with police, Groom described daily arguments and an increasingly strained relationship with Monteiro, according to court documents. He allegedly acknowledged at least one prior physical altercation.
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Monteiro’s sister told authorities her last contact with the teen was an Aug. 7 text discussing whether Monteiro would stay the night with Groom, per court records.
Officials searched Groom’s 25-acre property last week using cadaver dogs and divers, but “nothing of significance was found during that search,” Mohan said in court. When Groom again spoke with investigators at the Rehoboth Police Department Tuesday, he allegedly admitted he’d pushed Monteiro during their Aug. 6 altercation, causing her to fall back and hit her head.
Investigators continued to press Groom on Monteiro’s whereabouts, informing him that they had obtained a search warrant for his County Street home and planned to bring in excavators, Mohan said.
“Mr. Groom then paused,” the prosecutor recounted.
Asked to point investigators to Monteiro’s body, Groom drew a “rudimentary map,” Mohan said, and allegedly admitted he and Monteiro had gotten into an argument behind a shed on the property, and that he had stabbed her twice in the neck and once in the chest with a kitchen knife.
“The stab wound to the chest actually broke the blade of the knife off,” Mohan added.
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“Mr. Groom indicated to the police that he then spent several hours digging a hole in the woods, approximately 20 yards from where he killed Ms. Monteiro,” the prosecutor said. “When the sun came up, he then pushed her body into the hole and covered it up.”
According to Mohan, authorities found blood and other physical evidence at the scene of the alleged stabbing. He said the body believed to be Monteiro’s was located about 5 feet underground, the grave obscured with a pile of brush and cut trees.
The state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is now working to identify the remains and conduct an autopsy, Mohan said.
“But all of the evidence points to the defendant at this point, as you heard in court, having killed her,” Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn said in a news conference following Wednesday’s arraignment.
He also pushed back when asked why law enforcement hadn’t shared public updates regularly throughout the course of the investigation into Monteiro’s disappearance.
“Investigations aren’t conducted in public,” Quinn said, adding, “There were significant resources brought to bear during the past 10 to 12 days of this case that culminated in his arrest. So unfortunately, it seems in today’s world, everybody wants to know what’s going on … as it happens. That’s not the way investigations work.”
Groom’s defense attorney was not immediately reachable for comment Wednesday morning. He is due back in court for a probable cause hearing Sept. 10.
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Monteiro’s family and friends have planned a candlelit vigil in her memory for 7 p.m. Saturday at 401 Winthrop St. in Rehoboth.
“I know this is not the ending we all wanted but this is closure for us and this gives Kylee the opportunity to rest in peace with her mom and her baby,” Kitty Monteiro, one of the teen’s sisters, wrote on Facebook.
She added: “I think it’s a good time to remind everyone to check in regularly with people, tell them you love them every chance you get, take photos every single day, and don’t ever forget that people love you. So many people.”
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