Pawtucket Man Gets Life In Prison For Murdering Ex-Girlfriend

PAWTUCKET, RI — A Pawtucket man was sentenced to life in prison for gunning down his ex-girlfriend as she was leaving her hair salon.

Michael Fernandes, 36, pleaded guilty Friday to murder and was sentenced to life the same day.

Another 40 years was tacked on to Fernandes' sentence for his guilty pleas to assault resulting in serious bodily injury, possession of a firearm without a license possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Fernandez shot and killed Jocelyn DoCouto, 33, outside the hair salon she owned in January 2024.

The day of the killing, an "HVAC technician working on the roof of the American Wire Residential Lofts in Pawtucket heard the sound of gunfire and screaming," according to a media release from the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office.

"From the ledge of the roof, the technician saw a man standing over a woman’s body outside of a salon across the street," the release said. "The technician immediately took photos of a gray SUV with a white license plate near the scene of the crime and called the police. When Pawtucket Police arrived, they attempted to administer aid to the woman, but she was pronounced deceased by emergency personnel shortly thereafter."

Another witness told of seeing a gray SUV fleeing the area after he heard gunshots, according to the release, and detectives obtained surveillance video of a gray SUV in front of the salon at the time of the murder.

"After canvassing the area for the vehicle, detectives located (Fernandes) sleeping in a gray 2023 Chevy Suburban with California license plates and took him into custody," the release said.

Fernandes was arrested shortly before the killing and charged with attempting to break into DoCouto's home, per the release, and she had a no-contact order against him at the time of her murder.

After Fernandes' arrest on the murder charge, detectives reviewed text messages sent between DoCouto and another party in which she said her ex threatened her life after he discovered she was dating another man, according to the release.

Also, the U.S. determined Fernandes' cellphone was in the area at the time of the murder and the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory found primer gunshot residue on his sweatshirt, per the release.

“Perpetrators of domestic violence seek to exert control over their victims, and will go to extreme measures to maintain it, as was the case here,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said in the release.

“Jocelyn was a hardworking entrepreneur and a mother of two young children," Neronha said. "And unfortunately, just as Jocelyn was beginning to build a new life without the defendant, he brutally took her life in a senseless act of rage."

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