Finn’s Family Thanks Police Who Worked ‘Tirelessly’ to Arrest Murder Suspects

Bryce T. Finn was shot in the chest after answering the door at his Bradford home (pictured) in June 2017. (WHAV News file photograph.)

Bryce Finn’s family is thanking Haverhill Police for working “tirelessly” to arrest those connected to the teen’s 2017 shooting. (WHAV News photograph of the scene at Rainbow Drive)

Meagan Finn went through any parent’s worst nightmare on the night of June 6, 2017 when her 18-year-old son Bryce was murdered on their doorstep. This week, however, with the arrest of three Delaware men in connection with the shooting, Finn says her family is one step closer to peace—and justice.

“What our family has gone through in the past year no family should ever be faced with. Our son Bryce brought happiness and love to so many lives and expected little in return,” she said in a statement released through the Essex County District Attorney’s Office Thursday, hours after news broke of the arrest of Nicholas Mandato, Thomas Warner and Kenneth Pitts.

Bryce Finn. (Courtesy photograph.)

“There are no words to accurately convey the amount of joy that was wrenched from our lives beginning that horrible night more than a year ago. To our community, we ask that you honor Bryce’s memory by continuing his legacy of love: Hug your kids, kiss your partner, help to take action to see that this never occurs in our community again,” she added. “We wish to thank all those who have work so tirelessly to make these arrests and hopefully be able to bring our family, and our boy Bryce, justice.”

Twenty-year-old Mandato, 21-year-old Warner and 18-year-old Pitts were arrested separately, according to DA Jonathan Blodgett and Haverhill Police Chief Alan R. DeNaro.

Mandato, of Dagsboro, Del., faces arraignment Thursday afternoon in Haverhill District Court, sitting in Newburyport, on a murder charge. He was arrested on a Haverhill warrant by the Delaware State Police Homicide Unit, waived rendition and returned to Massachusetts Wednesday.

Delaware State Police also arrested Warner, of Selbyville, Del., who turned himself in, and Pitts, of Frankford, Del., who was arrested “without incident” in Bethany Beach, Del. The two men are currently held at the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown, Del.

Finn was shot in the chest around 9:30 p.m. on June 6, one week after his graduation from Haverhill High School, when answering his front Rainbow Drive front door. Adding an additional layer of mystery, his home was broken into a few days later by one or more intruders.