A Worcester man who fled to California after fatally beating his girlfriend in 2021 pleaded guilty this week to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. Kyle Curley, 35, admitted in court to killing 29-year-old Erica Lara, a mother of two young daughters, in an attack prosecutors say he never tried to help her recover from before running.
A Guilty Plea Five Years in the Making
Curley entered his plea on Monday, according to MassLive, which reported that he also pleaded guilty to assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to a concurrent two to three years in prison for that charge. As NBC Boston reported, prosecutors said Curley is now eligible for parole only after two decades behind bars. The medical examiner determined Lara died from a brain bleed caused by blunt force injuries, per the same MassLive account.
Lara's family reported her missing before her body was discovered on June 29, 2021. Accounts of exactly where differ: Daily Voice reported that authorities found her body inside Hotel Vernon at 16 Kelley Square, while the MassLive report described the discovery as happening inside a Kelley Square apartment she shared with Curley. Both outlets agree the discovery came only after her family had already filed a missing persons report.
An Escape to San Diego, Then a Surrender
According to the Telegram & Gazette, a Worcester police statement of facts said Curley escalated the assault “with such violence and over a prolonged period” after becoming angry over alleged infidelity, and that he did not attempt to provide aid before fleeing to California. He was arrested in San Diego in July 2021, the newspaper reported, after contacting Worcester police himself to turn himself in on other, unrelated warrants.
A Worcester County grand jury indicted Curley in March 2023, according to the same MassLive report, on a charge that originally stood as first-degree murder along with witness intimidation. The Office of the Worcester County District Attorney had earlier said Curley was indicted on charges of murder, assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, and intimidation of a witness, and that he was arraigned in Worcester District Court on Dec. 9, 2022, and ordered held without bail. The office also said the investigation drew on work by Worcester police, the district attorney's office, the San Diego Police Department, and the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Two Daughters Left Behind
The Telegram & Gazette reported that Lara was the mother of two girls who were 9 and 6 years old at the time of her death. The plea deal resolves a case that stretched more than five years from the discovery of her body to a courtroom admission of guilt, closing out a prosecution that spanned two states and multiple law enforcement agencies before Curley's arraignment and eventual plea.
