A Needham, Massachusetts, man has pleaded guilty to the 2018 stabbing death of his 20-year-old girlfriend, Olivia Bergstrom, in the apartment they lived in together.
Bergstrom and Benjamin Walsh, 28, were known to be a happy couple. Walsh was struggling personally with mental health and substance abuse issues, however, leading to a truly tragic situation. The incident took place just two days after Walsh checked himself out of a psychiatric hospital. Walsh stabbed Bergstrom to death, then traveled to a nearby restaurant where a family party was taking place and stabbed his own parents. His family restrained him until authorities arrived.
Walsh's guilty plea came on the day jury selection for his trial was set to begin. He accepted a plea deal created with the blessing of both his and Bergstrom's families as a way for everyone to move on from the horrific situation.
On September 10, 2018, Benjamin Walsh arrived at a Massachusetts restaurant where his family was having a celebration. He approached each of his parents and stabbed them as family members struggled to help them, call authorities, and subdue Walsh. Both his parents recovered from their injuries, and he was arrested.
The arrest prompted a search of Walsh's home, where they discovered his 20-year-old girlfriend, Olivia Bergstrom, had been stabbed to death. She was found wearing just boxer shorts, suffering 20 stab wounds, 13 of which were in the back.
At the time of Walsh's arrest, his family attorney expressed sincere concerns for the man's mental health. Those who knew and loved him said he'd been struggling from mental health and substance abuse issues for some time, but that violence was entirely out of character for him.
"I don't think tragedy describes what happened — it's way beyond that," family attorney Randall K. Power told reporters at Milford Regional Medical Center, per The Boston Globe.
Walsh was arraigned in a hospital bed in the intensive care unit. "His mental health — or lack thereof — is going to be a major issue as this case proceeds in a court of law."
A not guilty plea was originally entered on Walsh's behalf. The day that jury selection was set to begin in his murder trial, prosecutors reached a deal with Walsh that involved him pleading guilty. Prosecutors agreed "to reduce the first-degree murder charge to second-degree murder with the support of the victim's parents because the plea to second-degree murder ensures the safety of the community, avoids the challenges and stresses of a trial, acknowledges the defendant's brutal acts and the twenty-five year minimum sentence prior to the possibility of parole is significant and substantial," a statement by the Norfolk District Attorney's Office revealed, per People.
On March 28, 2022, Walsh pleaded guilty to those charges. He was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 25 years served. The lesser sentences on the assault charges will be served concurrently.
"This brings its own finality to the proceeding," said District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey.
"The outcome of a trial is never assured, and appeals procedures in murder cases span many years. I cannot imagine the pain of Olivia's parents, and my thoughts are very much with them today."
