Medford Teen Stabbed, Killed in Lynn Monday

Friends of Rene Valdez posted this picture on a Facebook page created in his remembrance.

Story Updated 8:37PM Wednesday, August 11, 2010

– Allison Goldsberry

A 16-year-old Lynn teen has been charged with stabbing and killing a 15-year-old from Medford during an apparent drug deal gone wrong.

According to published reports, Javon Walczak, 16, of Lynn, is accused of murdering Rene Valdez, a Medford High School sophomore, on High Rock Street in Lynn Monday night.

The Lynn Daily Item is reporting Valdez and Swampscott resident Darren Colucci approached Walczak to buy marijuana and they intended to rob Walczak.

“During the rip-off the suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed both Darren Colucci and Rene Valdez … Rene Valdez was stabbed several times in the neck,” reads a Lynn Daily Item quote about a police account of Colucci’s interview with detectives.

According to the Essex County District Attorney, Colucci, 17, was stabbed in the torso but his injuries were not life-threatening.

Walczak was arraigned on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He is being held without bail until his next court appearance on September 10 for a probable cause hearing.

Valdez’s family has spoken publicly, stating the teen was not a troublemaker, was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and was “roped into” the situation that led to his death.

“He was a good boy, a family boy,” his mother, Bielka Valdez, told the Boston Globe. “He was very loved.”

“He was not a kid who was looking for trouble, he wasn’t a hoodlum. Someone had to have pushed him.” Ceasar Acosta, a relative of Valdez, told the Lynn Daily Item.

Published reports say Valdez lived with his father in Medford and was visiting his grandfather in Lynn on Monday night.

Friends of Valdez started a Facebook page in his remembrance.