Here's another, older story that speaks somewhat to the matter of what evidence the cops may have. Enjoy.
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| Police affidavit is inaccurate, Quincy dominatrix asserts The Patriot Ledger QUINCY - The Quincy dominatrix at the center of a bizarre tale of sadomasochism and death says she wishes she had never talked to police. Barbara McLaughlin Asher said Friday that her version of what happened the day one of her clients died in her Wollaston condo doesn't square with what police are saying. Fearful that anything she divulges now could be used against her, Asher declined to specify which parts of the two stories don't jibe. "All I can say is it's very frightening. My whole life has been turned upside down. It makes it sound like I'm some crazed killer," Asher said in a telephone interview. "I don't think I said exactly what the police said I said. This whole thing is sort of a made-up thing," Asher said Friday, shortly after affidavits filed by police in support of search warrants for her condo and car were unsealed in Quincy District Court. The 51-year-old Norwood native was known by her clients as "Lauren M" and went by the name Lauren Mathews. Asher said news coverage of the death and dismemberment of her client, Michael Lord, 53, of North Hampton, N.H., has been misleading. Lord died July 3 while tied up in what Asher referred to as her "dungeon" at the Mellen-Bray condominiums on Weston Avenue. "It's like I'm listening to a description of someone else, not myself," Asher said of the publicity surrounding the case and her career in the sadomasochistic world. "I dearly love this profession, this dedication," Asher said. "It is adult erotic play. It is not sexual. ... It's a lot different from what people on the outside think of it." Asher said she practices a light form of sadomasochism that does not involve hurting her clients. "I've never broken any skin on anyone," she said. She said she feels sorry for Lord's family. "I have a lot of sympathy for the Lord family. That is all I can say," she said. "At some point, if I am able to talk to (them), I would like to." She declined to comment on why police have been unable to find Lord's remains even after an extensive search in a Maine landfill. Police searched there because of information Asher gave them. Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating has not filed charges against Asher or her boyfriend, Miguel Ferrer, who she says cut up Lord's body with a saw and helped her get rid of it. A spokesman for Keating's office said Friday that the investigation continues. According to an affidavit filed by state police Sgt. Dermot Moriarty, Asher told investigators that she had arranged to meet with Lord at her condo at 6 p.m. July 3. The encounter would cost Lord $300 - and his life. Asher told police she put a leather collar around Lord's neck and a hood over his head before tying him to a bondage rack and placing restraints on his waist and genitals. While Asher was out of the room changing into her dominatrix outfit, Lord started making rustling noises and flailing his arms, the report says. She told police Lord "suddenly stopped breathing." Not sure what to do, Asher reportedly called Ferrer at the apartment they share at 100 Marina Drive. When he arrived at the condo, the couple untied Lord and tried to revive him but couldn't, the affidavit states. According to the affidavit, she told police that she and Ferrer decided to leave the body in the condo while they returned home to Marina Bay for the night. She said Ferrer wanted to call police but that she was afraid that they would confiscate her condo. The couple decided instead to dismember Lord's body so they could get it out of the condo without anyone seeing, according to the affidavit. On July 4, they went back to the condo and put Lord's body in the bathtub. Ferrer cut it up with a double-bladed handsaw, the affidavit states. Meanwhile, Asher went to the nearby Victory Supermarket and bought plastic bags and cleaning supplies. According to the affidavit, Asher told police that she and Ferrer filled eight double bags with Lord's body parts, left them in the condo and drove Lord's 1985 Ford Mustang to a Red Roof Inn in Salem, N.H., and abandoned it. During the late afternoon of July 5, they went back to Mellen-Bray for the body, piled the bags into Asher's 1994 Nissan Maxima, drove to Augusta, Maine, and dumped them in a restaurant dumpster, according to the affidavit. Police said Asher told them she and Ferrer threw away Lord's clothing - he was wearing a white T-shirt, shorts and boat shoes - his wallet with $24 cash in it and the rags and sponges she had used to clean the bathtub in a dumpster in Quincy. According to the affidavit, Lord's son Timothy reported him missing July 14. Four days later, Salem, N.H., police found Lord's car. New Hampshire investigators traced Lord's final hours to Quincy by tracking his phone calls. The calls allegedly led police to Asher. Police found two power saws inside Asher's condo but did not find a handsaw like the one she described, according to the court documents unsealed Friday. They took a swab sample from the edge of Asher's bathtub. Sources close to the investigation have said the sample contains blood. Keating has refused to discuss what evidence his office has. Police took pieces of the shower and bathtub for testing and confiscated several tools of the sadomasochistic trade, including a black paddle with metal studs, six leather masks, three black collars, a black hood and two black leather restraining devices. At the end of her interview with police Aug. 9, Asher signed a consent form allowing investigators to search her condo and car. Ferrer wouldn't answer any questions from police. Asher wishes she had done the same. "My main problem, I feel, is that I talked to the police at all," she said. "I was stupid to talk to them. When you get a visit from the police at 8:30 in the morning, you can bet it's not a social call."
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