'I really loved him': Fiancee of Northbridge stabbing victim forced to cope with sudden loss

NORTHBRIDGE ― The last time Taralina Mitchell saw David LeBoeuf, her future husband and the father of her future child, was when he left to go to the store the evening of May 3.

After police sirens rushed by their Whitinsville home, Mitchell said she had “a gut feeling,” and made many attempts to reach LeBoeuf on his phone. He had not returned by the expected time.

Mitchell would later find that LeBoeuf, 20, had been stabbed in the heart that evening when he intervened in a dispute between his brother and another person on Northbridge Common.

LeBoeuf later died at the UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus.

Obituary David R. LeBoeuf

“He was a very, very loving and caring person,” said Mitchell, 19. “He was someone you could literally go to for anything and he’d always have an answer for you.”

A juvenile was arrested for the stabbing the following morning and was due to be charged May 6 with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.

A representative for the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday the office could not divulge further details.

The young couple had just started living together recently.

“I was with him every day,” said Mitchell, 19. “It doesn't feel as real as it kind of should. I'm still waiting for him to say, ‘I'm on my way home.’

“It's very hard for me to actually grasp the fact that he's not coming back.”

Mitchell said she and LeBoeuf were raised in Webster, just down the street from one another, but it wasn’t until a few months ago that they had reconnected through social media.

They started dating in December and LeBoeuf moved in with Mitchell in April, shortly after the couple announced that they were expecting a child. Weeks later, they were engaged.

LeBoeuf was a head chef at the Whistle Stop Bar & Grill in Oxford, a job Mitchell said he had a great passion for, with hopes to turn into a bigger dream of owning his own restaurant to support himself and his family.

“That was his very big passion the last few years,” said Mitchell. “He grew really fond of it and he not only loved to cook for people, but also his presentation of his plates and his meals were phenomenal.”

Mitchell said that the evening of May 3, LeBoeuf left to get some juice and snacks at about 9 p.m. His 17-year-old brother was planning to visit for the night.

It wasn’t long after that Mitchell started to get worried. LeBoeuf had taken too long to return, then police sirens filled the neighborhood.

After she approached the scene near the common, police told her that the brothers were both stabbed and transported to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Mitchell said a doctor told her that LeBoeuf’s brother was stabbed four times, while LeBoeuf, after pulling away the person attacking his brother, was stabbed once in the heart.

LeBoeuf arrived conscious at the hospital, survived surgery, then died shortly after fluid built up around his heart.

Mitchell said that LeBoeuf’s brother is still recovering; he left the hospital Sunday.

A GoFundMe page was set up by family to raise funds for David LeBoeuf's funeral services and to support his and Mitchell's child.

As of Tuesday morning, the page had raised more than $20,000 toward a $50,000 goal.

Visiting hours are set for Wednesday, with a funeral Thursday.

“He was a hero,” said Mitchell. “It's definitely a scarring thing but I'll do my best to get his story out the best I can because he was my soulmate. I really loved him.”

LeBoeuf's death is one of the recent violent deaths in Worcester County in recent weeks.

A 16-year-old died Sunday after a shooting at a Northborough birthday party.

In Leominster, a 20-year-old was stabbed to death in front of an apartment complex May 7, while about a week before, a man was shot to death during an argument with his girlfriend May 1.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Fiancee of Northbridge stabbing victim David Leboeuf speaks out