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State Police: Tupper Lake homicide victim was stabbed

State Police investigators walk around a home on Lakeview Avenue in Tupper Lake where a woman was stabbed to death last week. Her daughter has been arrested and charged with her murder. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

TUPPER LAKE — A Tupper Lake woman who police say was murdered this past Thursday died by stabbing, an autopsy conducted Saturday confirmed.

New York State Police released the autopsy results Monday. Michael Sikirica, a medical examiner at Glens Falls Hospital, completed the autopsy on Saturday. The death of Melissa A. Guisewhite, 51, of Tupper Lake has been ruled a homicide.

Police arrested Guisewhite’s daughter — Alexa J. Gallagher, 26, of Tupper Lake — and charged her with felony second-degree murder this past Thursday. State Police Public Information Officer Beau Duffy said Gallagher was believed to have fled on foot after the homicide and was caught by State Police and State Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers in an unoccupied neighboring residence. Duffy said she was taken into custody “without incident” and transported to the State Police barracks for questioning. Gallagher was arraigned in Tupper Lake Town Court that day and remanded to Franklin County Jail, where she is being held without bail, according to State Police.

Tupper Lake village police and State Police responded to a home at 50 Lakeview Ave. at around 1 p.m. Thursday, where State Police say they found Guisewhite deceased. Tupper Lake Police Chief Eric Proulx said State Police are taking the lead on this homicide investigation.

Guisewhite moved to Tupper Lake from Pennsylvania in 2017 with her husband Mark and Gallagher. Friends of hers remembered her on Friday as “a great friend” who comforted others in hard times and a “delightful” hiking partner who “would give you the shirt off her back.” Guisewhite worked as a caregiver for the elderly.

State Police continue to ask anyone who may have information about this investigation to contact Troop B communications at 518-873-2750.

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