WORCESTER — James Vaillancourt, 51, of Leominster, will serve 15-17 years in maximum security prison after pleading guilty in June to involuntary manslaughter charges as part of a plea deal, according to court documents obtained from Worcester Superior Court.
Initially arraigned on Sept. 8, 2017, Vaillancourt was accused of strangling 42-year-old Corrina Santiago, a Fitchburg mother. Authorities suspected that Vaillancourt killed Santiago during a sex act, as previously reported.
Vaillancourt, who worked as a custodian at Lunenburg Middle/High School at the time of his arrest, will serve his sentence in MCI-Cedar Injunction, located in Walpole. He will be credited with 694 days served, according to court documents. He reportedly worked for the school district for a decade.
In 2017, as previously reported, Vaillancourt told staff at HealthAlliance Hospital that they should call the police because he had hurt someone. When police responded to the scene, Vaillancourt handed over keys to his Walnut Street home and told the responding officer that Santiago was dead.
Inside his home, as previously reported, police said they found Santiago’s partially nude body in an upstairs bedroom, with a necktie around her throat. Police said at the time that they believed Santiago had been dead for several days before Vaillancourt alerted authorities.
Prior to the plea agreement, Vaillancourt had been charged with murder and pleaded not guilty.
