The story of 18-year-old Kylee Monteiro’s disappearance took a harrowing turn Wednesday as prosecutors revealed the haunting words she texted to her sister shortly before her death: “If I die, it was Greg.”
Gregory Groom, 22, now stands accused of murdering the young woman he had once reported missing. He was arraigned in Taunton District Court on charges of murder and several related offenses after police discovered a body believed to be Monteiro buried on his Rehoboth property. Groom pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors laid out a timeline that begins on August 6, the night Monteiro—pregnant and freshly graduated from Attleboro High School—went to Groom’s home. The two argued, reportedly over where she would stay. In the middle of the dispute, Monteiro texted her sister that Groom had thrown her to the ground, pulled her hair, and strangled her. Her battery was down to four percent, she added, before sending the chilling message naming him if anything happened.
Two days later Groom told police she was missing. For nearly two weeks, the community searched and waited. Then, on Tuesday, investigators arrested Groom on assault charges stemming from that August 6 confrontation. When pressed again about Monteiro’s whereabouts, Groom admitted more. Prosecutor Jason Mohan said he gave police a crude hand-drawn map of his property and eventually confessed he had stabbed Monteiro behind a shed, buried her, and tried to hide the evidence with brush and freshly cut trees.
Search teams dug about 20 yards from the shed, where they found a patch of disturbed earth and, beneath it, a body five feet underground. A broken kitchen knife was part of the account Groom allegedly gave. The medical examiner is expected to confirm the remains are Monteiro’s after an autopsy.
For Monteiro’s family, silence followed Wednesday’s court appearance. No words outside the courthouse, only grief. Bristol County District Attorney Tom Quinn extended condolences, acknowledging the enormity of what they are facing. “It certainly is a very difficult time for them,” he said.
The details of the case have rattled Rehoboth, a small town now bracing for the vigil planned in Monteiro’s honor on Saturday evening. Organizers hope to gather the community at Redway Plain & The Veterans Memorial Gazebo to remember a young woman whose life was cut short just as it was beginning.
Groom was ordered held without bail. He is scheduled to return to court September 10 for a probable cause hearing.
What lingers now are the words Monteiro herself left behind, a final message that prosecutors say points directly to the man who once claimed to be worried about her disappearance.
