A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole nearly four years after the body of his girlfriend was discovered in a Saugus marsh. Bruce Maiben, 48, of Lynn, was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the death of 40-year-old Sherell Pringle of Woburn.
Pringle was reported missing on December 18, 2021, after failing to return home from a date with Maiben. Two days later, her body was found in the Rumney Marsh Reservation near Route 107 in Saugus. During Maiben’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Pringle’s mother, Pearl Garner, delivered an emotional victim impact statement that left the courtroom in tears.
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“When Sherell was murdered, a piece of me died with her,” Garner said. “I think about her all the time and want to know why — why you did something like this, so vicious.” Prosecutors revealed that Maiben stabbed Pringle more than 200 times, an act of extreme violence that left her body so badly mutilated the family was forced to hold a closed-casket funeral. Garner described the pain of losing her daughter as something that will never heal.
After Pringle’s disappearance, family and friends launched their own search when they felt the investigation was moving too slowly. Using location technology, they traced her phone to a catch basin by the side of the road and eventually spotted her purse nearby. Their efforts led them to the area where her body was later found, per Boston WBTS.
Following the discovery, Maiben was arrested on charges of larceny over $1,200, evidence tampering, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors later added the murder charge after forensic evidence linked him to the crime.
At the time, Pringle’s son, Jahmani Larionne, voiced frustration over how the case was initially handled. “What hurts the most is, I told these cops from the jump to locate Bruce Maiben,” he said. “I told them Day 1, ‘You need to locate Bruce Maiben. He lives in Lynn. You need to ping his phone and find him.’”
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The trial revealed a chilling account of the couple’s final hours together, though Maiben never provided a clear motive for the killing. Jurors deliberated for less than two days before reaching a guilty verdict.
Judge Christine Roach imposed the mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. In her closing remarks, she acknowledged the devastating loss endured by Pringle’s family and called the crime “one of unimaginable cruelty.”
For Pringle’s loved ones, the verdict brought a sense of justice but not closure. “Nothing will bring Sherell back,” her mother said, “but at least now she can rest in peace.”