Masked Robber Breaks Into $18 Million Historic Massachusetts Mansion, Assaults Housekeeper In Armed Home Invasion

Police in a tony Boston suburb are on the hunt for an armed intruder who broke into an investment banker's $18 million historic waterfront mansion, violently attacked the property's caretaker, and fled in the owner’s Porsche.

The brazen home invasion took place early Saturday morning at the palatial Rock Edge estate on Paine Street in the Prides Crossing neighborhood of Beverly, MA. 

The Beverly Police Department said in a statement that a neighbor called 911 just before 9 a.m. to report the crime. 

According to investigators and the mansion's owner, Thomas Swan III, co-CEO and director of The Swan Group, a balaclava-wearing robber entered his home at around 5:30 a.m. and proceeded to assault the housekeeper who was alone at the time. 

Swan told TV station WCVB that the attacker dragged the woman by her hair down staircases at gunpoint, pistol-whipped her, and tied her up in the garage. 

"What they did to my housekeeper was just horrendous," said Swan.

Police said the unidentified suspect stole several unspecified items from the three-story luxury residence before speeding away in a 2024 Porsche Cayenne. 

About three hours later, the battered victim managed to free herself and ran for help to a neighbor who reported the incident to the police. 

The housekeeper, who was not publicly named, was taken to a local hospital to be treated for nonlife-threatening injuries and has since been released. 

The owner of the mansion said the woman was "truly traumatized" by the violent home invasion. 

During the investigation into the burglary, police were able to track down the stolen getaway car eight miles away in Lynn, MA, but have yet to locate the perpetrator. 

Swan claims the intruder was familiar with his mansion and its contents but would not say what was taken during the robbery.

"They knew what they were after; they were looking for what they stole; [they] were some very specific and valuable things," said Swan.

Trophy estate with presidential ties

The business lawyer and banker purchased the sprawling 28,000-square-foot estate perched on a bluff overlooking 400 square feet of private beachfront in 2023 for $18.27 million, down from the initial asking price of $22 million.

The stately Georgian Revival-style trophy home sitting on a 3-acre lot features 11 bedrooms, 11-and-a-half bathrooms, a massive renovated gourmet kitchen, formal dining room, and 12-car garage.  

Commissioned in 1904, Rock Edge was built for Marian Appleton Coolidge Sargent, a scion of a wealthy Boston family and a descendent of President Thomas Jefferson. 

But the property is most closely associated with Eleonora Sears, a trailblazing, multidisciplinary athlete who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968 after winning four championship titles. 

Sears’ athletic success was not limited to tennis: She was also a decorated squash, football, and field hockey player, golfer, swimmer, horse racer, long-distance walker, boxer, and ice skater.

In her private life, Sears was a renowned socialite who hosted the glitterati of the era at Rock Edge, including iconic actress Judy Garland, composer Cole Porter, and railroad executive and yachtsman Harold S. Vanderbilt. 

The Rock Edge heist is being investigated by the local police department with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police and the FBI.