Four bodies; murder-suicide suspected (Japan)

Man kills his wife and two grown daughters; then himself May 14, 2009

Original: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090515TDY02308.htm

The Yomiuri Shimbun

SHIZUOKA--Police are investigating a possible murder-suicide after a man and three women were found dead at a house in Izunokuni, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Thursday morning.

The police suspect that Yuji Sugimura, a 58-year-old company employee, strangled his wife, 57, and two other women--believed to be the couple's daughters--before hanging himself.

According to Ohito Police Station, Sugimura, who lived with his wife and their two daughters, aged 26 and 22, was found hanging in the first floor living room when a colleague visited the house at about 8:45 a.m. on Thursday.

A woman's body also was found on the first floor, while the bodies of Sugimura's wife and another woman were discovered on the second floor after the police arrived.

All three women showed signs they had been strangled, the police said.

(May. 15, 2009)

3 found dead in League City (TX)

Man kills his father and stepmother, then himself May 13, 2009

Original: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6423197.html

Police investigating killings; two others in house at time

By HARVEY RICE Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

May 14, 2009, 8:41PM

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LEAGUE CITY — Police and relatives are puzzled over how a discussion about family finances led a League City man to shoot his father and stepmother before turning a .38-caliber pistol on himself.

Lewis Edward Cantrell III, 26, was having a discussion about his finances in the living room with his father, Lewis Edward Cantrell II, and his stepmother, Gayle Mardis Cantrell, shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday when shots rang out.

The younger Cantrell’s 18-year-old brother and his 30-year-old stepsister were in separate bedrooms next to the living room, League City police spokesman Sgt. John Jordan said.

The 18-year-old was asleep, but the stepsister was listening as her parents calmly discussed a financial strategy for their son.

Cantrell III did not live at home but didn’t have a steady job.

“They were kind of counseling him on how to better save money and handle his finances,” Jordan said. “They were just talking, not arguing about it.”

Cantrell III, who has no history of violence, shot his parents dead during the discussion, Jordan said. He walked outside, then returned to the living room and shot himself.

The shots woke his brother, who fled with his sister down a corridor to a door that led outside and bypassed the living room, Jordan said.

The siblings had no idea that their brother was on the verge of violence. “They were dumbfounded,” Jordan said.

“They didn’t indicate there had been any family problems,” he said.

One of the siblings called 911 at 7:50 p.m. and a police SWAT team arrived at the residence in the 2900 block of Chinaberry Park Lane. The SWAT team found the bodies in the living room.

Jordan said investigators were trying to determine how the younger Cantrell got the gun. He pointed out that it’s not necessary in Texas to have a permit to carry a gun in a car or keep it at home.

harvey.rice@chron.com

Double murder, suicide in Kidderpore (India)

Man kills wife and father-in-law, then himself May 11, 2009

Original: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata-/Double-murder-suicide-in-Kidderpore/articleshow/4511653.cms

KOLKATA: A merchant navy technician killed his wife, father-in-law and then committed suicide by hanging himself at his posh flat in the port

area on Monday. In a suicide note written
in blood, Sujit Kundu held a distant relative and a neighbour responsible for the deaths.

Police suspect that Sujit (32), a resident of a posh Merlin River View flat at Kidderpore's Kabi-Tirtha, suspected his wife Pinki (26) of having an extra-marital affair, which drove him to commit the murders. They have detained neighbour Rosy Gomes and Sujit's distant brother-in-law, Raja, for interrogation.

According to investigating officers, Sujit, a fitter with a merchant navy company, usually stays away most of the year in the course of his duties. He returned home a couple of months ago. "He was last seen returning home on his motorcycle with his wife on the pillion on Friday evening," said their neighbour, S Warsi. Sujit was wearing jeans. When Sujit's body was found on Monday, he was still wearing the same pair of jeans.

Police suspect Sujit murdered Pinki and father-in-law Ajay Nath Pal (65) and killed himself on Friday itself. He first slashed their throats with a sharp-edged weapon before hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his bedroom. The bodies retrieved by the police were highly decomposed. The murder weapon, however, is yet to be traced.

Sujit had used blood to write the suicide note on the wall of his home. "Ei chhilo aamar hate sajano poribar. Bhangte dekhchhilam, tai jure dilam (I made this family with my own hands. Seeing it break apart, I am mending it)."

In the suicide note, he also reportedly said that he wanted to have a nice family. But Raja and Rosy did not let it happen. Sujit's elder brother Manas Kundu said there was no problem as such. "Why Sujit did it is a mystery to me," he said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Pinki was close to her distant cousin Raja, a student. Sujit suspected Pinki had an affair with him. This created a rift between them. Sujit also disliked her association with their neighbour Rosy Gomes and suspected that she used to instigate her to behave this way. Rosy, their neighbours said, is a "Westernised woman" who was friendly with Pinki.

Investigations revealed that the flat actually belonged to Ajay. Sujit's house is at Rabindranagar. After Ajay turned immobile because of an illness, Pinki started staying with him to take care of him. Sujit was also staying at the flat for some time.

Sujit's friend in Rabindranagar said he was a jovial person. On Friday, he visited the Rabindranagar house, where his mother lives. "He had a long chat and was in high spirits. We did not have any inkling that he could commit such a horrible act," said one of his friends.

Scott E. Schmidt, charged in fatal shooting of his estranged wife (WI)

Man kills wife, and shoots her mother without killing her April 17, 2009

Original: http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20090506/OSH0101/305060089/1987

By Jim Collar • Gannett Wisconsin Media • May 6, 2009

APPLETON — Scott E. Schmidt, charged with shooting his estranged wife to death last month, is trying to block the use of his jail medical records in efforts to determine his competency for trial.

♦ Audio: 911 call reporting Grand Chute shooting (contains graphic language)
♦ Photos: Scott Schmidt makes his initial court appearance
♦ Photos: Shooting in Grand Chute

Schmidt’s attorney, Gregory Petit, is asking for the return of medical records the Outagamie County District Attorney’s Office acquired through a subpoena.

The records are confidential under medical privacy laws unless Schmidt says otherwise, he argued in a motion filed last week.

"The patient has the right to refuse to disclose any physician-patient reports, and absent a release by the patient, no report should be given to any other parties,” Petit wrote.

Schmidt, 38, was charged with counts including first-degree intentional homicide after his April 17 arrest outside Kelly Wing Schmidt’s Grand Chute home.

Wing Schmidt, 39, was shot multiple times in the head and died several hours later at a Neenah hospital. Her mother, Barbara Wing, 66, was shot once and was treated at a hospital and released the same day.

Schmidt is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a hearing on his competency to stand trial.

Petit argued that the defense should have had an opportunity to oppose the subpoena seeking the jail medical records. The motion doesn’t describe what the reports contain.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Melinda Tempelis argued in a separate motion that the reports are vital to determine whether Schmidt is mentally capable of proceeding through a trial.

“The state believes these records should be provided to the doctor conducting the examination so that a complete and thorough evaluation and examination can be performed,” Tempelis wrote.

Jim Collar writes for the Appleton Post-Crescent.

Four killed in Baltimore hotel room in apparent murder-suicide (MD)

Man kills wife and two daughters, then himself April 20, 2009

Original: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/04/21/2009-04-21_four_killed_in_baltimore_hotel_room_in_apparent_murdersuicide_were_family_from_l.html

BY Andrew Zaleski In Baltimore and Nicholas Hirshon and Rich Schapiro In New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Updated Tuesday, April 21st 2009, 2:20 PM

Sweeney/AP/Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore County Police officer gets supplies from a forensic van to aid in the investigation into the deaths of a family from Long Island at a Sheraton hotel tin Townson, Md.

Mother Betty Parente with daughters, Stephanie and Catherine

A beloved Manhattan lawyer killed his wife and two daughters in a Maryland hotel room and then took his own life in a sickening murder-suicide, cops said Tuesday.

A hotel worker found the bodies of 59-year-old William Parente; his wife, Betty, 58, and daughters - Stephanie, 19, and Catherine, 11 - in their hotel room in Towson on Monday, Baltimore County cops said.

Police refused to disclose the cause of death but noted the victims were not shot or stabbed; they also would not reveal ifthere was a note. It remained unclear what triggered William Parente, a tax and estate planning lawyer, to do the unthinkable.

"The why and the motive in this is just a big blank right now," said Police Cpl. Michael Hill.

Investigators were examining a complaint they received Tuesday from a Queens lawyer about William Parente's financial dealings, said state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

The Parentes' neighbors along their quiet block in tony Garden City, L.I., were stunned by the sudden and violent end to what seemed to be a picture-perfect family. "They loved each other, they loved those girls and the girls loved them," said next-door neighbor Robert Krener, 64, whosaid he was unaware of anystress - financial or otherwise - that William Parente wasunder.

The family also had a home in Westhampton Beach, L.I.

"It's completely incomprehensible," said Krener, who, with his wife, would occasionally dine with the Parentes.

Marianne Quinn, 53, who described herself as Betty Parente's "best friend," said she thought William Parente may have been depressed over his mom's death; the one-year anniversary of her passing was last week.

Most friends said the deeply religious Catholic couple was outgoing and warm - the type of neighbors who brought gifts to new families on the block.

"If you were in a bad mood, they snapped you right out of it," said Catherine Grasman, who runs a kennel in Floral Park, L.I., where the Parentes would bring their two Maltese pooches, Buttons and Cupcake.

"When they came in, they lit up the room."

Police said the family was lastspotted alive Sunday afternoon, not long after they shared what seemed to be a pleasant breakfast together. The Parentes were visiting Stephanie, a sophomore at Baltimore's Loyola College.

The teenager's death left the Catholic campus shaken."She was the last person you would think had anything wrong in her life," said sophomore Pooja Bhatnagar, 19. "I saw her Friday, before she was going to meet with her family, and she was happy. Everything seemed okay."

Betty Parente, a stay-at-home mom who moved with her family from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to Long Island a dozen years ago, was on the board of the Tri Town Auxiliary of United Cerebral Palsy of Nassau County.

"She loved her daughters with every fiber of her body," said neighbor Linda Mattei.

"This is a shock to everybody."

rschapiro@nydailynews.com