07-30-2010, 03:13 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Norrin Radd's Nerd Rage
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Someplace.
Posts: 1,666
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Wife killed in Hyde Park murder-suicide had filed for divorce, lawyer says
Quote:
HYDE PARK — A man who was released from jail this week after spending a month behind bars for assaulting his wife shot and killed the woman early Thursday and then took his own life, according to the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said Anthony J. Riccardulli Sr., 55, killed his wife Linda, 47, about 5 a.m. Thursday in the couple’s home at 46 S. Quaker Lane and then killed himself as police closed in.
Anthony Riccardulli had been in the Dutchess County Jail since his arrest on June 28 for a domestic violence incident involving his family but was released on Tuesday after posting $25,000 bail, authorities said.
Mrs. Riccardulli had begun divorce proceedings against her husband about two weeks ago, according to Kathleen Mannix, managing attorney for Poughkeepsie-based Legal Services of the Hudson Valley. Mannix said Mrs. Riccardulli feared for the safety of her three children.
Police responded to the Riccardulli home about 4 a.m. Thursday morning after receiving a 911 report of an incident there, according to sheriff’s Deputy TJ Hanlon.
Hanlon said that when Deputy Nicholas LaMonica arrived at the home, he heard screaming coming from inside. LaMonica approached the home and was able to speak through a window to Danielle Riccardulli, 17, who said her father had shot her mother, Hanlon said.
Hanlon said Anthony Riccardulli then came to another window and threatened to hurt police.
LaMonica called for assistance, and the sheriff’s Emergency Services Unit responded, Hanlon said. He said the unit was setting up outside the residence when officers heard a gunshot. Deputies then entered the house and, just before they got to the area where Riccardulli was, he shot himself, Hanlon said.
Hanlon said deputies concluded Riccardulli killed his wife before committing suicide.
The couple’s two other children, a boy and girl ages 22 and 16, were not home at the time of the incident, Hanlon said.
There were a total of three shots fired from a .38-caliber pistol, Hanlon said, with deputies at the scene hearing two of them. He said the first was a non-lethal shot that struck Linda Riccardulli in the leg.
The second shot, which occurred with police on the scene about an hour after the 911 call, was the one that killed Mrs. Riccardulli, Hanlon said. The third was the one with which Anthony Riccardulli killed himself.
Danielle Riccardulli told deputies that her father also killed one of the family’s dogs, but Hanlon was not certain of exactly when that happened or whether the same gun was used.
The Freeman reported on June 30 that Riccardulli had been arrested late in the day on June 28 following a dispute during which, according to the Hyde Park Police Department, he allegedly assaulted his wife and threatened family members with a knife and shotgun.
Riccardulli was charged with two counts of felony assault, three counts of felony unlawful imprisonment, six counts of misdemeanor menacing and one count of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child as a result of that incident.
Hyde Park police said at the time that officers were sent to 46 S. Quaker Lane on June 28 after receiving a report of a domestic dispute between a father and daughter. They said that while officers were responding to the residence, they were flagged down on South Quaker Lane by a driver who turned out to be Riccardulli’s wife. She told police she had been assaulted during the incident. Police said she also told officers she and her children had been threatened with a knife and shotgun.
Police said officers at the residence during the June 28 incident determined two of the couple’s three children, ages 16 and 17, had fled the house already, and officers immediately took Riccardulli into custody.
Police said their investigation determined Riccardulli had menaced the woman and two children with a knife and a 12-gauge shotgun. They said he pushed his wife down a flight of stairs and then struck her in the head with pieces of a child safety gate that had broken during the fall.
Police said Mrs. Riccardulli was treated at the scene by the Pleasant Valley Rescue Squad and that her husband was arraigned in Hyde Park Town Court and sent to Dutchess County Jail without bail.
On Tuesday, however, he posted $25,000 bail and was released, according to police. Both Hanlon and Hyde Park Police Chief Charles Broe said they believe an order of protection was in place against Riccardulli. If that were the case, Hanlon said, Riccardulli would have been ordered to surrender any firearms in his possession.
Mannix confirmed Mrs. Riccardulli did have an active order of protection against her husband and that Hyde Park police did check the house for weapons.
But Mannix also Mrs. Riccardulli had told her that her husband said a piece of paper wouldn’t stop him.
“These kinds of situations tend to escalate,” Mannix said. “We need to ensure that we take violence against women in intimate settings as seriously as we do those among strangers.”
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What's worse is that I know this girl, too. Not very personally, but I have talked to her. She's my best friends ex-girlfriend as well, so this is really tragic...
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