William Parente, Wife Betty, Two Daughters Stephanie, 19, and Catherine 11, Found Dead in Baltimore Hotel in Apparent Murder-Suicide

UPDATE

William Parente was reportedly under FBI investigation to determine if he was running a shady investment operation, like fellow New Yorker Bernie Madoff, that robbed investors. According to the NY Daily News, Parente wrote nearly half a million dollars in bad checks to at least one of his bilked investors in the days prior to Sunday's murderous rampage.

Bruce Montague, a Bayside, Queens, lawyer, invested hundreds of thousands of dollars with Parente over six years. When he asked for his money back in recent weeks, Parente wrote him more than $400,000 in checks that later bounced. Source: NY Daily News

It is also being reported that his family all died from multiple blows and asphysiaxtion. He then cut himself and bled to death. The man is clearly scum and his family did not deserve this. What he did to them is unforgivable.

Another family falls victim to murder-suicide, just like that. According to media reports, four people found dead in a hotel room near Baltimore were members of a New York family, the police said they will continue to investigate the case as a murder-suicide. The deceased were staying at the Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel. Staff at reportedly found the bodies yesterday afternoon in a locked guest room after the occupants didn't check out as expected.

The Baltimore County Police Department said those killed were identified as William Parente, 59; Betty Parente, 58; Stephanie Parente, 19; and Catherine Parente, 11; all of Garden City, N.Y., on Long Island. Stephanie Parente was a sophomore at Loyola College. She lived on campus at the college, according to Courtney Jolley, a school spokeswoman in an interview with the Baltimore Sun. School officials issued an e-mail announcement this morning to students announcing the woman's death, Jolley said.

Police said the victims were related, although they did not say how. Next-door neighbor Mary Opulente Krener said in a phone interview that William and Betty Parente were a couple and Stephanie and Catherine were their daughters.

"I can't tell you how heartsick I am," she said. "This is the most wonderful family, the most kind and loving family. I'm astounded."

She said William Parente was a real estate attorney in New York. A call to his office was not immediately returned. Betty Parente was on the board of the Tri Town Auxiliary of United Cerebral Palsy of Nassau and volunteered with the Girl Scouts and the American Cancer Society, said Lucille Messina, auxiliary president. Source: Baltimore Sun

I have no doubt that when the dust settles, this will be another tragedy that could have been avoided. I have never heard of so many murder-suicides in such a short period of time as we are hearing lately. I suspect, if economic conditions don't improve, there will be more tragedies of this nature being reported in the mainstream media. This is a travesty.