Anne Morell Petrillo, Daughter of Slain Newspaper Heiress Anne Scripps Douglas, Believed to Have Jumped from Bridge

Anne Morell Petrillo, 38, the daughter of slain newspaper heiress Anne Scripps Douglas, is believed to have committed suicide by jumping off the Tappan Zee Bridge in Tarrytown, NY, Thursday. Incidentally, New York State police said this is the same bridge her stepfather jumped from after killing her mother, Anne Scripps Douglas, nearly 16 years ago. Ms. Petrillo's body has not yet been recovered, but the police have confirmed that they believe she had committed suicide. The Journal News of Westchester County is reporting that she apparently got out of her car on the bridge, removed her clothes and then jumped into the Hudson River around 8 p.m.

  Anne Morell Petrillo, (Journal News)

The death of her mother in 1993 shed light on the fact that domestic violence can also occur among the affluent as well. Ms. Petrillo’s stepfather, Scott Douglas, beat his wife to death with a hammer in Ms. Petrillo’s bedroom on New Year's Eve in 1993. Mr. Douglas fled and jumped from the Tappan Zee. His body was found three months later.

Anne Douglas was the great-great-granddaughter of James Scripps, the founder of The Detroit News. Morell Petrillo, in addition to her sister and stepsister, is survived by a teenage son. Her father, Anthony X. Morell, died in 2005.