... unglaublich
Ich wunderte mich schon warum Mittwoch morgen soviele state troopers bei mir in der gegend jede stichstrasse abgefahren haben. Das haette ich aber nicht erwartet.
Der Pfeil ist wo der moerder stattgefunden hat und das leichtgruene ist mein Haus.
At the end of a quiet rural lane amid the dense forest of the Platte Clove area of Saugerties, state police and town cops mill around outside a neatly kept ranch house with a tricycle in the front yard near a blue school bus up on blocks and a tie-dyed curtain hanging in a window. Inside, a witness says, is a scene of horror: a 37-year-old mother of two in a pink nightgown lying face down in a hallway, dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, the family golden retriever - Holly - snarling protectively alongside her keeping police at bay.
A few doors down, standing on a relative's front deck, a little girl who had been looking forward to a birthday party on Saturday will now have to come to grips with the death of one parent, allegedly at the hands of the other.
That was the scene at 4 Pine Tree Lane Wednesday morning after a 911 call from inside the house alerted police to a fatal shooting. According to police, Tracey Passaro was found dead in her home around 7 a.m. According to media accounts, state police captain Wayne Olsen said her husband, Anthony Passaro Jr., was arrested outside the home and told police he had shot his wife during an argument. Olsen added that Tracy Passaro was shot several times with a .223 caliber rifle and the children were in the home when it happened. Anthony Passaro was arraigned in Saugerties Town Court on Wednesday evening and sent to the Ulster County Jail without bail.
Neighbor Henry Borrero said his wife heard a gunshot around 2 or 3 a.m., but couldn't tell where it came from. A few hours later police, alerted by a 911 call from the Passaro house shortly before 7 a.m., arrived on the scene. Borrero said he saw heavily armed police coax Anthony Passaro out of the house where he was led away in handcuffs. Later, Borrero said, police outfitted him with a protective white suit and allowed him inside the house to remove the family dog, who would not let officers near Tracy Passaro's body.
"I was the one who went in there," said Borrero, who was acquainted with the dog. "Otherwise they would have either had to put the dog down or put it to sleep."
Borrero said the house at the end of the lane was the scene of frequent parties and quarrels between the couple.
"He was very controlling, he was dominant," said Borrero. "When he said jump, she jumped."
Borreo said the family had money troubles and Anthony Passaro had been ill recently. Borrero said the killing may have stemmed from a dispute over a kitten Tracey Passaro recently brought into the house.
"She went and got a kitten for the little girl, something happened with the kitten and I guess he just snapped," he said.
A few doors away at 26 Notch View Boulevard, Tracey Passaro's cousin Lynn Sinsapaugh looked after the couple's two children, a girl aged 5 and a boy aged 9 throughout the morning. Later, she said, the children where taken for professional counseling; it was unclear where they were Wednesday night.
Sinsapaugh also said Anthony Passaro had health problems and was taking medication for multiple sclerosis. "He was sick, he had a lot of problems, MS, this and that and medications. But I just don't know ... I just can't fathom."
Sinsapaugh said the couple had "normal fights," but if there was violence in the home, she was unaware of it. "I mean, we were close, but not 'hang out' close. We visited on and off; birthday parties, or whatever. We've been close lately, because we're at the bus stop together, waiting for my grandkids to get on and off the bus. ... In fact she invited me for Saturday; she was gonna have a cake for her daughter. She was turning six. And then I get up this morning and I hear all of this crap."
"I feel like I'm living a nightmare now," said Sinsapaugh, who was planning to attend a birthday party for the couple's daughter on Saturday. "I can't believe it's even happened. I can't believe it."
"She didn't deserve to die that way," said Borrero, shaking his head. "I hope this man rots in hell."
Borrero, too, said it was like a nightmare - and for him, a recurring one. "I don't have to get personal, but I saw my mother shoot my father at age four and a half. Downtown Delancey Street, when the bathtub sat on a platform in the kitchen. And I had to live through that through the course of my years. What can I say, sir? That's how come I took to the kids. It's tough. Maybe, perhaps, it's strange to say this, but what she had to tolerate from this man - don't take it the way it sounds, but maybe she's in a better place."
Cerevisaphile - 28. Sep, 17:15