L.I. Lawyer Kills Family, Himself In Maryland Hotel Room

On Monday afternoon, the bodies of a Garden City lawyer, his wife, and their two daughters were found in a room at the Towson, MD Sheraton hotel. Police say that real estate attorney William Parente asphyxiated his family before killing himself and now Newsday reports that the FBI has "opened an investigation into [his] financial dealings."

The Parente family was visiting their eldest daughter, Stephanie, 19, a student at Loyola College. The entire family was seen eating breakfast together on Sunday morning. According to the Baltimore Sun, sometime after that, Parente killed wife Betty, 58, by beating her and then choking her. "At a later point, he killed his 11-year-old daughter," Catherine and then, "apparently sometime late Sunday afternoon, the 19-year-old daughter arrived at the hotel room and was killed." Then Parente committed suicide by cutting himself.

A Loyola classmate of Stephanie's called the police on Sunday night, worried that she hadn't returned. Hotel employees found the family in the room; the Sun also reports, "The bodies of the wife and daughters apparently had been moved after the killings and were found lined up on a king-sized bed, police said... Police said they believe Parente used one or more of several objects recovered from the room to beat his wife and daughters."

The NY State Attorney General's office had received a complaint from Queens lawyer Bruce Montague over Parente's investing practices. Montague had invested almost $450,000 with Parente in high-risk, high-returns investments but, after the Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal, decided to take his money out. Parente's two checks to Montague bounced on Tuesday. The AG's office hasn't started a formal investigation.

The Parentes' friends and neighbors are shocked by the murder-suicide. Betty Parente was on the board of the Tri-town Auxilliary of the United Cerebral Palsy of Nassau County and volunteered the American Cancer Society and Girl Scouts. Stephanie Parente was a sophomore majoring in speech pathology at Loyola and volunteered at Habitat for Humanity and a school in Maryland while Catherine Parente was a sixth grader who played basketball, soccer and lacrosse.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 22, 2009 3:04 PM

Comments [rss]

michael

Dude this is really fucked up i knew these ppl my sister actually used to baby sit for them two years ago

michael

Dude this is really fucked up i knew these ppl my sister actually used to baby sit for them two years ago

felixthecat2

why killed the women? what a sick coward. poor girls.

pete

He didn't want to put his girls through not having 7 figure daddy.

felixthecat2

the girls were better off without him, how can anyone kill such young innocent girls? horrible beyond words.

felixthecat2

Those girls would have been better off without him, why kill his own daughters and take away such young life, horrible beyond words.

Steven

Let his soul rot in hell.

whantmoore

I hope I don't sound like a broken record but like I said its the of sign of the times and it will continue to happen

babyhitler

*In High Pitched Dave Chappelle doing Rick James voice* - COOOLD BLOOOOODED!

JacqueMehoff

another greedy selfish prick who left no note.

greed = selfish.

I hope you died a painful death you greedy assphuk.

theevilone

His theory was better to be dead than poor? Nice to make that decision for the whole family. And geez, couldn't he come up with a less brutal way to kill his wife and kids? Quick and painless is the way to go.

Dirk

I am so sick of these assholes killing their families and then themselves. Why can't these guys just off themselves and leave it at that?

pete

I'd hit it

Brooklynbobby

Go ahead and hit it, Pete. She's just as dead as your alleged intelligence.

pete

http://i40.tinypic.com/k53byo.jpg

djwerdna

I never understood why people in trouble felt the need to kill their family too.

tmz is evil

I never understood why people in trouble felt the need to kill their family too.

I do. It's narcissism at its finest. They believe that if they die, their families won't be able to survive emotionally or financially without them, since they're the so-called "breadwinner". So they kill their families to "spare them."

jchez

Suicide is, by definition, a selfish act. These bastards are only thinking about themselves and their pain and troubles, not anyone else's. Obviously, they don't take into account that the family members may have a different view of things.

robingee

I don't buy the "suicide is selfish" thing either. Someone is in pain and that's the only way they see out. Killing your family is another thing entirely. It's murder. It's insanity.

JacqueMehoff

I don't buy the suicide is selfish mantra, too.

it's like the people with jobs saying how easy it is to get a job. you know the if you're not looking, you're not looking enough.

but killing your family is a whole different sport.

Vertigone

Suicide wasn't the problem here, it was the homicides.

ohgoodgolly

Seriously. You did the crime dude, not your family. I've heard of some people justifying it by saying "I didn't want my family to face that shame/a life without the things they've become accustomed to" but isn't that honestly a decision THEY should make? If it's so hard, they'll off themselves. I think it's more a case of the murderer being so narcissistic that she/he can't stand the idea of his family existing without him. What a selfish prick.