Apr 22, 2009 8:42 am US/Eastern
Family's Murder/Suicide Deaths Baffle Friends
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ/AP) ―
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Four bodies were found in a room at the Sheraton Hotel Monday afternoon.
CBS
Baltimore County Police have identified the four family members found dead inside a Towson hotel room. Friends and family say they never thought anything was amiss.
Mary Bubala has the latest in what police are calling a murder/suicide.
With a turn of the door knob, cleaning staff at the Sheraton Hotel in Towson opened the door to a guest room Monday and found four dead.
They are identified as William Parente, 59; Betty Parente, 58; Stephanie Parente, 19; and Catherine Parente 11; of Garden City, N.Y. William and Betty Parente were a couple and Stephanie and Catherine were their daughters.
Stephanie was a sophomore at Loyola College studying speech pathology and a member of the school's crew team. William, her father, was a lawyer.
The New York attorney general's office said it is investigating a complaint from a man who says he invested hundreds of thousands of dollars with William M. Parente and had trouble getting his money back.
Bruce Montague, 47, a Queens lawyer, told Newsday that he recently received six checks, worth about $450,000 from Parente.
Montague said that Parente told him that he could deposit two of the checks, but asked him to wait with the others. Montague said a bank official told him the four others would not clear.
A few hundred students and other mourners packed the chapel at Loyola for a memorial Mass on Tuesday night, some standing, some sitting on the altar or the floor. Two of Stephanie Parente's roommates read scripture, and three other roommates offered tearful prayers on her behalf. They were introduced only by their first names and it was unclear who was speaking when.
"You brightened our lives and we'll never forget you," one roommate said.
Loyola College's president says the campus is in mourning.
"A huge amount of grief," said Father Brian Linnane. "My reaction was shock and disbelief at how horrific this was. It's very difficult to make any sense of it at all because it's really senseless. It really is an experience of evil in the world."
Stephanie missed a chemistry test on Monday. That's when her roommates and professor knew something wasn't right. They called school administrators who contacted the hotel.
"My understanding is that they normally did come here occasionally to visit with her," said Cpl. Mike Hill, Baltimore County Police spokesperson. "I can only make an assumption at this point that was what they were doing here over the weekend."
Workers discovered the dead on the 10th floor of the Sheraton.
"They were suppose to be checking out. That's when they found the bodies," said Hill.
Baltimore County Police aren't saying how the four were killed or if any illegal activity appeared to take place inside the room.
"We know they were together Sunday morning for breakfast. We know some other things later in the day that progressed as far as what time was the last time that their card key was used for that particular room. But at this point I am going to hesitate to go into all that because we are still trying to confirm that and finalize that," said Hill.
"I can't tell you how heartsick I am," said Mary Opulente Krener, a neighbor to the Parente family. "This is the most wonderful family, the most kind and loving family. I'm astounded."
The bodies were removed from the hotel room late Monday night and taken to the Medical Examiner's Office.
A cause of death and possible motive are not expected to be released until the autopsy is complete.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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