Posts Tagged ‘killing’

3 Murder-Suicides Over Thanksgiving

By Jeff L in Chicago, Crime, Illinois, Violence, murder at December 5th, 2009 | No comments

deadlydudeThomas Mangiantini, the father of two that killed his wife and two sons before turning the gun on himself, didn’t leave many clues explaining the distress that led him to commit such a heinous crime. Investigators, however, found a single page note but will not release its contents until family members are notified. They did say that the suicide note left the impression that the man was somewhat distraught.
The police also stated that the reasons did not include financial problems or marital distress, but did not add any further details. Mrs. Mangiantini had lost her job at Ford Motor Company, and there were rumors that her husband’s hours had been cut, or he had been laid off. Police refuted both rumors, stating that neither one was true.

According to police, the note “was just a few short words…something to the effect of ‘please help me. Help me. Help me.’”

The boys were found upstairs in their beds in a shared bedroom. Thomas Mangiantini also was found in an upstairs bedroom, and his wife was discovered in a hallway downstairs. The Addison Police Department is still investigating the scene, confident that a solid motive will be revealed.


In an unrelated case, a West Chicago man shot his new wife, and then turned the gun on himself. The couple were almost married for two months, marrying on October 10.

Antwone Coleman, age 28, was found Thursday night near 3300 West Monroe, a couple blocks from his home. During the investigation, they found the body of his wife, Claudette, aged 30, in the couple’s Garfield Park Apartment. Police surmised that her death had been caused by a gunshot wound to the head, but the coroner later found that she had died of multiple gunshot wounds. Antwone Coleman’s autopsy revealed that he committed suicide, a single gunshot wound to the head.

Antwone Coleman had a lengthy criminal record that included domestic battery, aggravated battery on a police officer and was registered as a sex offender. Claudette’s family did not know about the criminal record, and were not certain that Claudette had any knowledge of his crimes.


The third deadly event took place in Sauk Village where police are investigating the third murder-suicide in the Chicago area in recent days. Markham resident Paul Gunn of  West 159th Street allegedly  killed himself following a police stop to question him over shootings in Sauk Village. The shooting victims were Gunn’s ex-wife and her unidentified male friend.

Mr. Gunn’s ex-wife survived, but was hospitalized. Her male friend died in the hospital. Gunn’s ex-wife is reported to be in stable condition with non-lethal injuries.


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No Easy Clues In Addison Murder/Suicide

By Jeff L in Chicago, Crime, Illinois, MSI Detective Services, Safety, Security, Violence at November 27th, 2009 | No comments

addisonwatertwrThe silence was shattered in Addison, IL  early Wednesday morning, but it wasn’t train whistles or traffic on the freeway. It was the sound of gunfire. Addison, a village located southwest of O’Hare International off the Eisenhower Expressway, and home to nearly 39,000, didn’t hear gunfire very often. In fact, according to City Data, there were eight homicides between 2003 and 2007. Wednesday morning’s murders totaled half that number.  The Daily Herald Reported:

An Addison man active in his community opened fire Wednesday on his family before killing himself in a murder-suicide captured on the wife’s desperate 911 call, authorities said.

Tom Mangiantini, aged 48,  is suspected of killing his two sons, Tommy and Angelo, aged 8 and 11,  as well as his wife, Elizabeth,  aged 46. After murdering his family, the man turned the gun on himself.  Although police have not identified the bodies officially, sources state that it was the Mangiantini family. Police arrived shortly after the 911 call and had to break into the house. Upon entering, they discovered the victims, along with a handgun and spent shell casings.

Autopsies were expected to be performed sometime this morning, and at the time of this writing, there were no known issues with the family. The Mangiantini’s were actively involved with the community of Addison, and had been living in the same home for at least 15-years. Neighbor interviewed stated that it was business as usual and that there did not seem to be any underlying turmoil. A police records check showed that none of the family members had ever been in trouble with the law, and that there were no reports of domestic, or child, abuse. There also wasn’t any evidence of divorce proceedings or legal matters to help make sense of the terrible crime.

The Addison community is stunned, totally baffled by the fact that the family was always loving,  never seemed to argue or fight, and was tightly-knit; especially Mr. Mangiantini and his two boys. Angelo and Tommy were described as normal kids that played baseball on a team coached by their father. One community member stated that Mr. Mangiantini had coached 100s of boys throughout the years. WGN Radio interviewed Jacque Graziano, whose son was close to Angelo;

Thomas Mangiantini “worshipped the kids,” Jacque Graziano said. She recalled he once canceled a “boys weekend” camping trip after Angelo swelled up with a skin rash. “If something had happened to you,” she recalled him saying to Angelo, “I would feel sick.”

“So,” Graziano said, “how does somebody like that then turn something like this? I don’t get it.”

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