Penns Grove murder suicide: Ruth Reyes NJ mother and her two children, aged 5 & 2 stabbed to death by father Eugenio Severino who hangs self. Husband was recently served restraining order after threatening to kill wife.
A New Jersey mother and her two young children were found dead inside their apartment on Wednesday, shortly after the body of the woman’s estranged husband was discovered in nearby woods in a suspected case of triple murder-suicide.
The victims, Ruth Reyes, 30, the woman’s five-year-old daughter, Euriany, and two-year-old son, Eury are thought to have been slain at the hands of the children’s 54 year old father, Eugenio Severino.
Friends said the wife took out a restraining order against Severino last month after threatening to kill her at their Salem County home.
Father’s body found hanging from tree:
CBS Philadelphia reported a passerby coming across Severino’s body hanging from a tree in the woods off of Sportsman Road in Carneys Point.
Local police officers looked up the man’s address in nearby Penns Grove and contacted their colleagues there, requesting a welfare check at his apartment on Helms Cove Lane.
Penns Grove cops upon making their way inside the unit, found Reyes stabbed to death in the bathroom alongside her children, as the Spanish-language news site Diario Libre reported.
An immigrant family in search of a better life:
Reyes’ employer at La Cuchara restaurant, where the mom-of-two worked as a server, told NJ.com that she and Severino had been married in their native Dominican Republic before arriving in New Jersey two years ago in search of better opportunities.
Restaurant owner Johnny Solano said he knew that Reyes and Severino’s already strained relationship took a turn for the worse two weeks ago, when the husband threatened to kill the wife – with the woman kicking him out of their apartment.
Reyes then went to court and obtained a restraining order against Severino.
Next-door neighbor Elibeth Ortiz said Severino was ‘too possessive’ and the pair sometimes could be heard arguing.
Those who knew Reyes described her as a great mother to her children and a kind person.
‘She was always there for her kids, always working,’ friend Keyla Padilla told 6ABC. ‘If not working, she was in her house. She was very humble and stayed to herself. Very friendly.’
