Robert McGrath, El Mirage, Arizona man arrested in the shooting death of his estranged wife, Marcia and her mother, Thea Merlino after the man breaking into a Sun City residence with the estranged wife identifying her ex as the individual who had shot the two women with her final breath.
An Arizona man is facing murder charges after his soon to be ex-wife identified him as the individual who had moments before had fatally pulled the trigger on her and her mother before later passing away from gunshot wounds she had incurred during a home invasion.
Robert McGrath, 60, a well known restauranteur and chef was arrested on Tuesday and accused of killing his estranged wife, 53-year-old Marcia McGrath and her mother, 77-year-old Thea Merlino, just days after the woman had filed for divorce against the suspect.
Victim ids her husband as shooting suspect with her dying breaths
Upon being booked into custody, the spouse was charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping, and one count each of armed robbery and burglary in the slayings of the two women, ABC15 reported.
Deputies with the Maricopa County sheriff’s responded to a 911 call to an apartment complex at Sun City just after 3am, Tuesday morning following reports of a man with gun who had broken into one of the apartments and a concerned neighbor who lived downstairs being threatened by the gunman upon going upstairs to check upon hearing ‘loud bangs.’
The caller said the man ordered them to the ground and threatened to shoot if they moved before eventually fleeing and calling 911.
MCSO says that when deputies arrived at the apartment complex at 111th Ave and Grand, they heard someone yelling for help from one of the apartments and ran inside. There, they found two women who had been shot.
Merlino was pronounced dead at the scene, while McGrath was seriously wounded. She told deputies she had been shot by her husband, providing his name, address and what kind of vehicle the man drove.
Accomplished chef and restauranteur
She was then rushed to a hospital by paramedics, where she died a short time later.
MCSO detectives later arrested Robert McGrath at his home in El Mirage.
It was determined while interviewing neighbors that Marcia McGrath had been moved in with her mother after recently becoming estranged from her husband, later identified as the suspect who killed both her and her mother.
‘Our thoughts continue to be with the victims’ family members. I would like to commend the brave actions of the community members for their observations and courage in swiftly reporting this tragic incident,’ Sheriff Russ Skinner said in an statement. ‘I would also like to recognize our communications staff, deputies, and detectives for their immediate response, investigative follow-through, and apprehension of this dangerous suspect. As a law enforcement agency, our number one priority is keeping our community members safe and quickly responding to their public safety needs.’
According to court paperwork, investigators learned that Marcia had filed for divorce from Robert on June 17. In addition, Marcia had reportedly reported to El Mirage police weeks prior that Robert had threatened to kill her.
It remained unclear if police followed up on the threat report.
Of note, McGrath was profiled as one of the best chefs in the Arizona area, with the restauranteur going on to open a number of restaurants in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area and winning the James Beard Award as Best Chef in America Southwest, after being nominated five times, in 2001.
McGrath remains held in the Maricopa County jail on a $2 million cash-only bond.
