An aspiring nurse in Massachusetts was killed by suicide at the hands of her deranged boyfriend of just two months.
Lauren Marino, 24, was found dead from a gunshot wound inside her apartment in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on Sunday. boston 25.
Around 5:45 p.m., a downstairs neighbor discovered the bodies of Marino and her new boyfriend, Austin Amaral, 24, and Marino’s two dogs were found indoors near where the bodies were found.
A spokesperson for the Essex County District Attorney’s Office told the agency that investigators believe Amaral fatally shot the young woman before turning the gun on himself.
Marino’s best friend Katie Iandro told the magazine that Amaral became “smitten” with Marino about two months after they started dating.
“The obsession with him was pretty great. He came and never left,” she shared. “He didn’t want anyone but himself to have a relationship with her.”
Iandro said Marino knew Amaral before they started dating, but in the weeks before her friend’s tragic murder, she had been warned of how dangerous her “psychotic” boyfriend could be. He said he started noticing the signs.
About a month before the suicide attack, Amaral had displayed two guns inside Marino’s apartment.
Iandro said he expressed his concerns to a friend and Marino assured him that he was fine and there was no need to worry.
Then, weeks before things turned deadly, the friend witnessed Mr. Amaral become violent towards his best friend.
“He pushed her hard into the dresser. I was kind of freaked out by him,” Iandro claimed. “There was a very psychotic look in his eyes when he was yelling at me.”
Iandro accused Almara of abusive behavior, claiming that Marino forced her best friend to unfriend her on social media, and said she became increasingly distant from Marino.
“While she was sleeping, he took her phone and blocked my access,” Iandro said of her controlling boyfriend. “He deleted me from her Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram.”
The heartbroken friend had just returned from Las Vegas when he heard Marino had been killed.
“We connected instantly. The day we met, we called each other soul sister,” Iandro added. “I hate him. He took my best friend away from me.”
According to an obituary written by Marino’s family, Marino worked as a mental health professional at Anodyne Medical Services and was “dedicated to her job” until her furious boyfriend robbed the 24-year-old of her bright future. “I was doing it,” he said.
“Lauren was a beautiful, strong young woman whose amazing and beautiful spirit always lit up the room. She was the life of the party and loved to dance, sing and cook,” her family said. Ta.
After her best friend’s violent boyfriend turned deadly, Iandro is warning people in their relationships and those around them to be more vigilant.
“First red light, just go,” she said. “It’s only going to get worse. You can’t fix someone. There’s no light at the end of that tunnel.”
A native of East Providence, Rhode Island, she is survived by her parents, Andrew and Christine, her stepfather, Gary, and four siblings.
Marino’s friends are organizing a foster home for her two dogs.
