This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Teresa DeLucia, a 95-year-old mother of four from Long Island, New York, died last month, but she had already written down her wishes in her will more than 10 years ago.
But the 2007 document may have had some influence on the mass shooting by her youngest son, in which his three siblings and a niece were killed in a murder-suicide.
Joseph DeLucia was set to receive a quarter of the sale price of the home and a quarter of his mother's remaining estate, which Zillow estimates is worth nearly $900,000.
Five killed in New York murder-suicide before meeting with real estate agent to sell recently deceased mother's home
Joseph DeLucia is seen in an image posted to Facebook. (Joseph DeLucia/Facebook)
DeLucia lived with his mother until her death, but his will stated that he “directs any family members residing in this home at the time of my death to vacate the home to facilitate its sale.”
She also gave her eldest son, Frank, the power to enforce the clause.
Joseph, apparently fearing the loss of his home, massacred the rest of his family.
Teresa DeLucia Will
“[In] “This is probably one of the most horrific scenes I've ever seen in my 41 years,” Nassau County Police Chief Patrick Ryder said at a news conference.
He said there were warning signs that could have prevented the murder if it had been reported to police.
Police are investigating a murder-suicide that left five people dead. (Fox 5 New York)
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“There were rumors going around the area about the struggles of this shooter who decided after his mother died that he didn't want to leave his home,” he said. “There were rumors going around the area before that if you heard gunshots, don't call the police, it would be too late.”
Police said that on the morning of Aug. 25, the family gathered at the elder DeLucia's home on Wyoming Court in Syosset and had coffee at a Starbucks before meeting with a real estate agent to discuss the planned sale of their home. The suburban neighborhood is about 30 miles east of New York City.
Officers responded to the scene to find a man dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and also recovered a 12-gauge shotgun. (Nassau County Police Department)
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A neighbor called 911 just before noon, and police found Joseph DeLucia, 59, dead outside on the grass near a shotgun.
Among them were his sister, Joan Kearns, 69, of Tampa, Florida; his brother, Frank DeLucia, 64, of Durham, North Carolina; his sister, Tina Hammond, also 64, of neighboring Suffolk County; and her 30-year-old daughter, Victoria.
On August 25, 2024, Nassau County Police responded to a report of a shooting and a man down in the front yard of a residence on Wyoming Court in Syosset, New York. (FOX 5 New York)
Authorities said Joseph DeLucia had a history of mental illness but no significant criminal record beyond a drunk driving arrest decades ago, but police said they could have confiscated his shotgun under New York's red flag law.
Nassau Detective Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said the killer expected to be left out of the will and thrown out onto the street when the brothers sold the house.
“That realization led him to decide that day to pick up a loaded 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun, approach them from the rear of the home and fire 12 shots through the kitchen, shooting all four of them multiple times,” he told a news conference.
Neighbors heard DeLucia screaming on his front lawn before he put a final bullet into his chest, and a shocking final post left on a Facebook page in his name shows a New York license plate with the word “DEPRSSED” written on it.
“We urge anyone who believes they may have a problem to call us,” Fitzpatrick added.
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Local real estate agent Mary Macaluso told a local newspaper: Newsday is She was supposed to meet with the family, but when she arrived the block was cordoned off with police tape.
This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
