Police: Man kills ex-wife, self, with their son, 7, home

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — A Woonsocket man killed his former wife at his home when she arrived to pick up their 7-year-old son, then killed himself, the police said Monday.

The shootings occurred Sunday morning just before 11 a.m. at 11 Bluestone Drive.

At a news conference Monday, Woonsocket police identified the people who died as Glenn Benvenuti, 56, who lived at 11 Bluestone Drive; and Michelle Benvenuti, 45, of North Smithfield. Both were found dead in the basement of the house.

"It's awful," said Police Chief Thomas Oates. "This woman is the victim of the ultimate crime of domestic violence. She was murdered."

The couple's 7-year-old son was in an upper-level bedroom when the police arrived. Oates said the boy does not appear to have witnessed the shootings. He heard gunshots but thought it might be his father shooting in the backyard.

The boy was not physically harmed and was later turned over to other family members.

The police said that earlier Sunday morning, Glenn Benvenuti had called a female friend and seemed to be in distress. He told her that Michelle Benvenuti was coming to take their son and that they were planning to go from there to visit Michelle Benvenuti's mother.

Glenn Benvenuti hung up the phone, but called his friend back shortly afterward to say that he had shot Michelle Benvenuti and was planning to shoot himself. The friend then called the police.

The police would not say what kind of gun was used.

Michelle Benvenuti filed for divorce in January 2013, and the divorce was finalized later that year, court records show.

According to the divorce decree filed in Family Court, the couple were married in 2008 and the boy was the only child from their union. It says they physically separated in 2012 due to irreconcilable differences and that Michelle Benvenuti worked in a community health center, while Glenn Benvenuti was a foreman in a commercial bakery. They had joint custody of their son, though the boy lived with his mother in North Smithfield.

The decree specifies that the exchange of the child for visitation take place at the North Smithfield Police Department.

Oates said that Michelle Benvenuti had a temporary restraining order against Glenn Benvenuti in 2013, and that his weapons were taken from him at that time. They were given back when the temporary restraining order ended.

Police said that Glenn Benvenuti had also once been subject to a temporary restraining order from another woman with whom he had had children.

Lucy Rios, director of prevention and communications at the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Vanessa Volz, executive director at Sojourner House, issued a joint statement late Monday lamenting that Michelle Benvenuti's death came on the eve of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

"Our hearts ache for the family, friends, and community of Michelle Berthiaume-Benvenuti in this time of grief. ... Michelle was a beloved mother, friend and employee of East Bay Community Action Program; she will be greatly missed," they said. 

"We are particularly distressed to learn that their 7-year-old son was in the house at the time of the murder-suicide; our entire community of survivors and advocates embrace this young boy and his caregivers with strength and love, and hold them in our thoughts and prayers. Children witnessing domestic violence represent a local and national public health crisis, with nearly 2,000 incidents with children present every year during domestic violence arrests in Rhode Island. Witnessing domestic violence as a child can lead to serious long-term health and developmental consequences ... "

 It is the third domestic-violence homicide this year, all of them murder-suicides committed with a firearm. Two of the incidents occurred while children were in the home.

In a neighborhood of well-tended properties, the Benvenuti house and yard stand out as especially neat.

Farther up the hill, Bill and Diane Lynch, a couple in their 60s who have lived at 80 Bluestone for 29 years, about 11 years longer than Benvenuti, said they mostly saw him mowing, a cigar in his mouth. When his son visited, they would see them doing yard work together or playing catch in the street.

Benvenuti has adult daughters that the Lynches saw with him as the girls were growing up. They said he didn't seem to be close with anyone. When they waved, he didn't wave back.

Bill Lynch said that when he tried to take out the trash at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, a police officer with a rifle ordered him back in the house. The Lynches didn't know what was happening, or where, but the armed officer in their next door neighbor's backyard.

They heard a voice over a bullhorn order the occupants of 11 Bluestone to "come out of the house with your hands up." Later, they heard the bullhorn use the name Glenn. They couldn't think of anyone they knew named Glenn. They had never known Benvenuti's name.

Diane Lynch said she was upset all day Monday after a surreal Sunday. Besides seeing men with rifles in her neighborhood and later noticing her neighbor's truck parked next to his ex-wife's vehicle and knowing that both were dead, she has had to try hard to keep from dwelling on the tragedy. Her heart goes out to their son, she said. "The little boy doesn't have a mother any more."

 With reports from Donita Naylor

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