Police Probing Murder-Suicide in Great Barrington
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Robert F. Paonessa, 74, reportedly shot and killed his 37-year-old son, Robert A. Paonessa.
In a statement released this afternoon, District Attorney David F. Capeless said Great Barrington Police received a 911 call about 9:40 a.m. from the elder Paonessa reporting a "tragedy" at his 180 North Plain Road home.
When officers arrived at the house, they discovered the bodies of Paonessa and his son. Capeless said the elder Paonessa apparently called police and took his own life before officers arrived at the home.
Autopsies were performed at the office of the chief medical examiner in Holyoke on Thursday.
Dr. Daniel Carter, an associate medical examiner, said preliminary results confirm both men died of gunshot wounds.
The investigation is being conducted by members of the Great Barrington Police Department, state police detectives assigned to the district attorney's office and troopers from crime scene services, the crime lab and the firearms identification unit.
This is second slaying in South County this year. In March, a New Marlborough man was charged in the stabbing death of his 55-year-old mother, Donna Agar, at her home. Rodney M. Ball, 35, of Clark Way, New Marlborough, was arraigned in Southern Berkshire District Court on one count of murder.
Also in March, the body of a Connecticut woman, Whitney Bass, 20, was discovered in a wooded area off Route 8 in Otis. Vernon L. Cowan Jr., 38, was arrested in New York City and was expected to be extradited to Connecticut to face charges of arson and murder.
The last murder in Great Barrington occurred last June, when the community was shocked by the stabbing death of the Rev. Esther Dozier, 65, pastor of Clinton AME Zion Church. Her 63-year-old husband, Henry E. Dozier Sr., was charged in the slaying and has been held at Bridgewater State Hospital since last summer; he has yet to go to trial.
Updated May 18, 2008.
