Police say the 75-year-old Putnam County woman found killed in her home last week had been shot by her daughter's father-in-law, who killed himself Tuesday.
Pearla Gatachalian was found with a gunshot wound in her Mahopac home on April 27, according to police. Authorities released little information at the time of her death, saying only the public was not in danger.
At a news conference Wednesday, police and prosecutors said they'd identified Gatachalian's suspected killer as Filippo Buffone, the 69-year-old father of her daughter's husband, within 24 hours of her death.
But Buffone went missing Tuesday afternoon, and police later found he'd shot and killed himself in a parking lot near his home in Harrison, police said.
Anger over financial issues is believed to be the motive in the shooting.
Police said there was no history of disturbances at Gatachalian's home, and that Buffone had no criminal history. Buffone's family, including his son, has cooperated with police in the investigation.
The killing was the first in the town in at least four years, police said.
A neighbor who lived near the Buffones says she's known the family for 50 years and called them "very lovely people."
"It's sad, it really is. Happened in my backyard," said Dotti Pugliese.
