2 Dead After Wife Learns of Husband's Alleged Affair

Police say a love triangle that spanned two states has ended in bloodshed. Meredith Chapman arrived at her new home in the Philadelphia suburb of Villanova—home to Villanova University, where Chapman was recently named assistant vice president—between 5pm and 6pm Monday. Within seconds, gunfire rang out. "You had a man who's married who's having an affair with this other woman," Radnor Township Police Superintendent William Colarulo tells the Philadelphia Inquirer, referring to Chapman, age 33. "His wife knew that." In what he calls a "calculated attack," Colarulo says 47-year-old Jennair Gerardot left her Delaware home disguised in a wig, broke into Chapman's home, waited for her to get home from work, killed Chapman with a gunshot to the head, then turned the gun on herself.

Though the Inquirer reports neighbors called police about an hour later, CBS Philadelphia reports it was 49-year-old Mark Gerardot who discovered the women's bodies. Police tell WHYY that his wife of 25 years had sent Gerardot emails and text messages suggesting she would kill Chapman, a former Delaware state Senate candidate who was living separately from her husband, former Newark City Councilman Luke Chapman. Mark Gerardot reportedly showed up at the home when Chapman failed to meet him for dinner. The pair are believed to have met while Gerardot was working as creative director at the University of Delaware, where Chapman worked as director of digital communications until recently. The initial report to police mentioned "two subjects found and blood everywhere," per WHYY. (More murder-suicide stories.)