Murder, suicide

Press, 1 September 1977, Page 8

Murder, suicide

NZPA East Hartford (Connecticut) A paroled murderer killed his wife and child because “God hates me” and then held the police at bay with a rifle for 15 minutes before taking his own life while the police listened on their end of an open telephone line in East Hartford, Connecticut, on Tuesday. A police assault team battered down doors in the two-family home and found the bodies of Frank Decorleto, aged 34, his wife, and his four-year-old son by a previous marriage.

Authorities also recovered a valuable silver collection, which had been missing from a local library and held for a $25,000 ransom.

Decorleto was found on a rumpled bed on the third floor of his apartment with his son, Frank the 3rd, lying on the floor next to him. The body of his wife, Shioehon, aged 22, was discovered in the kitchen —one floor below. Decorleto, who served 10 years in a Georgia prison for killing a sailor’s wife because she told him he was crazy for biting her dog, barricaded himself in his apartment on Monday afternoon. He said he had an arsenal of pistols, rifles, and 1000 rounds of ammunition.

Through the night the gunman peppered police cruisers with gunfire and held extended telephone conversations with police attempting to negotiate his surrender.