Baltimore County police have confirmed that a family of four were discovered dead in their locked room at the Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel on Dulaney Valley Road in Towson, on Monday at 3:00 p.m. by members of the housekeeping staff. Authorities believe that they know how the deaths occurred and are awaiting autopsy results for confirmation. They speculate that it is a case of murder-suicide, though no motive has been reported.
The dead were identified as 59 year old businessman William Parente, his wife, Betty Parente, 58, and daughters Stephanie Parente, 19, and Catherine Parente, 11. Police Cpl. Michael Hill would not release the manner of death but reported that it was not by gunshot or stabbing. Autopsies are expected to be completed yet today.
William Parente, a tax and estate planning attorney in New York City, is believed to have taken the lives of his family members and then killed himself.
The Parente family lived in an affluent neighborhood in Garden City, directly across from the Cherry Valley Club golf course. Betty Parente was on the board of the Tri Town Auxiliary of United Cerebral Palsy of Nassau and volunteered with the Girl Scouts and the American Cancer Society. Their young daughter Catherine was a 6th grader at Garden City Middle School.
Daughter Stephanie was a sophomore at Loyola College and her family had traveled from their home in Garden City, New York to visit her in Maryland over the weekend. The last family sighting was on Sunday morning, when they all ate breakfast together at the hotel, less than 5 miles from the Loyola campus.
The Loyola school website posted a photo of the slain woman, who was majoring in speech language pathology, and said, “It’s an unfathomable tragedy to have such a young and promising life cut short. All of her Alpha classmates already miss her terribly.”
Hotel entrance photo and crime report video below.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoaalpKmsvLCwxqiqrKGgY7CwuY6boK2slaOur7DBqKynnF%2Bowaa8x5qlop1dpa6zsc2tnGaumZjBqrmMqJ1mpaWnsaa%2BjKysopuZmbJuvMeoq6hn