St. Albans, NY: 115th Rd. man kills wife in murder-suicide

By Anna Gustafson
Thursday, July 15, 2010 11:10 AM EDT
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Police investigate the home in St. Albans where an elderly man and woman were found dead last week. Photo by Ellis Kaplan
An elderly St. Albans man turned a revolver on himself last week after shooting and killing his wife with whom he was getting a divorce, according to police and neighbors.

Police said they found Pierre Legendre, 72, of St. Albans, and Laverne Legendre, 62, of Jamaica, with gunshot wounds to the head in Pierre Legendre’s house on 115th Road just before 1 p.m. Friday. Police were told of the situation in a 911 call, but they did not say who placed the call.

A loaded revolver was found at the scene, police said.

The Legendres were in the process of getting divorced, according to neighbors. Pierre Legendre, a former military man, had recently moved into the St. Albans home, where he rented a room in the house with a couple other elderly men, neighbors said.

“I heard he had called her and asked her to come see him,” said one neighbor who did not want to be identified. “They weren’t living together, and they were getting divorced, but I heard they were not on awful terms.”

Police said Pierre Legendre appeared to have killed his wife and himself sometime between Thursday and Friday, police said.

“He was really torn up over the divorce, I think,” said another neighbor who said they did not want to be named because it is a “delicate” situation. “People didn’t know him too well because he just moved here, but we’d see him walking around the neighborhood and we’d talk for a little bit. He seemed sad.”

The case remains under investigation.

There have been five murders in the 113th Precinct, where the Legendres were found, to date — the same number as last year, according to police statistics. The number of rapes have decreased in the precinct, dropping from 17 in 2009 to 11 so far this year.

Burglaries, however, are on the rise. There have been 188 burglaries to date, compared to 152 the same time last year, according to the NYPD.

Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.