In the quiet retirement community of Cumberland Woods Village in McCandless, a suburb of Pittsburgh, the morning of Monday, May 15, 2017, was shattered by a tragic event. Inside their third-floor apartment, 79-year-old Angela Marie Ceccarelli, a female resident, was found deceased. The tranquility of the community, where she and her husband had lived for about two years, was irrevocably broken.
Police responded to the scene at approximately 6:30 a.m.
following a 911 call made by Angela's 83-year-old husband, Julius Ceccarelli. Investigators determined that Julius had shot his wife while she was sleeping. After making the call to emergency services, he then took his own life. Law enforcement officials arriving at the apartment found Angela in her bed and her husband in the bathroom. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
There were no indications of a struggle, and those who knew the couple reported no apparent signs of trouble in their marriage, leaving the community in a state of shock and disbelief. The incident was investigated as a murder-suicide.
Angela was born on June 16, 1937, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. She and Julius were married in August of 1960. They were members of St. Catherine of Sweden Roman Catholic Church in Allison Park. The couple was survived by a son and four grandchildren. They were preceded in death by another son. A Mass of Christian Burial was held for both Angela and Julius, and they were laid to rest together at Holy Savior Cemetery in Gibsonia.
